“Cold? Bitter? Hard-headed?”
Giovanni chuckled. “And dangerous, don’t forget that, Bella. I’m very dangerous. Someone should remind your Chinaman to tread carefully.”
“Yes, you are the most feared man in all of southern Italy, we all know it.”
He cringed at the bite of sarcasm he heard in her voice. He asked for it.
“But you don’t fool me. I know this is all some wall of defense you’ve built around you. You’re using my betrayal to justify hiding your pain. That’s what’s so ironic. You already showed me your pain, Giovanni. When we visited Chianti and came here. Why do you think I gave myself to you? Why I fell in love with you. I see who you struggle to be, and it breaks my heart. You aren’t your father.”
“No shit.”
Mira exhaled another deep sigh. “Let’s start again. Evidently something more is between us. You need to tell me what it is. What is it you want to know? Ask me anything and I promise to answer you truthfully. Anything,” she said.
“I’m in no mood.” Giovanni sat forward to rise. One touch from her, and he couldn’t further the action.
“You keep pushing me away, I’ll stop trying to stay by your side. Can’t you see I don’t want to go away?”
He glanced over to her, and she met his stare. Even he didn’t think to challenge her statement. After all she had escaped him once with his daughter, and he knew firsthand how far a woman would go to protect her child. His mother had taught him that lesson.
“Ask me a question, Giovanni. Anything.”
“Eve.” He managed to say.
“What do you want to know?”
“Something. She’s a… baby. When did she take her first step?” he asked, surprised to hear himself say it. He just grasped the first thing to enter his mind.
Mira smiled. “She was ten months.”
“That’s early isn’t it?” Giovanni frowned.
“I think so. I didn’t know much about kids until Eve came along. I sure as hell didn’t expect my baby to stand and run to me.”
“Run?”
“Let me start over. One day I was sewing her dress and she was on the floor playing with some rolls of fabric. I glanced over to say something, not sure. I talk to her a lot. I guess because I spent so much time alone after… well I turned my head to say something and she stood.”
“She stood upright?”
“Yes. She did. She gripped this chair in my sewing room by the seat. She used it for balance. She did that often. When and wherever she could pull up on something she did. So I laughed and said her name to make her smile. She let go of the chair, wobbled a bit,” Mira demonstrated by sitting forward and extending her arms in the way Eve did to balance herself. “And then she ran straight for me.”
Giovanni’s eyes stretched in disbelief. “It didn’t happen that way,” he chuckled.
“Yes it did. I’m serious. Her little legs moved fast. No walking, she ran straight for me.”
Together they shared a laugh. He returned his gaze to the fire, smiling. He could see it all play out the way Mira described. The moment was between mother and daughter as it should be. He felt less cheated to know she hadn’t run to another man she called ‘poppy’. “She could run but not walk?” he asked.
“Well she could walk too, but toddlers prefer to move fast. You’ll see.” Mira winked. “What else do you want to know?” she again touched his knee. Giovanni rose. His abrupt stand made him a bit light headed but he managed to not drop down again. “Nothing,” he mumbled and headed for the stairs. He left her watching him from the sofa.