Page 45

EPILOGUE

N ow I know what it means, to protect the family. Protecting my family is everything to me.

In bed with Alessio, I take the chance to talk.

Bruno was adopted, and Carlo was the son of Ester and her first husband. Don Fortuna was Alessio’s father.

I tell him, “I know that what I told you must be hard to take. So, there’s something special that I want to give you, to show you that I understand.”

He props his head up, leaning on his elbow to listen.

“You decide what it’s worth, Alessio. Maybe you want to kill me. And maybe this won’t make any difference to you at all, but when I lost my memory I was carrying another secret with me.” the look in his eyes deepens.

“The morning that all of that happened, I took a test.”

“What kind of a test?”

“The kind you get from a pharmacist. The kind with a little blue line on.”

It takes him a moment. Honestly, men are so dim. Then his eyes light up.

“A pregnancy test?”

I nod.

“And?” Seriously? How likely is it that the punchline of this story will be, ‘But guess what, I wasn’t pregnant’?

He’s still waiting, so I put him out of his misery. “And I’m pregnant.”

“Wow!” He’s still for a moment, like he’s in shock. Then he hugs and kisses me and holds me and tells me that I’m beautiful.

“I love you so much, Lucia.” With his hand on his forehead, he says, “I can’t get over this. We’re going to have a baby!”

I take his hand. His eyes are still jumping so I wait while he settles.“Not only that, and this is something Ican’t know for certain, but I think, at least, I have a strong hunch, that the baby is yours.”

“You’re kidding!” He lights up so much he almost lifts out of the bed.

“If you ever repeat it, I’ll deny that I ever said it, and I may even kill you. The only reason I’m telling you is because if you do still want to kill me, you might want to wait until after I’ve given birth. Then you can either shoot me yourself or have me taken out. I’ll understand.”

“Come on…”

“I’m telling you I understand. I killed your father. I’ve made peace with it. He tried to hurt me, so he got what was coming to him. But I can’t expect you to see it that way.”

“Can you do a DNA test?”

“I won’t. Nobody’s going to stick a needle in my baby while he’s in my protection. Not without a serious medical reason.”

“I think I’m entitled to know.”

“You may be.”

“I am.”

“If the baby is yours you are. If he’s not, then it’s none of your damned business.”

“That’s twice you said, ‘him.’ Do you know? Have you had a test to know if it’s a boy or a girl?”

“Calm down. No, I haven’t. I haven’t even had an ultrasound yet. But I feel that it’s a boy.”

“So you don’t know. Not for sure?”

“I’m pretty sure. But, no. I don’t have any science to back it up. Not yet.”

“You will, though. Right?”

“Of course. I’m going to get a scan next week. Come along if you want.”

“Oh, I really do.”

“You can all come.”

“Wait…”

“No. I told you first and I’m not going to share my hunch about the paternity with anyone else. Neither are you. You understand? Not until after there’s been a test. Maybe not even then. And maybe there won’t be a test. I haven’t decided.”

“Don’t I get a say?”

“Hmm. Let me think. No.” It’s great to see him so excited, though.“Apart from that, you’ll get to come along with Bruno and Carlo, and you will all know everything else at the same time.”

“But, I–”

“You’re going to have to wait. Nature takes her own sweet time.”

The way he holds me now, if he’s not the father of this child, he can definitely be the father of the next one. Or the one after. Or the one after that.