“YOU DIDN’T SAY ANY such thing!” Mrs. Concannon cried as she folded chopped rosemary and plucked thyme into a dumpling batter.
“Yes, I did. And I think it almost killed him,” Bella said as she trussed a chicken.
“I wish I could have seen it! I think I would have peed in me bloomers!”
“I nearly did!”
The two ladies clutched each other in a fit of laughter until a persistent rapping on the kitchen window made Bella turn to see a familiar face hovering on the other side of the leaded glass.
“Joe!” she screamed.
Long Joe. Lean Joe. Eager Joe.
The Portuguese cowboy, hatless and smiling a chaw- toothed smile.
In the rectory yard, the two of them sat on a stone bench under a blazing maple tree sipping cups of coffee as the sun set behind the church steeple, making everything glow like it was dipped in eternity.
“Why aren’t you up in Massachusetts with Connie and your baby, Joe?”
“We moved back down to Jersey about a month ago. Connie wasn’t doing so good up there. And neither was I, to tell you the truth. We’re living at the factory now. With your family. Your papa got me a job on one of the assembly lines next to Tony. It really stinks, but it’s a steady living. As soon as the day guard leaves, I’m gonna jump over your papa into the gatehouse. Connie’s helping Lulu with the cooking.”
“How’s that going?”
“Everyone holds their nose when they eat.”
“How’s my mamma?”
“The same. She sleeps all the time and says nothing.”
“How’s Little Luigi?”
“The five-and-dime caught him stealing last week. Your papa took a belt to him real good. Poor kid hasn’t stolen anything since, I don’t think.”
The church bells clanged.
“Why are you here, Joe?”
“I figured you were gonna need someone to be there for you when the time came. And I figured it might as well be me.”
Long Joe. Lean Joe. Sweet Joe.
“I talked to that young priest,” he continued. “The one who looks to be about Luigi’s age.”
“Father Michael?”
“Yeah. What a wet sackcloth he is.”
“He’s really nice. He was the only friend I had here until I started cooking.”
“He made me talk to the old monsignor.”
“That man thinks I’m a witch.”
“He asked me if I was the papa of your bastard baby.”
“What did you say?”
The tips of Joe’s ears blushed red. “I said yes.”
“Why did you say that, Joe?”
“I don’t know. I wanted to protect you, I guess. That old pervert laid into me for a good hour. I never heard so many Bible verses in my entire life. Then he made me get on my knees in front of him and confess all my sins.” Joe was quiet for a few minutes. For the first time, Bella noticed his fingernails. It was clear that he bit them. They looked like they were gnawed down to the cuticles.
“Joe, are you okay?”
Joe placed his empty coffee cup on the bench between them. “Connie’s pregnant again.” He looked at Bella. His blue eyes were hard, the color of the sky just before a storm enters the atmosphere. “I don’t want to have another baby with your sister,” he confessed. One of his fingers was wedged between his teeth. He placed the other hand on hers, more for his own comfort. “I wish I was havin’ your baby with you. I really do.”
“I want you to leave.”
“What?”
Bella threw her empty coffee cup in the air. “Get the fuck out of here, Joe! Go back to your fucking wife and her fucking babies!”
“Bella, please …!”
“GETTHEFUCKOUTOFHEREGETTHEFUCKOUTOFHEREGETTHEFUCKOUTOFHERE!” she screamed until the baby in her belly did a backflip, until her brother-in-law jumped out of the rectory yard and his pickup truck peeled away.