Page 117 of The Unraveling of Julia

“Gos!”Giovanna’s hooded eyes lit up. “I amgos?”

Courtney shook her head. “No, youhave gos.”

“I ’avegos.” Giovanna leaned over, again. “Thegosis we win. We go against Vincenza and Croce.”

“Croce?” Julia’s ears pricked up. She looked again at the photo, but it seemed dark, then she remembered she had her sunglasses on. She slid them off, and Giovanna gasped, startled.

“Madonna!You look like one of our teachers.”

“What?” Julia asked, stunned. “Really?”

“Yes.” Giovanna scanned Julia’s face. “Verymuch!”

“Who? I’m here looking for my birth mother.”

Giovanna’s dark eyes flew open. She grabbed Julia’s hand. “Come!”

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Julia stood in the office with Courtney, so thrilled she could faint. Her heart was jumping out of her chest. Tears brimmed in her eyes. Surrounding her were Giovanna and a flock of teachers buzzing with excitement, yakking away in Italian, and smiling and pointing at her.

Julia tried to compose herself. “Hello, I’m Julia Pritzker, I’m adopted, and I’m looking for my birth mother. Giovanna says I look like a teacher here. Who?”

“Our Fiamma!” Giovanna answered, her eyes shining. The teachers behind her chattered away in delight.

“Oh my God! Amazing!” Julia’s head spun. “Did she take her class to a hospital?”

“Yes, last year!” Giovanna answered. “She teaches fourth grade!” The teachers burst into animated discussion. A younger teacher added, “Fiamma arranged for her class to meet doctors and nurses in a conference room. Covid hit us very hard, and the children had negative feelings about hospitals. She wanted to reassure them so they would consider entering the medical professions.”

Julia went speechless. Her heart soared. Tears filled her eyes. She’d found herbirth mother.

“Jules, you did it!” Courtney hugged her, lifting her off her feet, and Julia burst into laughter with sheer happiness.

“I can’t believe it! We did it! Can you believe it? I can’t!” Julia wiped her eyes, turning to the teachers. “Can you tell her I’m here and see if she wants to meet me? I don’t want to spring this on her but I want to meet her, so much.”

“No, unfortunately, Fiamma left for the day. She has an art show at Estrella Studio. It’s opening night.” Giovanna brightened. “You should go to the show. We give you the address. The gallery is in Florence.” The younger teacher added, “It’s in the Oltrarno neighborhood, on the south side of the Arno.”

“Thank you!” Julia had a second thought. “Maybe I should call her and ask her if she wants to meet me?”

“Certainly, yes. We will call for you.” Giovanna and the teachers reached for phones, and a young teacher was already making the call. She pressed some numbers into her phone and gave it to Julia.

Julia held the phone with trembling hands. She could barely breathe. The call was on speaker, and the teachers went tearily silent, exchanging hushed and thrilled looks while the phone rang once, then twice. The call went to voicemail, and a mechanical message came on, speaking rapid Italian.

Damn!Julia hung up, not wanting to leave such big news on a voicemail.

Giovanna and the teachers moaned, collectively deflated.

“Oh well, thank you.” Julia handed the phone back to the young teacher. “Now she can call me if she wants to, unless you want to give me her number.”

“Better to go see her!” Giovanna clasped her hands together. “You should meet her in person!” The teachers broke into wild chatter. “Yes, that’s the best!” “Go see her in Florence!” “How exciting!” They all surged toward Julia, group-hugging her, cooing and clucking.

Julia choked up, thinking,Tonight!

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Ican’t believe it!” Julia bounced in the back seat of the Uber, ebullient as a little girl. They were going to a gallery to meet herbiological mother. “We did it! We found her!”

“You found her!”