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Will Tiero always have this effect on me? I pray he will.
“Have you been awake long?” I ask, sitting up and cracking my neck from side to side. I’ve fallen asleep with my head resting on Tiero’s bed, and now my entire upper body feels sore.
After I had some lunch with Claudette, we talked some more until my eyelids grew heavy, my body demanding a nap. Claudette offered to stay with Tiero so I could sleep in a comfortable bed, but I declined.
I can’t explain it, but the thought of leaving Tiero’s side sends panic through my body, and I break out in a sweat. I need us to be together. Somewhere in my psyche, I must fear that he won’t be here when I come back, that something terrible will happen to him if I don’t watch over him.
“A few minutes.” His voice has a stronger Italian accent than usual, a sure sign he’s only just woken up himself.
I lean over his body and kiss him, revelling in the warmth of his mouth against mine, assuring myself once more that he’s truly alive and well.
“How are you feeling?” I ask, brushing strands of his soft hair from his face.
“Better now. I’m right where I need to be,” he whispers against my lips.
My brows draw together in confusion. “You need to be in a hospital bed in Homer, Alaska?”
He chuckles, the sound music to my ears.
“I need to be withyou,” he clarifies.
That puts a huge smile on my face.
I sit down on the head-end of the bed and run my fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp.
“I had a dream… or a nightmare, I’m not sure which. But Neptune appeared just like he did in my dreams when I was a child.”
Okayyy. Is this the drugs talking? Should I check with Dr. Broad Back if this is normal? But for now, I just listen.
“He showed me my old life, the blood, the suffering, the pain. Papa and nonno were there too, handing me their legacy.”
“Nonno?” I ask. “Is that your grandfather?”
Tiero nods. “Yes, he died when I was young. I don’t remember much about him, and that’s not a bad thing. He had a reputation for being a cruelbastardo.”
He tries to sit up, but winces in pain. I stand up to adjust the tilt of his bed and fluff his pillows to make him more comfortable.
“When I was very young, I had these Neptune dreams quite often, but they stopped after mama’s death.” Tiero’s face takes on a bittersweet, faraway look.
Is he remembering the dreams or his mother? I kiss his forehead, wishing I could take away any sad memories.
“Neptune would always point his trident to some distant waters. They were glowing in the colors of dawn, warm and inviting. ‘This is where you need to be,’ he would say time and time again.
“I realize now he meant you. He knew you would guide me away from the world of darkness and toward brighter horizons. He wanted me to leave the world of my ancestors behind and create something new.”
“Wow! That’s huge given you had the importance ofla famigliadrummed into you.”
Tiero’s eyes find mine. They’re startling in their intensity.
“It’s why I never did anything about it. Even when the opportunities came along.”
I slide back onto the mattress beside him and wrap my arm around his shoulder. “You had opportunities to leave before?” I ask, surprised.
Tiero’s eyes widen for a moment before a low, rumbling chuckle breaks through. “How is this all connected?” he mutters more to himself, shaking his head in amazement.
“What?” I ask, my curiosity raised.
“I had these dreams more than twenty years ago, and it was all laid out then. How is this possible?”
