No place like home
Sorrento, Italy
CARLO PARKED OUTSIDE
of his villa. Typically, he would drive around to the back of his home and keep his car hidden. It was a precaution most of the enforcers used during times of war. But he was armed and ready for any trespasser. Carlo left his car with his gun in his hand cursing the late hour. He had hoped to arrive early enough to finish his talk with Adara. She was probably asleep. As he walked up the path to his small villa he sensed something odd about the darkness that followed. It felt as if he were being watched. He eased his finger over the trigger of his gun and bowed his head a bit so his gaze could slip left and then right without alarming his pursuer.
He wasn’t alone.
“Eh, Carlo?”
The shadows parted from his vision and Rolando stepped into view. The teenager kept his hands up. Both were shaky with fear. Rolando was sixteen years old and one of the orphans that slept, ate, and drank at his place when he was home. A small kid for his age, he looked two years younger.
“It’s true. You’re back?” Rolando asked.
Carlo lowered his weapon. Rolando looked as if he wanted to hug him. But the young one knew better. Carlo wasn’t a hugger. Not of men. Instead he offered Rolando a half-smile. The best he could do.
“Come va, Rolando
?”
“Va bene!
Much better because you are back. I, ah, brought my tent when I heard.” Rolando pointed to the tent he pitched on Carlo’s land. He had a little lawn chair and small grill next to it.
“I won’t be any problem. I’ve seen her... your woman,” Rolando looked at the house. “She’s... pregnant. I can help her. Go to the store for her. Look out for her while you are gone. Keep her safe.”
“Where are the others?”
Rolando frowned. “Others?”
“The boys, Calògiru, Augustu, Bini, the rest of them? Where are they?”
“You don’t know?”
“I wouldn’t ask if I knew,” said Carlo.
“Umberto came, back in November. He took some of them and told the others that they were to get the hell off the land or he’d shoot them. They were either too young or weak to be family. I guess I’m both because I failed. Giovanni took one look at me and sent me away. I begged Umberto to make the boss reconsider. I had nowhere else to go. He said... never mind what he said. The answer was no. I asked him to tell us where you were. He told me you put him in charge. I didn’t believe him. I know you wouldn’t dump us like trash.”
Carlo had heard a few rumbles about Umberto being elevated in status among the men when he returned. And he knew that Umberto was with Giovanni now after he himself had declined to go to Sicily. But he didn’t understand why Umberto would insert himself in his personal business. That was a deadly mistake.
“You eat?” Carlo asked.
“I got a cooler with some meat I was going to cook on my grill.”
Carlo reached into his back pocket. He removed his wallet and flipped through the bills. He gave Rolando what he’d consider a week’s pay to a young capu
in the family. Rolando eyes stretched at the sight of the money. It was probably more money than the kid seen in a single month of hustling. “Pack your shit up. Get a room, clothes and a good meal. You work for me now.”
“I do? As an enforcer?”
“Vaffaculo!
” He ruffled Rolando’s hair. “You’re an earner.”
“Grazie,
Carlo. Yes! I earn for you.”
“Don’t get too excited. You don’t know how to do the job yet.”
“Doesn’t matter. You’re the boss. I wouldn’t go away. Not even when Umberto put the gun to my head and said so. I stayed in the forest and I watched your place because I knew one day you would come back. I’m loyal to you. I’ll do any job, for you, Carlo.”
“Find the runts that Umberto chased away. They want to stay here on my land tell them I said they can. And get more information for me on Umberto’s moves. I want to know everything. Where he eats, sleeps, who he fucks, all of it.”
“Si Carlo. Grazie! Grazie!”
Carlo winked. He went up the sidewalk to the door without looking back. He knew Rolando would find his way. When he arrived home he again was welcomed by the fresh smell of cooked beef and pasta. At the late hour that surprised him. It would take some getting used too. Beer and corn-chips were the meal of choice for him after a long day. He closed the door and wiped his hand down his face. Carlo wasn’t a man prone to nervousness. But he was anxious, and worried.
“Is it you?”
Home looked unfamiliar. She’d cleaned and tidy all of his clutter. Everything was in order. His woman was nesting. He’d never known her to be this particular with cleaning until now.
Adara smiled. She appeared in a white dress that stopped at her knees and had no waist band. It draped over her baby bump. She told him they had two more months. He wanted to see the baby now.
“You left so early I didn’t get a chance to make you a cup of cappuccino.”
“We should finish our talk,” he said.
“I’m ready. If you are.”
She went to sit but when he saw how her small frame and large belly unbalanced her he stepped forward and offered her help. Taking her arm, he moved her over to the sofa and helped her sit. She grinned as if he’d swept her off her feet romantically. Maybe she considered his motives romantic in nature. The true meaning behind his actions felt akin to insecurity.
“What do you want to know, Carlo? You haven’t asked me many questions.”
“Why?”
“Why was I released?”
“Why did you come here, back to me?”
“I... I came back for you, I told you why.”
