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13
Genova, 2000
Salvatrice was agitated. She said it was because of the buzz in the airport, but she forgot where we were going. The Genova airport was as busy as a small street in Brooklyn on a Monday.
At least we had Romina to distract us. She almost bolted away from us twice already, so all my attention was focused on not losing our child before getting into the plane.
I was happy. I was fucking delirious. It was finally happening; I was getting a family with the woman I always wanted to be by my side. It’s what fueled me for the past week when I’d had no time to see either of my girls. I spent a lot of time here in Genova getting everything ready to leave. I was on the phone with the embassy, the consulate, and a few lawyers in the states. I also talked a lot with Paul, my butler, and put him in charge of having a room ready for Romina. He also was in charge of arranging transportation for my car, but unfortunately, with such short notice the car wouldn’t make it back sooner than two weeks. I’d just have to drive the Cadillac for a while.
“There’s a gift shop!” Romina screeched and jumped up and down. “Can I go? Can I go, Mama? Please!”
Salvatrice looked at her with a smile and then her eyes traveled to me.
“Roman, can you take her? I want to go and check on our flight information again.”
“We know our flight information. We have to be at the gate in forty minutes.”
“I just wanna be sure. Please don’t let Remy fool you into spending a fortune in an airport gift shop. She doesn’t need anything from there.”
“We’ll get you some chocolates. Come on, Romina, let’s go.”
“Yay!”
She wanted to skip ahead of me, but I caught her hand in time. I’d learned my lesson. Romina was a slippery kid.
“Walk slowly, baby girl. We don’t want you to bump into people.”
“Ok. Can I have that teddy bear?” She pointed to a brown stuffed animal with a bowtie around his neck and fur that looked ridiculously fluffy.
“Sure.”
“Oh, maybe I should get the dolphin.” She was distracted by another stuffed animal. “Or the doggy.” And another.
“Whatever you like.”
“I like the doggy. He’s black, like Max.”
“How about we take them all?” I shrugged.
“Can I?”
“Whatever you want.” I wasn’t going to listen to her mom. I had six years of spoiling to catch up on and a stuffed animal never hurt anybody, right?
When we walked out of the store Romina had four new toys, and I had two bags of chocolates for Muse and Catherinelle. I knew that Cat was expecting a hell lot more than airport chocolates, but this would have to suffice. Plus, I was coming home with a daughter and the mother of said daughter. I hoped that this would distract her from the fact that I didn’t make it to Milan to buy that cashmere shawl that she wasn’t able to order.
When we found Salvatrice again, her eyes were disappointed. I didn’t like seeing her like this, but it was no big deal.
“Come on, amore, don’t give me that look. It’s just a few toys and look how happy she is.”
“Roman, something happened.”
“What?” I sat Romina on a chair, next to the bags and told her to keep busy with her new fluffy toys. “What’s wrong?”
“Someone at the traveling agency made a mistake. The plane is fully booked up and only two of our tickets are valid.”
“Come again?”
“Only you and Romina can board the plane. I’ll have to take the next one.”
