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Clemente gave a giggle. “Yay, playground!”
It was only a short drive to the playground, and once we got there the kids ran off happily to play.
I went to get the picnic hamper out of the back.
“I’ll get that for you,” offered Aloysius, taking the hamper from me and carrying it over to one of the tables.
He was a nice guy—relaxed and approachable. He’d be a good person to get friendly with and on my side, I thought, and then perhaps he’d give me some more details on what had happened to Lorenzo’s first wife. If I knew exactly what had happened, it would make it easier for me to know how to help the kids deal with it.
“They like it here,” I observed as we sat on the bench, watching them squealing as they came down the slide.
“Yeah, they used to come here quite often. I’m not sure if they’ve been recently—Lorenzo’s been busy with work and the wedding, and Mother’s hip has been troubling her so she usually looks after the kids at her house rather than taking them out.”
We watched the children play for a while, and although we didn’t talk more, the silence between us was relaxed.
“Are you sure you have time for this?” I asked.
“Absolutely. Family comes first.” He then gave a slight frown. “Well, as long as there’s enough food for me as well?” He indicated toward the hamper with a nod of his head.
“Yeah, there’s plenty. I know Adelina packed enough to feed an army.”
“Good,” he laughed.
Clara scampered over, clutching her ribbon which had come out of her hair. “Ribbon out,” she said with a sad face.
“That’s no problem. I can fix it for you.”
She sat in front of me and I gathered the top section of her hair and tied the ribbon around her curls. Today she had chosen matching teal blue ribbons for her and Wilbur to wear. “All done,” I said.
“You look beautiful,” said Aloysius to his niece, earning a cute smile from her.
“Are you hungry yet?” I asked.
She shook her head.
“Okay, tell me when you get hungry, and we can have our picnic then.”
She nodded at me and then ran back to Clemente on the seesaw.
Aloysius watched her as she played. “She’s still not talking much, huh?”
“No. I’ve noticed that her and Clemente’s speech are around the same level, despite their two-year age difference.” I was careful what I said, not wanting the wrong thing getting back to Lorenzo.
“She used to be able to talk much more.” Aloysius’s tone was more serious now.
“Really?”
“Yeah, like full sentences and stuff.”
I didn’t say anything else, not knowing how to phrase what I wanted to ask.
Luckily, however, he carried on speaking. “That was before her mom died. After that, she started talking much less, like in one-word or two-word phrases.”
“Yes, that’s what it’s still like at home.” As he’d brought up the topic of Rita’s death, I probed a little further. “Did the children go to their mom’s funeral? You know, to say goodbye to her properly?”
“No, they didn’t go. Lorenzo didn’t want it. He didn’t want them hearing people talking about their mom and how she died.”
The hairs rose on the back of my neck. If Lorenzo didn’t want the kids hearing that, then there must have been something suspicious about the way she died.