“You know, if you weren’t pregnant—”
“If I weren’t pregnant what would you have done when you walked into that door and found me in here?”
He struggled with the answer.
“Is that why you were gone before I woke this morning?”
He didn’t answer.
“Is it why I haven’t seen you in two days since I came? Why you’ve stayed away?”
He glanced over to her.
She let go a deep sigh of exasperation.
“I’m not running or hiding anymore. If you need time, then fine. But I’m not going anywhere. Neither is your son.”
He continued to sit in silence.
“Gio warned me. They all did. Even Arielle. They all said you could not forgive me. They said I could get hurt. But I told them they were wrong. I know you. The better part of you. The part of you that liked American music and loves to work on his electronics. The part of you that helps those boys who come to you hungry and scared of the streets. I know the better part of you. The part you, you never show them.”
He leaned forward but stared at the floor. “I wouldn’t have hurt you.”
“I believe you.”
He looked over at her. “But part of me would have wanted too. You played me for a fool. You are no better than any woman in my life... if you weren’t pregnant and I found you here... I would have told you to stay away from me. To get as far away from me as you can. Because that part of me that they
know, doesn’t know how to forgive.”
Adara gave him a patient smile. “You’ve just been through so much. I understand—” she reached to touch him but he knocked her hand away.
“Fuck talking to me like a child.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. She sat there for a moment before speaking again. “You’re a good man, not a monster. You cared for me. Maybe not like you care for her—”
“Don’t bring her up.”
“Why? What if she was standing here pregnant and not me? What would you have done to her? For her?”
“The same thing I’m going to do for you. Be a father.”
“Is that all?”
“There isn’t much left of me to give sweetheart.”
“But I want more. I want a family. Don’t you?”
“Eh, fuck family.” Carlo waved off the premise.
“Then tell me. I’m ready. Tell me. What is my future? I’m putting my life in your hands.”
“This.” He gave a nod to his place and their surroundings. “Me, this is all I have to offer.”
“And that will be enough for me. Enough for your son.”
She put her hand to his knee. Carlo couldn’t help but smile. She was a sweet kid. And he did care for her. But he’d been through too much shit to believe in fairytales. The best he could offer was giving her a financial one. So he pushed the door to his heart open, just a crack. Enough for him to relax her and not scare her away.
“I’ve done a lot of bad things in life, Adara.”
“Carlo, that doesn’t matter.”
“It does. One day it will matter. Before that happens, before I have to pay for my sins, I will do everything to protect you and my son. Give you the life you deserve. Better than any life my father gave me. I thought saving my brothers was my salvation. I was wrong. This—,” he put his hand to her pregnant swell. “This is what I am living for. From this day until my last day, you and my boy will be my number one priority.”
“All we want is you,” Adara dropped her head on his shoulder “Where have you been? What has happened to you? Since I’ve been gone. Can you tell me?”
He scratched his jaw. “I was away... with someone who was pregnant. She had the baby girl.” He looked over to Adara. “I helped her when she had the baby.”
“How did that make you feel?” she asked.
“I can’t explain it.”
“Try.”
“It was, a feeling I never expected.”
“Pure, that feeling of life? Isn’t it?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yes. Pure.”
“And what happened to the baby? To the mother?” she touched his hand.
“Nothing.”
“So that’s the end of the story?”
Carlo smiled. “Not the end. I come home and you’re here. I thought there was going to be an assassin waiting for me, sent by Giovanni to put a bullet in my head.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Doesn’t matter. For the first time in my life God is looking directly at me and I can’t look away. I never thought he saw me before. I prayed and he didn’t answer. But now, he’s looking at me. Watching to see what I’m going to do next.”
“So we’re a blessing? Or a second chance? Or a test?”
“Come closer,” he said.
“You sure?” she asked with a coy smile.
“Come here.”
Adara scooted in under his arm and got as close as she could. He put his arm around her shoulder and kept her near. He lifted her chin with his finger. “You’ve given me something no woman ever has. No woman. That makes this a blessing.” He brushed his lips across hers, and when she responded he gave her a kiss. Not the one his loins wanted, but the one that conveyed all he felt.
“I dreamed this so differently.” Adara rested her head and hand on his chest. She closed her eyes. “I thought you could never forgive me. I just... I thought I’d have to work harder to convince you to love me.”
He relaxed with her under his arm and closed his eyes.
“I’ve kept dinner warm. Started it late because I knew you were coming. I just knew it. I’m going to fix us something to eat and—.”
“Let me do it.”
“Really?”
“I’ve spoken to Gio. I went back to the streets and finished some business for the boss. That’s where I’ve been. Now I have some time off for the next few days. I’m going to take care of you.”
“Really?”
Carlo let her go and left her on the sofa to stretch out. In the kitchen half the work was done. He loved a woman that could cook. He finished off dinner and served it to her by the television. She did most of the eating and smiling at the show on TV. He kept stealing glances of her. Everything he felt in that moment if bottled would have a single name. Hope.
