Caesar Minetti was devastated. He and his sons took Franco’s body back to Sicily. Giovanni remained behind closed doors for several days. He ate his meals at Villa Rosso. He changed and showered there as well. Mira was denied access to him. She lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, lost without the warmth of his body or his comforting words to reassure her. Abandoned to all the turbulent thoughts regarding Kei’s fate and how he could send an assassin to Italy to kill someone. Not her gentle caring Kei. It made no sense.
In the night Eve constantly woke up cranky and whiney for no reason. They were miserable. Mira also feared Christmas was ruined. However, today, the day before Christmas Eve Giovanni had joined her and the family for dinner and announced it was time to trim the tree. He winked at her from the head of the table. As if a switch was thrown and the dark and foreboding mood everyone wallowed in was cast away.
Under Mira’s instruction Rocco and Carmine pulled out the elaborate Nativity scene, placing it in the front cadenza. Mira had learned that the manger scene was originated in Italy. Catalina said the family was supposed to meet each morning in front of this Nativity scene to recite prayers or novenas. This would take place for nine days beginning on December 6th. With her resurrection and all the drama unfolding in Melanzana, they hadn’t continued the tradition. Zia informed them all that they would honor this custom on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Mira could barely contain her excitement.
Family was important. This evening she would remind them all of this. Mira walked over to the stereo panel on the wall. She pressed the release button so the CD door would open. On their first and only shopping excursion she had found a Christmas CD. Catalina wasn’t familiar with all the songs but Mira had to have it. Her grandfather would play soulful tunes on Christmas Eve, and it was just the touch she wanted to make the place feel more like home. Pressing play, the little disc door slid back into the wall panel and began to spin. Silent Night, by the Temptations was the first on the play list.
The Temptations crooned. Mira smiled and headed for the family room. The music filled the lower west side of their home through the internal speaker system. She stopped and peered in at everyone. Dinner had finished late, but everyone was still up and ready to decorate their Christmas tree. Mira was a bit relieved. She wanted the immediate family together so they could work on healing.
Giovanni, with the help of Lorenzo, finally got around to setting the tree straight for decorating. His sleeves were rolled up into the crease of his arms. She watched them argue over its position and try again to move it as branches scraped the side of their faces and their hands.
Traditionally Italians didn’t use a Christmas tree. Giovanni told her they built a creppo, which was formed by two wooden planks with shelves they decorated. However, their mother Evelyn always wanted a tree for Christmas. And for as long as Giovanni could remember, his father made sure they had one.
Zia spoke sweet words of encouragement in Italian to Eve while once again feeding the toddler sugary scoops of her homemade gelato. She would make Eve pronounce a word, and Eve did marvelously for her reward. After each lesson Eve would run off and get caught up in her father’s legs throwing her arms around them causing him to stumble. He’d try to send her back off to Zia, but Eve would refuse. She’d fuss in her little voice and continue to hug him tightly around the legs. The bond between them grew stronger each day. No one took notice of Mira observing them from the archway of the door.