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Alex was at the hospital before Dr. Graziani arrived. She wanted to fill Nicolas in on what was happening at the vineyard, if he was able to stay awake, and she had several questions for him.
“Buongiorno, Nicolas.” Alex smiled brightly when she saw Nicolas awake and without the tube in his mouth. Smaller oxygen tubes rested in his nostrils and curled around his head.
“Mia bella,” Nicolas said, his voice hoarse but his smile wide. “You just missed Mamma.”
“Sì, I waited so that you could have some time alone.” She hesitated before leaning in to kiss him lightly on the cheek, careful not to touch his bandaged chest.
“Only one side?” Nicolas teased.
Alex felt a light blush rise onto her cheeks. “Yes, unless you want to set back the healing of a rib or two,” she admonished. “How are you feeling?”
“You are a lady. I cannot say in front of you.” He winced as he tried to get more comfortable.
“Well enough to answer some questions?” She held up some of the paperwork he was working on before he fell.
“Sì, it will feel good to do some work.”
Before they could get started, Dr. Graziani arrived.
“Buongiorno, Nicolas, Alex. Come stai oggi?”
Nicolas told the doctor how he was feeling, where his pain seemed to be the most intense, and how he slept the previous night. The doctor checked his vitals and examined his injuries as best he could through the wrappings and casts.
“Ciò mi rallegra,” he said to Nicolas before turning to Alex. “I am pleased. His progress is good. A few more days, and I think he will go home.”
“Grazie mille, Dottore.” Alex smiled.
“I want to do one more tomografia computerizzata,” he looked at Nicolas for help.
“The scan for the brain?” Nicolas asked Alex.
“Sì, a CAT scan.”
“Sì, sì, e CAT scan. Grazie. After that, we will know for certain how long until he will leave. Questions?”
Alex wasn't sure what to ask, but Nicolas spoke quickly, “Quando posso tornare al lavoro?”
“No work for a while.” Dr. Graziani looked at Alex. “He will be hard to keep in bed.” Alex blushed at his words, though she knew that he was referring to the vineyard. The ulterior implication was not lost on Nicolas who laughed loudly and winced as he grabbed his chest and closed his eyes in pain.
Alex managed to hide the extent of her embarrassment. “I will keep him in bed.” The blush rose higher in her cheeks as she realized that she had blurted out the words without thinking. “I mean, I will make sure he doesn’t get up.” This just seems to be getting worse. She sighed. “He will follow your orders.”
Dr. Graziani laughed and winked at Nicolas. “Allora. I will return tomorrow. Ciao.”
When the doctor was gone, Alex buried her face in her hands. “Oh my gosh, that was embarrassing.”
“You are a beautiful woman. It makes it hard for a man to not think about such things.”
“Well, you better be able to think about something else. I have a lot of things to learn and a short time to learn them.”
“I can teach you anything and everything,” Nicolas teased, his meaning not lost on Alex.
“The vineyard, Nicolas, the vineyard.” Yes, I'm sure you can, I am quite sure you can.
For the next hour, Alex asked questions and made suggestions until she saw Nicolas’ pain level increasing. She pushed the call button, and a nurse promptly appeared. It wasn’t long before the medication began to kick in, and Alex knew that it was time to leave.
“Domani?” he asked quietly as his eyes closed.
“Sì, tomorrow.” Alex said as she kissed him goodbye.
When the workday was through, Alex decided that she couldn't wait until the following day to see Nicolas again. She was pleasantly surprised when she walked through the door and found him propped up in bed, changing channels on the television in the room. His eyes lit up when he saw her.
“Mia bella, you are back.”
“I had an idea,” Alex said after kissing his cheek and taking a seat in the chair. She held up the journal and spoke before he could protest. “I know, you’re not allowed to read. I’ve had a concussion before.” She rolled her eyes. “Please don’t ask me about how it happened, though.”
“Now I must know.” She loved the way his eyes twinkled when he teased her.
“Not gonna happen. Now, when I was home, I learned about this cool app.” She fished through her purse for her phone. “It translates using the camera on the phone. It’s not perfect, but I bet it’s close enough that I can figure it out. There,” she said when she found the phone and activated it. “Let me just open it. I downloaded it at the villa before I came over. Okay, it’s ready. Let’s see how well it works.” She opened the journal to the bookmarked page where they left off weeks prior and held the phone over the page. “It’s focusing... now translating... hold on. Okay, here it is.” She looked up triumphantly and found Nicolas staring at her.
