The Widowed Don Hired a Doctor for His Son, and She Brought Two Boys Who Wore His Face novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: The Only Door

The house was dark by midnight.

The last of the old men had gone out into the cold with their hats on.

Every one of them had stopped in the hall to touch Nico's arm.

The women had washed every dish.

Carmela had put the three boys in Teo's room, in the big bed, with the fish light on, and sat by them until they slept.

Then she had gone to the chapel and shut the door.

I had stood at the foot of the stairs and watched her go.

She needed a room of her own, a door that shut, and a plaster Virgin with a chipped nose.

I went up.

The bedroom was dim, with one lamp on the night table.

Nico sat on the edge of the bed in his shirtsleeves, with his elbows on his knees and his hands hanging between them.

He had taken off his jacket and his shoes.

He looked like a man who had carried something up a long hill, put it down at the top, and could not feel his arms.

I shut the door and turned the key.

He looked up at the sound.

"Ines," he said.

"I'm here," I said.

"I was going to wait for you in the kitchen," he said.

"I thought you might want the house to yourself."

"I don't," I said.

"I want you."

He drew a long unsteady breath.

"I said what I'd do to you tonight," he said.

"In the closet, with my mouth against your ear.

"I meant every word."

"I remember," I said.

"I'm not sure that I can," he said.

"I'm not saying I don't want to.

"I want to so much that I can't see.

"But I have been standing for twelve hours, and I think if I lie down I won't stop crying."

I crossed the room.

I knelt on the rug in front of him in the green dress and took his hands from between his knees.

I held them in both of mine.

"Then cry," I said.

"I'm not here for the closet.

"I'm here for you."

"I'm going to ask you something," he said.

His voice had gone rough.

"I'll ask it once, and I'll never ask it again.

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