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It was excruciating enough…
I remember sprinting to the hospital as soon as I got the call about my dad. I was sick to my stomach. So sick that it took me a lot longer to get there than I thought it would.
Word would inevitably get out. Gabriele Morino was dying. At that moment, I was so concerned with how I was supposed to handle that…as well as everything that came with it…that I forgot to feel…until it was too late…
I mean, what would that mean for the family business? It's always been top priority, right?
After being led through a series of corridors by the staff, I entered a room. It was up on the upper floor. And I remember it like it was yesterday. The smell of cleaning supplies…
And death…
I take a dreadful step into the room, my eyes fixated on the sleeping figure that was my father. I feel a lump forming in my throat and I do my best to fight it back as I speak shakily. “Dad…?”
His eyes open slowly and they look at me softly…weakly.
“Aria…” he whispers.
I close the distance between us and take his hand, bending down to meet him as he lies flat on his back on the hospital bed.
“How are you?” He asks weakly, his eyebrows bent.
“I think the real question is how are you?!” His liver and heart were failing. I knew it was a matter of time.
His expression darkens. “Guess I’ve been better…”
I watch as he closes his eyes.
“Don’t leave me…” I say desperately, a sob choking me. “Don’t…”
He smiles faintly.
“I have to…”
“Mom…” Tony cries, shaking me from my memory, his breath hitched. Distressed. “Don’t go…” he begs.
Madam Rosa smiles at him and weakly caresses his cheek. “Don’t get mushy on me now…”
He laughs and leans into her touch.
The same way I leaned into Gabriele’s…
The heart monitor next to my father’s bed begins to slow.
“No…” I whisper as tears gather in the corner of my eyes. I grip his hand tighter and lean toward the bed.
"No... Mom, please no." Tony begs again, desperately willing her to hang on just a little longer. It’s never long enough…
Her hand had fallen from his cheek. He grabs it and pulls it back to his lips, desperately kissing it.
Tears continue to roll down his cheeks. I can’t help but look on, desperate, sad…
The sirens whirl in the distance. Red and blue lights bounce off of the smoke that’s clouding around the building.
“Mom!” Alessandro calls frantically, as he runs to the side of the building. “We have to go!” Luigi and Frankie are next to him. I would cry happy tears if Tony wasn’t on the brink of the most gut-wrenching pain imaginable.
My focus never wavers from Tony as my breath catches in my throat and my son yells out to me.
I know what this feels like…
