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“This is for my Evie?”
“It was,” I tell her as she hands it back to me.
“Was?”
“Yeah, Don Rossi has made it clear that she should get back together with Johnny, and Evelyn’s made it clear that she wants this marriage annulled. I’m a fucking fool. I thought this shit was real. My mother’s rings deserve to be with someone who wants to be with me, you know?”
“I do know. And I’m sorry about your mother, Rosalie, Alessandro. She was a wonderful woman, friend, mother, everything. She was so perfect that every wife wanted to be like her until that shit happened. And then what happened to you? A boy needs his mother. Thank you for bringing her home.”
“Thank you for letting me love her, even if only for a little while. I’ll see you around, Mrs. Rossi.”
“Take care of yourself, Alessandro.”
24
EVELYN
Tightness blooms all over my chest, blasting heat to my face, across the bridge of my nose as I hurry upstairs into my room where I can’t even cry in peace because the twins are in my bed. Still, I can’t stop the tears. The silent sobs of my heartache spill down my cheeks as I open the door to leave when I hear a whisper.
“Zia Evie?” Courtney whispers, rubbing her eyes with her small hands. “Are you okay?”
“No, but I will be.” Force of habit has me pulling out my phone. “Jeeze, it’s ten after two in the morning. I'm sorry I woke you, baby. Go back to sleep, Court.”
“I can’t. Roman’s feet stink and he won’t stop kicking me.”
“Why isn’t he in the spare room with the bunk beds?” I ask quietly and tiptoe over to the bed where I see how much she looks like Shana. Thick, black, wavy hair and big brown eyes, but she has the same freckles across the bridge of her nose, like me.
“He said he’s scared Dad’s gonna come back and steal us. We’re waiting for Mom to come home. We don’t want to go with him.”
“I’m not scared,” Roman says with his eyes still closed. His arms are folded across his chest, but he’s very much awake. “I’m in here because Court’s scared to sleep in this room by herself. The bed’s too high and there’s a monster under it. Granddad said something about the butcher of Howard Beach lives under there.”
I groan. I could kill Dad for filling their heads with that nonsense. Instead, I stoop down and slide my body under the bed. Mischief gets the better of me as I use my feet to kick the mattress through the slatted platform, growling and roaring.
“Ahh, the monster got me.”
They scream and burst into laughter as I pull myself out from under the bed. “Yuck. Now I need to shower.”
“Aww man, does that mean we have to go back to the bunk beds?” Courtney asks. “Nan said that you’re living with your husband. We were going to change the spare room into Roman’s room, and this one is going to be mine.”
“It’s still going to be yours,” I tell her. “I’ll sleep in the bunk bed for now. You guys get some sleep. You’re both super safe here. No one’s coming to steal you.”
“Or shoot at us?” Roman deadpans with an eye opening in my direction. His light brown hair falls like a 90s boyband member around his ears.
“No shooting, either.”
“Mom can take us away, though, right?” Courtney asks.
“She’s in jail, Court. Don’t be stupid.” Roman scoffs and turns away from us. “It’s all stupid Dad’s fault. He let her take the blame for what he did. That’s not what men do.”
My eyes well with tears from the pain and hurt in his voice. He sniffs and wipes his face on the sleeve of his pajamas, sitting up angrily and pointing at me. “Granddad said that a man keeps his promises. If he does something, good or bad, he owns it. That’s what a man does.”
His voice cracks, and I want to stop him, but Roman has a lot to get off his chest.
“If he gets in trouble, caught dead to rights” —he sniffs his tears— “he’s gotta be a man. He gotta say he did it and not get anyone else in trouble. He’s not a man. He took our mom away, and, and, Zia Evie, wh–wh–what if she never comes back?”
His shoulders slump as the floodgates open. I climb onto the bed right in the middle of my precious niece and nephew to let them cry into my sweater over the shitty way life’s been handling all three of us lately. It's not fair to them. They have to get away from this shit.
“I know this is a lot on you guys. I’m going to tell you a secret.” I sniff away my own tears. “The adults don’t have any idea what they’re doing, but I promise your mom is coming back. I swear she’s coming back for you guys.”
