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“I said sit down.” He eyed Adrian with a frown on his face. “Don’t talk to her like that, Father. I won’t allow it.”
“Son, it was not ill will.”
“I don’t care. Our fight is with Fabiano, not Grazia.”
“She is his daughter. He took…” a cough stopped him, “he took my wife! My precious Christina.”
He?Babbo? I didn’t take his words to heart because he must be having a hallucination. Salvatore’s mother died a few weeks after she gave birth. She was sick. It had nothing to do with my dad.
“Father, stop. Grazia is staying and you need to rest.”
“No time to rest, Salvatore. I don’t have any more time.”
“Then don’t waste it with stupid things.” He answered his father with too much hardness and I couldn’t help feeling guilty.
“You’re right. Come here, son. Take Grazia and sit with me while… while I go.”
I followed Salvatore and all three of us sat together in silence. While time passed, Adrian struggled more and more to inhale the air that was keeping him alive. The sounds coming from his chest were horrendous, but I didn’t dare move.
Salvatore had one hand over my knee, squeezing my leg. I’ve never seen him so defeated and I knew it was because this is the one fight he couldn’t win. No one – it didn’t matter how brave – could defeat death.
When things got worse and we knew it was time, I went to call for Pietro and Chiara and the four of us stayed guard until Adrian Fiori, one of the strongest men I’ve ever known, took his last breath, finally finding his peace and hopefully, forgiveness for all his sins.
There wasn’t anything any one of us could do anymore, so after an hour, I took Sasa by the hand and walked him to his bedroom to have a moment for himself. Chiara and Pietro were not in good shape either, so I spoke to Totto, the butler, and checked with him if arrangements have been made for Adrian to be moved to the church for hisfamigliato say goodbye. It wasn’t much, but it was something I could do to help Salvatore before returning to his quarters with a bottle of water and some biscotti.
“Salvatore, you think you can eat anything?” He didn’t say a word. He just sat on the edge of his bed like a statue. “Tell me what do you need?”
“I… Father is gone.” He looked up with his face stunned and eyes red, and then I knew what I had to do.
I turned off all the lights, locked the door, and closed the blinds to every window. A man like him would never dare shed tears in front of anyone else, not even me, but he needed a goddamn moment to mourn his father and I wanted to give it to him.
“I’ll be out on the terrace, Sasa.”
Again, he didn’t answer, so I took the biscuits and nibbled on one while nestling in one of the chairs he had out on the balcony. It took less than thirty minutes for him to appear and collect me. He was still solemn, but the crushing silence was gone now, tucked away from the preying eyes.
“Let’s go to sleep, Grazi. I’m not letting you leave tonight.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
~~~
I woke up in pain because Salvatore was crushing me. His arms were wrapped around my body like an anaconda trying to kill its prey. My chest cavity was probably bruised, but I was reluctant to move. He remained awake for many hours after we went to bed, and the moment he was going to open his eyes, he’d step into a world where his father was dead.
I sneaked out as gently as I could and left him sleeping in the bedroom. The house seemed different now that Adrian was gone, it seemed hollow. This place was always a little bit too quiet for me, maybe because I was used with living with seven loud boys, but also because ever since I’ve known him, Adrian grieved his late wife.
Christina Fiori.
He took my wife! My precious Christina. Those were Adrian’s exact words from last night. I thought his mind might be weakened because his time was coming, but now, I couldn’t help but wonder.
Salvatore didn’t get to meet his mother, he was only a baby, but we both knew she died soon after giving birth because of a bleed. Adrian didn’t make any sense last night, but the pain and hatred in his words was too real to be just a hallucination. It made me wonder what he was talking about, but now was not the time to dig into the past. The present was hanging over our heads heavy enough without those shadows.
I tiptoed to the kitchen hoping no one would hear me to get something put together for Salvatore. I knew he would fight me on eating, but the next few days would be hell for him and I couldn’t stay to make sure he was taken care of. I needed to do as much as possible before returning home.
It was early, only a few minutes past six, but to my surprise, Chiara was already downstairs looking straight into an empty cup of coffee.
“Hey,” I said softly, but she still jumped a little.
“Grazia.”
