Page 78 of The Man with a Treasure

On the suspended balcony, a cool breeze rushed over me. I inhaled and leaned my elbows on the railing, begging for clarity.

I heard the door open behind me but didn’t hear Sal’s heavy shoes. I didn’t even hear her bare feet pattering. She was so quiet. I only knew it was her when I saw her delicate arm reach out next to me, wanting to touch the mountain view. “I have never seen a mountain up close before.”

Before us, all she had seen up close was cruelty… Now she’s seeing up close a man trying to ignore her because she was capturing his heart.

“Have you?” she asked, her voice sounding more womanly than I preferred because I wanted to hear that voice for the rest of my life.

Life… That fucker got me again. “Yes.” I sighed. “Yes, I have. Different countries. Different mountains.” All while searching for you.

“Maybe I will get to see them with you someday.”

That will never be, Giordano Princess. You will soon be homebound. And I will have to watch you marry and live a life—Life. “You will see Italy’s soon enough.”

As soon as I returned her home, I was going to give a sincere apology to Isabella and let Sal take the reins of Scarlett’s security so I could start a life I was permitted to live. “Go back to Sal, Scarlett. Go finish the book.”

Time kept passing by with no word or sign from Italy. Sal and I were still running on little sleep due to waking at every little noise, along with caring for Scarlett during her nightmares. That’s why, if either of us held still long enough to watch TV with Scarlett, we usually fell asleep.

One evening, I woke on the couch to her sniffling. She had been in one of the captain’s chairs—which blew her mind and Sal’s theory of a non-moving chair—but was now sitting on the floor beside me. “Scarlett? You okay?”

It was dark, with only the glow of the TV shining against her perfect face. Her knees were to her chest. She wiped under her slender nose then pointed to the TV. She was watching Dumbo. It was the part when the mother elephant, in captivity, was cradling Dumbo within her large trunk that had slid through the bars of her cage.

Facing us, Sal was sleeping in the other captain’s chair as Scarlett began to softly hum along with the song, “Baby of Mine.”

As more of her tears dripped, my spirit cried in remorse for all she had lost. This was no longer a child in a woman’s body. This was a mother wanting her son.

When she started singing along with the last verse—the part of the movie where that little elephant was being led away by the little rat character—I bit the inside of my cheek.

Scarlett leaned her head next to the cushion of the couch where my head had been. “Angel, he misses his mother.”

I nodded. “I miss mine, too.”

“Is she in Italy, like mine?”

I laid my head back to look into her eyes. “No. She passed away.”

With an unusual maturity, her eyes searched mine. “Explain.”

“Do you remember the caterpillar?” Horror crossed her face, causing me to quietly chuckle to not wake Sal. “No. She wasn’t squished. She got sick.”

Her eyes closed. I knew she was trying to remember something from her past. Then they opened and she nodded. “What made her sick?”

I swallowed. A broken heart— “An illness that sometimes takes lives.” I touched her chest. “Life. What makes your heart beat.”

After everything she had been through, she still managed sympathy for me. “I wish her heart still beat for you, Angel.”

After a moment that hurt so bad it was paralyzing, I whispered, “Me too.”

Sudden worry crossed her angelic face. “Will your heart stop beating for me?”

All I had been trying to do was just that. Not let my heart beat for Scarlett.

My throat closed, momentarily strangling me. After another heavy swallow, I finally admitted, “I don’t want it to.”

Scarlett sighed as if that was all she needed to hear. “My heart doesn’t want to stop beating for you, either, Angel.”

As she started watching the TV again, my eyes drifted to Sal, who was staring at me.

After that night, I think my best friend purposely meddled. It felt like I was constantly being shown little Scarlett miracles that were so Heavenly, I would have to stop and enjoy them. Like the faint singing luring me down a hallway toward Sal’s bedroom. Following the sweet sound, I started to recognize the song. “Baby of Mine.