“You always amaze me.”
“Sometimes I amaze myself,” she smiled and looked at the small screen. “I think I should bring my iPad next time, or I’ll be the one suffering with headaches.”
June 4, 1943
It is a miracle. Roberto’s infections are getting better, and his wounds are healing. Dr. Romano says he could relapse, but for now, he is alive. I went back today, though I did not want to. I did not want to see him like that again, with death beckoning for him. I am so glad I went. His color was better, and death did not seem to be lurking. But he was still in great pain, and I fear that his wounds may be too deep to fully heal - the wounds of both his body and mind. His mother says he cries in his sleep and that nightmares plague him day and night. She said that he called my name last night, and she couldn’t tell if he was asking for me or just dreaming. Papà is letting me visit after school instead of going home to help Mamma. I am grateful.
“Wow,” Alex exhaled. “Talk about history repeating itself.”
“Sì, but I am not battling death or wounds that will not heal.”
“Thank God for that.”
“Did you, were you, when you heard...”
“I was scared to death.” She reached for his hand. “Don’t ever do anything like this to me again.”
“Sì, promesso.”
June 6, 1943
I do not do anything to help Roberto. I just sit and hold his hand. I talk to him and read to him, but I do not know if he even knows that I am there. Sometimes, I think he squeezes my hand, but maybe I imagine it. Dr. Romano says I am doing all that I can, and that it is helping. I pray he is right. He is going to lessen the pain medication soon. I pray that Roberto does not suffer greatly. His lesions are much better, and the swelling is gone from his face, but the skin that is gone will take much time to grow back. The bandages will stay for some time. He looks almost like my Roberto, but in his mind, I do not know. We will know when the medicine is gone.
June 8, 1943
Roberto is awake! He is still in pain, but he is healing, and his mind is good. When the pain is too much, he is able to take a little medicine, but Dr. Romano wants him to not use it so much. He believes that too much medicine will be harmful. I know that he is right, but I do not like seeing Roberto in pain. I would bear it for him if I could. Today, I was there when Dr. Romano unwrapped what is left of his hands and feet. I had to run to the toilet where I left behind all that I ate today. I was embarrassed. Roberto is the one who suffers, and I cannot even look upon his missing fingers and toes without being sick. When I returned, he was crying. When he looked at me, I saw that it was not only pain but longing that made him weep. Longing for what we might have had. Will we ever be able to have a normal life together? I fear the answer.
“Will you get sick when they remove the casts from my arm and leg?”
“I don't know. Do you have all of your fingers and toes?”
Nicolas wiggled the fingers that were suspended above him. “I think I feel all five. How about my toes?”
“You’re terrible, you know. I’m pretty sure even if you had lost them, you’d still feel them. I think that takes a while to go away.”
“Sì, I have heard that, so perhaps I am wrong. Do you want to check to see if I am all here?” The look he gave her let her know that he was talking about more than the appendages on his arm and leg.
“I should stop reading right now and go home. I don’t know if you deserve the company. What do they have you on anyway? You have never acted like this before.”
“When a beautiful woman flies around the world to see if you are still alive, it makes you want to do things with that woman.” He smiled. “Things that would make you blush.”
Alex was already blushing, in more than one place she believed. “Nicolas, if you don’t behave, I will have to leave. I may even get a judge to declare you incompetent so that I can take over the vineyard.”
“Aha! I knew that was your plan all along.”
“Maybe so. I am certainly the one with the upper hand right now.”
“A judge would not agree. He would look at you and know that I am under a spell. He would side with me.”
“Nicolas, are you going to behave or not?”
“For now, bella, for now. How about one more reading before visiting hours end?”
June 12, 1943
Today, we learned that the island of Pantelleria fell to the American soldiers. They are in Italy. I am afraid. We could not trust the Germans, our allies, and we could not trust the Russians. I will never forgive them for what they did to Roberto. Though Papà says we can trust the Americans, how can I know that he is right? Will they, too, try to take our lands and beat our soldiers? Will we all be prisoners of war?
“That was short, but you look tired,” Alex observed. “Shall we stop for tonight?”
“I am afraid so.”
Alex closed the journal and put away her phone.
“I’ll be back tomorrow, but probably not until the afternoon. We only have two weeks left until harvest.”
“Maybe,” Nicolas reminded her. “Check the grapes every day. Do not let them get too ripe.”
