Atavus (24 page)

“Emilio and I broke up girl, that maricón!” Jessica wailed.

“Oh Jess, I am so sorry,” Selange whispered. The brawling continued along with the dramatic music from Carmen’s show. “What happened?”

“Yo no sé. He only said I’m on him too much.”

Selange listened as Jessica’s profanity riddled tirade continued. She belittled her man, said he wasn’t shit and if he could do this and that, until Selange had heard enough. “Okay Jess, from what I’m hearing my ears are bleeding. You have a filthy mouth and I can handle the vulgarity, Al curses all the time –but he doesn’t demean me. I love you and the last thing I want is for you to be unhappy. My advice is to work from the inside out and learn how to communicate lovingly with Emilio, for goodness sake.”

Jessica sniffled. “This is really fucked, I’m serious chica. I do love him, you know.”

“I know…I know.” Selange replied with empathy.

“Oh, Sela’, gotta’ go umwah-umwah he’s calling, I’m going to be nice, gracias-adios!”

Nothing but boys panting.

Selange scoffed. “Okay bye to you, too.”

Tia Carmen appeared in the living room and put her hands on her hips like a wishbone as the cousins panted in an attempt to subdue Alfonzo.

“Alfonzo, didn’t I say stop rough-housing! Aye-ya-ya, you boys never grow up!”

Adult dudes laughed. Alfonzo led the rowdy bunch.

“Tia, get dressed. I’m taking everybody to dinner.” He had planned to take his babe to an Ethiopian restaurant near his alma mater. He figured what the hell; Tia and his cousins deserved a break from the apartment with pictures of the family during happier times. His aunt was relatively young, yet slaved in the kitchen to feed grown ass men on Sabado isn’t what she should be doing on a nice afternoon.

Selange wouldn’t mind. She understood the importance of family. He couldn’t wait until her butt tasted the alechi and he laughed quietly because he would have them all sample awaze, watch them blow snot and gasp for water. Ethiopia is known to have some of the hottest foods. It’s also, where women with his wife’s exquisite bone structure lived and the Queen of Sheba once ruled.

“You don’t have to ask me twice,” Aunt Carmen said, and then promptly removed the hairclip and her hair was free. She did a jog-walk to turn off the stove and then yelled, “Cinco minuto Alfonzo, boys get ready and wash those underarms!”

Rafael snuck in a punch and then darted out the door shouting, “Got you sucker!”

Alfonzo took up chase, hopping over the banister and catching the dude before he escaped. The wrestling found another venue. Selange made faces at the loud booms and playful yelps below, wondering if this is what Carmen and Maria suffered on a regular basis when boys ruled in number. She glanced at the time, Anita was probably rising and she placed a call to check on her sweet darlings, mainly Aldonza who had cried to come along, but her dad told her this was mom and dad’s special time. Parents need mini-breaks he said to be better parents so they won’t beat their children’s asses for every bad thing they do.

Aldonza had quieted, crossed her arms and then said, “Va, ahora. And when you come back I hope you’re a better dad and keep your hands to yourself.”

Alfonzo gave her backside a solid smack and she cried theatrically for sympathy and found none from her mother who was tired of her shenanigans.

“We’ll test the theory when I return, mija,” her dad said with authority and ushered Selange out the door. Aldonza silenced when the door clicked shut, as a no-nonsense dad suspected she would.

.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Angelina and Vincent helped to sort the boxes. Clothes were to the right, canned goods to the left in the basement of Sophie’s home. They hadn’t gone to school; even private ones have scheduled days when teachers have trainings and receive procedural updates. In light of the rising wave of violence occurring in schools, administrators sought a proactive approach and implemented a classroom lockdown when an unauthorized person gained access to the facility. Any school Alfonzo’s children attended were certain to have
unauthorized
extra security.

Sophie hurried upstairs after a staff informed her that Nico waited in the kitchen, sampling her food. The only other person to be that bold was Giuseppe to go into her pots, but Sophie had confided to Selange, Giuseppe made few visits since her marriage to Yosef and when he did, he was always rude.

After a short weekend away, a morning of no children and peace, Selange had returned invigorated, focused on making certain the kids were given individual attention. This week, she had brought along the twins to help with tasks. Small things to give back to others have lasting effects. There was a secret smile as she thought of her weekend with Alfonzo, goodness; he still made her heart race.

Selange turned and grinned at Angelina who did a mathematical problem in her head, speaking aloud. “Zero point three times ten equals three, right Vinnie?”

“Sí,” her brother answered. His small face was a replica of Al and Sal, just paler.

“How did you know that?” Selange asked. The math was above her grade level. Angelina and Vincent had only recently entered elementary school. Allie was in middle school and Sal in an upper grade. She stared quizzically at her children wondering whether they had been in their older siblings books.

They looked at one another and giggled, leaving her out of the joke, although she suspected she was the brunt of many, the way most parents are.

“Care to share?” she asked, sitting sideways on the floor as the smarty pants whispered in each other’s ears.

Vincent answered; Angelina rolled her eyes exaggeratedly because her brother spilled the beans. “You helped with Allie’s math problem yesterday and you nodded when she asked was zero point zero three correct, but it wasn’t so we changed it before she went to school.”

“Really?” Selange asked, surprised at the revelation. Yesterday she’d been preoccupied. There were last minute preparations for Nico’s party, Anita asking about a grocery list and reading the financial reports on the charity. Yes, she was definitely wrong to nod until she checked over the calculation. She really had to talk to Alfonzo about the twins. There’s educational testing that can gauge IQ’s and from what she just heard, they may have a set of real smarty-pants, literally.

“Angie didn’t want to say anything,” Vincent said sheepishly but then he was saved from further explanation by Sophie’s return. She asked Selange if she could go upstairs and double-check that the boxes were labeled correctly.

