My Sister Popped The Bubble Of My Happy Marriage novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Paring Knife

Mirella learns she is pregnant and wavers, overhears Adriano comfort Fiorella on the balcony, and at a family dinner turns her sister's apple knife toward her own belly.

The doctor turned the screen toward me and showed me a small, steady flicker.

I had been sick for nine days. Adriano came home earlier every night now, with a box of pastries that were always Fiorella's favorite, and I threw up over the toilet before I could eat one.

On the ninth morning I called the number on the white card.

I didn't know why. I only knew that no one else on my phone would answer without asking me a question.

The car was at my door in twenty minutes, and Leandro Bruni was behind the wheel.

He said, "Mrs. Cattaneo," and nothing else.

I had been cold since the night of the party. Before I could reach for it, the heat on the passenger side went up one notch.

A nurse gave me a printout of the scan.

She said a second screening had been run on my blood, and those results would take a few days.

I texted Adriano one line from the exam room, because it was his child too.

He reached the waiting room with sweat on his forehead.

He pulled me against his chest and said, "Mirella. We're having a baby."

For one second, I wavered. I'll say it plainly.

He cancelled a port meeting and sat through every test with me.

Leandro's car stayed at the curb the whole morning, and when I came out, he did not look at us.

Adriano drove me home himself and talked about the nursery.

He asked whether I wanted it yellow, and whether I hoped for a boy or a girl.

I watched his profile and thought that maybe the child could be a reason to start again.

When Fiorella heard, she sent a set of baby clothes and a thin silver necklace.

She laid the necklace in my palm. "I want to be the godmother. I'll be the best one anyone ever had."

Adriano sat beside me with his arm on the sofa behind my back.

"The doctor wants Mirella to rest. I'll be home more from now on."

Fiorella's hands stopped on the gift box.

A moment later the edge of the wrapping paper opened a thin red line across her fingertip.

Adriano put the printout down and took her hand.

"How did you do that?"

He walked her to the kitchen to run it under the tap.

The paper slid off the table and lay on the floor, and nobody picked it up.

That night, I went down for a glass of water and heard his voice on the balcony.

"The baby was an accident. It doesn't change where you are in my heart."

Fiorella stood with her back to him, and her shoulders were shaking.

"I can't stand there and watch the three of you play family."

He was quiet. Then he pulled her into his arms.

"Give me a little more time."

I stood in the dark kitchen with the glass in my hand.

The small hope that had just started burned out.

On Sunday, my parents and Gaetano came for dinner at the townhouse.

Fiorella offered to cut apples for me, since I couldn't keep much else down.

She took the paring knife from the block and cut one into neat wedges on a plate.

Then she set the knife on the board and leaned across to lay her hand on my stomach.

"The baby will be born safe and sound."

I looked at her smile.

I took hold of the wrist that had just been holding the knife.

I turned the blade in her fingers until its point rested against my own belly.

The color left her face.

Adriano was on his feet. "Mirella, what are you doing?"

I didn't look at him.

I kept my eyes on my sister.

"Every day, you look at my child and smile," I said. "Doesn't it wear you out?"

Her hand started to shake.

I pushed the point in a fraction deeper.

"Isn't this what you want?"

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