He Loved Me in Secret, Until I Became Someone He Could Never Have novel · Chapter 10 of 32
Chapter 10: Right Hand
I read the confession twice.
The lobby was so quiet I could hear the pastry shop's mixer through the wall.
Tullio's four men stood along the wall with their hands folded.
My tellers stood at their windows with theirs.
"Your father came to me after his stroke," Tullio said gently. "He was ashamed. He wanted to make it right before God. I promised him I'd keep it between the Families."
"When did he sign this?"
"Ten days ago. At the hospital."
"With which hand?"
Tullio blinked.
"What?"
I turned the paper around and held it up so his men could see it.
"Look at that signature," I said. "Neat. Square. Right on the line. Slanting to the right, like a right-handed man signing a check."
"That's how he signs."
"That's how he signed."
I looked at the back room doorway.
"Ma."
My mother wheeled my father out into the lobby.
He was in his gray cardigan, with a blanket over his knees.
His right hand lay curled in his lap the way it had for three and a half weeks now.
The customers in line stepped back to let the chair through.
One old man took off his cap.
My father looked at Tullio.
Tullio looked at the floor.
"Papa," I said. "Show them."
My mother set a deposit slip and a pen on the counter, right at the edge.
My father lifted his left hand.
It was slow.
He held the pen like a child holds a crayon, fist closed around it.
He put it to the paper.
He started his name.
The first letter took him almost ten seconds.
Nobody in the lobby moved.
One of Tullio's men shifted his weight and the floorboard creaked, and the tallest teller turned and looked at him until he stopped.
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