Selange rose. “O-kayyyy,” she said, wondering what Sophie was up to now.

“It is important,” Sophie replied.

Selange deliberated for a moment and then decided to find out what Nico wanted. She took the stairs by twos, the khaki slacks stretching tighter around the thighs each step.

When she reached the top, opened the door, Nico was there to close it and he pulled her by the arm to an adjacent private room.

“This better be important Nico, I swear this better be because this does not look kosher.”

“Sophie has the staff cleaning the top floor and tending the garden. She allotted me fifteen minutes to talk to you privately. It is important.” His voice always took a softer tone in her presence. He hoped his eyes withheld his deep affection. “Have you read anything in Nicolo’s book about his father’s meetings?”

“Why?”

“Dammit girl don’t answer a question with a question!”

Her eyes were inquisitive. What did Nico want and why? “You’re not talking to a fucking girl Nico, now answer my question. What’s so important that you’ll risk everything to ask me about an old man’s autobiography in other words –ancient history?”

“Because Selange whatever you read and tell Alfonzo prematurely might put Alfonzo in a compromising position.”

“What do you mean by that?”

He groaned, shook his head and tried to keep his annoyance at bay. She was as frustrating as her husband was.  “Look, if you read anything about a secret meeting and names are mentioned. I ask that you refrain from telling him and inform me immediately. All I need is a couple of days, three at most to confirm my suspicions and then you can shout whatever you want to Alfonzo.”

She stepped backward from the tall man whose request was as detrimental to her marriage as the two of them sequestered in a private room. “Are you crazy Nico? Are you seriously asking me to keep a secret from Al after every damn thing that happened between us? Are you trying to get me and you killed for betrayal?”

He waved his hand. “Alfonzo will never harm you, just as I couldn’t. Me, well that’s another story.”

“No, Nico. Crimes of passion are real tales and there is but so much Alfonzo will take. I vowed to never keep secrets and you ask me to lie and I can’t do it.”

“Not lie Selange, hold back what you learn if there is anything found in that book which brings toil to your conscience.”

“You are Alberti’s son. He sits in your words and those riddles toy with lives. Spit it out Nico. Just tell me what I might read so I can decide whether to reveal it to my husband.”

She had not gotten to the meetings in the book. The confirmation was really all he needed. He had tipped her hand and she’d go home and speed read. Nevertheless, he had to ask.

He had time.

“When you came to me in the night consumed with invisible blood in your mind, I understood that horror scene. The blood on my hands is real. The Nico I was got compromised by selfish dreams. The Nico loyal to family and his oath was brought to ruin. Since then I have searched for repentance, and find it only remaining vigilant and committed. It is my duty Selange since young.”

“You’re skating on thin ice,” she replied while pushing at his chest, recognizing she’d never budge the solid body. Then she realized she looked upon a tortured soul. “I didn’t intentionally seek to wreck our lives. I wasn’t in my right frame of mind and you know that…you sonovabitch and you’re using this to appeal to my guilt. I see what you’re doing. I’ve reconciled and taken responsibility for my wrongs and you’re making me feel dirty all over again!”

“We are dirty, you and I, everyone. We make excuses for what we do, our bad decisions, our envious hearts and lust filled minds. I fell in love with you long before that night. The many times you risked your life and freedom to protect your husband; I saw a kindred spirit, a Protezione. When you went after Monticelli, I led a protector-wife. When you cried over me when I lay wounded your tears were loving ointment. You see girl, I could not turn you away that night and didn’t want to. The Nico without a heart may have and then killed you for treachery but I was weak, you awakened my conscience. I cannot have such a thing to discharge my duties. Even the vilest find my tasks repulsive. I am Protezione of Giacanti without friends because family is that and more. Trust is what I ask of you, honor my brother’s memory and afford me the opportunity to make right what I have destroyed within myself that is needed for protection of our clan. You have shown loyalty to my wife, when I have not. You prove redemption is attainable.” His eyes were dark jewels, beseeching a healer to put salve to his wounds. He needed to honor his commitments. For the sake of family, he wanted to prove she had not robbed him of the ability to carry out hard tasks. His love for Ari, his children, his family depended on what actions he took every day of his life. Remove the hardness and he is useless to wield his sword of protection. He wished to die in glory with Vincent and the honorable warriors of ancient time forgotten in the computer age. Protezione, she did not realize stood at the ready beside great leaders long before religion, long before the prophets. Ethiopia’s land is where they began and he bowed to her that night as he would a princess. “On our ancestors I swear to you I will never dishonor Ari, you or our family, all I need is time Donna Giacanti.”

The greatest and epic stories are when the heroine saves herself and inadvertently the hero. These Mafiosi Giacanti were troubled, each one and required patient love and firm feet of their spouses. “Honor has fled in these times we live. Protection was never offered but honorably given to all women. That is gone as is chivalry and duty. Forgive me for being a girl without understanding the magnitude of your plight. Forgive me for that wedge driven between husband and a wife who has now become like a sister. Forgive me the love I misappropriated in silliness called delusion. My eyes are wide in maturity and my heart is unwavering in its devotion to my husband. Forgive me Nico and dually forgive yourself.”

Nico watched the sparkly tear fall to the floor. Her poetic words were eloquent in an age of slang. She’d read the book, the signs were there in her archaic words. A cultured mind breathes in prose and poetry is a rejoinder to his hidden passion –art. A desperate enforcer sought repose to his conflicted spirit. He wanted to hold Semira, hug his sons and have the remainder of his days loving Ari.

“Respeta is my forgiveness. I have watched you become a wonderful woman, devoted mother and friend to family. Now give your trust to a Protezione and on the blood of our ancestors, may you choose rightly and just.”