“Sì, I know. Don’t worry. We all know what to do.” She kissed his cheek and started to leave, but his hand wrapped around her and pulled her back down close to his face.
“I will not be in this bed forever.” His breath on her cheek was warm and moist, and his eyes were filled with passion. Alex could not speak. She swallowed and nodded slowly. Nicolas smiled and closed his eyes. “Buona notte, mia bella.”
She gazed at him, and a smile played at her lips. That was some medicine they had him on. “Buona notte,” she whispered.
“Be careful, take it slow.” Alex tried to not hold too tightly to his torso as she helped Nicolas out of the car. Luigi held the wheelchair while Giovanni and Alex eased Nicolas down into the seat. It was not easy to maneuver a grown man with casts on one arm and one leg and several healing rib fractures out of a car and into a chair. All four of them were panting and sweating by the time Nicolas was settled. He looked at the ramp that his cousins had built so that he could get to the villa.
“This is where you spent your time when there is work to be done for the harvest.” Nicolas looked away in disgust. Luigi and Giovanni shrugged it off, knowing that his annoyance was aimed at himself and not at them.
“Let’s get him inside,” Alex told them. She led them into the house, holding open the door and making sure there was nothing in the way.
Nicolas assessed his temporary living arrangements. The sofa had been moved into the barn, and a twin bed sat in its place. The room was rearranged so that the television was visible from the bed, and some of Nicolas’ personal items had been moved into the room. There was one chair next to the bed, presumably for Alex or any visitors who stopped by to see him. Alex watched Nicolas ball his hand into a fist up a couple of times as he tried to maintain his calm.
“Your computer is on the kitchen table. We can move it into the parlor any time you want to do work, so you can sit and watch calcio to your heart’s content.”
Nicolas did not smile back at Alex, and his eyes clouded over. She watched him swallow hard and noticed a vein throbbing in his temple. He fisted his hand again.
“Andiamo, here we go,” Luigi said, and Nicolas braced himself as Luigi and Giovanni lifted him onto the bed. Alex had tried to replicate the height of the pillows that were on the hospital bed so that Nicolas could sit at the angle that seemed most comfortable.
“Can I get you anything?” she offered. Nicolas shook his head and looked away.
Luigi and Giovanni made a hasty exit, and Alex took a seat in the chair.
“Look, I realize this is not ideal and that you’re concerned about the harvest and wine making, but everything is under control. Aren’t you the one who trained your cousins? Don’t you trust that you taught them well?”
Nicolas looked at Alex for a moment and then sighed. “I am useless. I should be helping.”
“You are not useless. Believe me, I am going to put you to work any way I can find. They might all know what they’re doing, but I’m flying blind here. I’ve worked my butt off over the past week trying to get up to speed on what needs to be done, and I can tell you that we can handle this, but I’m going to need you to remind me of that every day. Tell me what I’m doing wrong or forgetting, keep me in line. I won’t be able to make this happen without you. So don't get any ideas about wallowing in self-pity and checking out on us. You’re going to work just as hard from this bed as you would in those fields. Do you understand me?”
Nicolas turned back toward the window and gazed at the fields without answering.
“And another thing, Nicolas Giordano,” Alex took a breath and released it, pausing until he turned back to look at her. “I am not going to be your maid. I will cook, but you will feed yourself. You will let me know if you need to get up, use the toilet, whatever, but I will not be at your beck and call every time you want to turn on the TV. You will learn to take care of yourself as best you can in order to keep up your strength.” Alex tried to sound tough and commanding as she repeated the instructions that Dr. Graziani gave to her even though all she wanted to do was take care of Nicolas’ every need.
Slowly, a sly smile crept across Nicolas’ face. “Will you bathe and dress me, though?”
Alex smiled. “You’re incorrigible. I should call your mother and have her come stay here to bathe and dress you.” She folded her arms across her chest and attempted a steely glare. Finally, Nicolas laughed.
“This might be fun,” he said. “We will see how tough you act when I begin to smell. You will drag me to the bath.”
Alex rolled her eyes and marched from the room, concealing her smile as the color rose on her cheeks.
“The vats are clean and ready. We have them covered so that nothing gets into them.” Alex sat the plate on the sick tray she had ordered online and then went back to the kitchen to get her own meal.
“This is not as good without wine,” Nicolas said as he tasted the pasta.
“Hey, we haven’t said grace yet, and you can complain all you want, but until you're off of the pain meds, you get no wine.”
After asking for God’s blessing and mercy, they ate and talked about what else was needed to be done within the next couple of weeks.
When they were through, Alex cleared the dishes and washed them quickly before resettling in the chair.
“I think I am feeling less pain tonight,” Nicolas said as she opened the journal.
“That's great,” Alex said. “Dr. Graziani will be pleased.”
“I think you can sit with me.” He smiled and raised his brow while patting the bed with his good hand.
“Nicolas, you have only been home for three days. Dr. Graziani said it will take six weeks for your ribs to heal.”
“I do not want you to sit on me, but beside me.” The look he gave her was akin to the way a puppy looks at his master at dinner time.
“Fine, but if you so much as wince, I’m moving.” Alex moved to the bed and stretched out beside Nicolas. She had to admit that this was much better than sitting on the chair.
“You’ve been on medicine for over a week now. Some nights, you’ve been asleep before I’ve finished reading. Would you like me to recap?”
“Recap?”
“Refresh your memory. How did you live in America and never hear the word recap?” Alex opened the journal and skimmed the pages. “It is now July of 1943. Roberto is healing. Isa graduated and spends her days tending to Roberto so that his mother can take care of his younger brothers and sisters and do her housework. The Allies have bombed and begun invading Italy, and Isa worries that they will kill Roberto for being a soldier. Paolo is still missing and presumed dead, though we know that if he were dead, you wouldn’t be here.”
“This is true,” Nicolas said, trying to concentrate with the smell of Alex’s freshly washed hair so close to his face.
“Isa continues to relay messages to and from her father and battles her own frustration over taking care of Roberto and becoming more involved in the Resistance. Mussolini is growing weaker, but only those in the Italian government and the Resistance know how vulnerable he has become. That brings us to the next entry.”
July 20, 1943
We hear the planes as they fly over us. The sound is not as ominous during the day, but at night, we fear that if we fall asleep, we will never awaken. Rome was bombed last night. I have always wanted to visit there but fear that there will be nothing left by the time this war ends.
Roberto is sitting up now, and his wounds have almost healed. His face is still bandaged, but every day, he looks more like himself. His skin is soft and pale, like a baby’s, and we know that it is a miracle that it has grown back at all. Though he is weak, Doctor Romano has ordered that we take walks in the morning and evening when it is not too hot. The physical exercise is good for Roberto’s feet and toes. I am no longer allowed to feed him because he needs to use his hands and fingers, but it is hard to watch him struggle with such a small task. Today, he threw his bowl of soup across the kitchen. His mother and I cleaned it up and gave him more without a word, but I think that if he does it again, I am going to tell him what I think. He is alive. He must stop feeling sorry for himself and work to get better. I will have to push him because I must be the strong one now.
July 23, 1943
Palermo has been captured by the Americans and the British. All of Sicily is now in their control. The Germans are afraid and are committing unspeakable acts throughout Europe. Our leader has not been heard from in days, and speculation is wild. Papà says it is only a matter of time before his rule ends.
Roberto walked on his own today. He went all the way to the end of the drive without leaning on me. I cried with tears of joy, and he smiled for the first time in weeks. He grows stronger every day, as does our love. We do not speak of the future because the present may be all we have, and we will spend the few days we might have left together.
July 25, 1943
Papà received word today that General Badoglio has been given rule over Italy. Il Duce has been arrested. I have not seen Papà so happy in a long time, but we must be careful. We do not know what will happen next. Papà says that General Badoglio has been one of us since the beginning, since he stepped down as King Emmanuel’s Chief of Staff three years ago after Il Duce formed his alliance with the Führer. The command of troops has been returned to King Emmanuel, and all over Italy, people rejoice. We feasted tonight on meat from Signor Lombardi, and Papà raised his glass in a toast to Badoglio. Now we wait to see what happens next.
July 26, 1943
Today, on the feast of our patron, St. Valens, Doctor Romano told us that Roberto will never be able to have children. The damage from the beatings is too bad, and he will have medical problems for the rest of his life. Roberto pushed me away when I tried to comfort him. Why does he not understand that I need his comfort as much as I know he needs mine? I am afraid that he will refuse to see me, that he will feel like he is robbing me of something. Why does he not know that all I need is him? I ache for the loss of bearing his children, but I refuse to stop loving him. I tell myself that all this means is that we will only have more love to share with each other.
There is no festival today, only prayers to be held at sundown. Alas, I cannot even find the will to pray.