“Would my girls like me to tell you the story of the firefly that goes with the lullaby?”
Mira chuckled and sat up against the headboard. She brought Eve in her lap and cradled her against her breast so she could face Giovanni. Her daughter refused to be held like an infant. She broke free of her arms and crawled over to the center of the bed and plopped down clapping her hands, bobbing her head.
“Looks like you have a fan of your singing. You want daddy to tell us a story baby? Go ahead. We can’t wait to hear it.”
He cleared his throat. “When I was a little boy my Papa would take me into Tuscany whenever he had overnight business. He always made it an adventure. On summer nights we would go to Lake Garda and fish long before the sun was set to rise. I can remember sitting in the boat with him and my Uncle Rocco on the lake with the forest surrounding us. I was terrified of the swarming lights buzzing everywhere.”
“Hear that baby? Daddy’s scared of fireflies!” Mira joked.
Giovanni gave a snort. “If you’re going to make fun I’ll skip the story.”
Mira poked out her lip in a fake pout. