They Spoke Sicilian Over My Head, So I Called My Don Grandfather novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: The Fitting

I had only a few moments.

I photographed the four deeds with my phone, put them back in their folder, shut the safe and spun the dial.

The painting went up on its hook.

It hung one finger too high.

Boots crossed the hall.

I pulled a duster off the shelf, picked up a framed photograph from the desk, and was holding it when Remo walked in.

"Baby?"

"I'm in here," I said brightly. "I wanted to surprise you."

He stopped in the doorway.

His eyes went over the room, the desk, the painting, my hands.

"Surprise me how?"

"By cleaning." I held up the duster. "The whole house smells like a hotel. I was going to start in here, but the painting's crooked, so I think I knocked it."

He crossed the study and straightened the frame himself.

He did not look at the safe.

"You don't clean," he said. "That's what the housekeeper is for."

"I wanted to do something for you."

"You're sick."

"I'm better."

He turned, and his face softened.

It was the face I had fallen in love with years ago.

He took the duster from my hand, set it on the desk and pulled me against his chest.

"I missed you," he said into my hair. "That cousin of yours. What a pain."

"He worries."

"I'll talk to him." His hand moved down my back. "I'll talk to everybody. Come on. Let's go upstairs."

I felt nothing.

Not fear, not disgust. Just a quiet where my own feelings should have been.

His phone buzzed in his coat.

He glanced at it and I saw the name before he turned the screen away.

Cinzia.

"Work," he said. "Give me a minute."

"Of course."

He stepped into the hall, and I heard his voice drop to something low and quick.

In my cardigan pocket the call was still open.

I took the phone out.

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