Chapter 19: Rosaria's Price

Rosaria came up the bakery stairs at two in the morning with Nico in front of her and Gina behind.

She had taken off her gold cross and put it in her pocket.

I stood between her and the door of the back room.

"You can look from there," I said.

"Elena."

"You can look, Rosaria. You will not hold her."

She nodded once.

Gina's sister stood beside the isolette in her scrubs with her arms folded.

My daughter was awake.

Her fists were up by her ears, and her thick dark eyebrows were pulled together at the lamp.

Rosaria came close and looked down at her through the clear plastic.

For a long time she said nothing at all.

"She has Ruggieri's brow," she said finally, in Italian.

"She has my father's."

"He stood at my husband's side on the docks for twenty years. He would be proud of you."

I did not answer that.

She put one finger against the lid and her hand started to shake.

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