My Mafia Husband Called Me Unfaithful Then I Married His Enemy novel · Chapter 3 of 24
Chapter 3: The Pendant
Dario fights her for the red cloth and her mother's pendant breaks on the concrete. He repeats what Vittoria taught him: Grandma is a bill, and they will save money when she's gone.
I pulled my coat out from under Dario's shoe.
He let go of it, but he looked at the door first.
I knew that look.
He was checking whether a grown-up would come and take my side away.
The housekeeper stood against the wall with her hands folded, studying the floor.
"I'm only taking this," I said, and I lifted the red bundle. "Everything else can wait."
"You can't." He stepped in front of me. "Aunt Vittoria made a list of what's yours. It's short."
"Who told you that?"
"She did."
"Then say it."
He did, counting on his fingers.
"A coat. Two pairs of shoes. Your books from before."
"Before what?"
"Before Daddy bought you better ones."
It was a very short list, and Vittoria had written it, and my son knew it by heart.
He was four, and his sweater was buttoned wrong.
A year ago he would have climbed into my lap to read me the list.
Now he stood with his arms crossed and waited for me to obey.
"This belonged to Grandma," I said. "She gave it to me on my wedding day."
"It's in our house."
"It's in your house because I lived here."
"Not now."
The housekeeper took half a step toward us, and Dario turned his head, and she stopped.
I put the bundle in my bag.
He grabbed for it with both hands and caught the red cloth.
I pulled back.
The cloth opened, and the pendant dropped to the concrete.
It cracked once, loud in that small room.
One piece skidded under the shelf.
Dario stared at the floor, and I stared at the floor, and neither of us breathed.
I got down on my knees and reached for the pieces.
The silver frame had bent, and the blue flower had broken in half.
"Step back," I said.
He stepped back, and I gathered the fragments from beneath his shoe.
My mother had worn it to every Sunday lunch of my childhood.
I used to hold it in my fist when she carried me on her hip.
She had fastened it around my neck on my wedding morning, and she hadn't said a word the whole time.
"You shouldn't have pulled," Dario said.
"You shouldn't have grabbed."
His chin shook.
I knew what came next.
He would cry, somebody would run in, and I would be the adult who made a child cry.
I was the adult.
My hands were still shaking.
"Do you remember Grandma?" I asked.
He looked at a strip of cardboard on the floor and nudged it with his toe.
"The blue blanket on your bed. She knitted it."
"Aunt Vittoria threw that one out. It was scratchy."
The housekeeper made a small sound and covered it with a cough.
I picked up the last piece of porcelain.
"Do you know why Grandma lives in a rehabilitation center?"
"Because she's old."
"She's there because she was shot saving you and your father."
He shrugged.
"Your grandma kept you alive," I said.
"Aunt Vittoria says you always say that."
"Because it's true."
"She says Grandma is a bill."
My hands went still.
"A what?"
"A bill. Daddy pays it on the first of every month." He said it slowly, getting every word right.
"Dario, that's not a thing to say about anyone."
"Aunt Vittoria says when Grandma's gone, we'll finally save money."
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