Don's Regret Came Too Late novel · Chapter 7 of 32
Chapter 7: The Cot
"My mother's apron," I said, and held it up.
"In Vittorio's study?"
"I was looking for a pen. To leave him a note."
"Did you find one?"
"He keeps them in the top drawer."
Davide nodded slowly, like I'd told him something interesting about the weather.
He didn't move out of the doorway.
He was shorter than Vittorio, and softer in the middle. He'd taught me to play scopa at my wedding.
He'd carried Emilio's coffin at the front left corner, crying openly in the rain.
"Vittorio called me from the car," he said. "He was worried about you. Alone in the house."
"I'm fine."
"I'm sure you are." He looked at my duffel bag. "You've been through a lot this week. The soup. The papers. Monday."
"Monday's my business."
"Of course it is."
He stepped into the study. I stepped back without meaning to, and my hip hit the desk.
He stopped a few feet from me. Not close. He never needed to be close.
"You know what I noticed on Monday?" he said, gently. "You were only in there twenty minutes."
My heart stopped.
"Nobody's done in twenty minutes, Noemi. Not that procedure. I asked a doctor I know."
I said nothing.
"So I thought, maybe she changed her mind." He tilted his head. "That would be a happy thing. A Corsetti baby. Vittorio would be over the moon."
"I didn't..."
"But then I thought, maybe she'd rather he didn't know. Maybe she's got her reasons." He smiled wider. "And who am I to get in the middle of a marriage?"
"What do you want, Davide?"
"Want?" He looked hurt. "I want this family to be happy. Silvia's happy. Vittorio's happy, or he will be." He took a cigar from the box on the desk and put it in his pocket. "You should be happy too. Somewhere quiet. Your father's getting old. Pharmacy hours are hard on a woman in your condition."
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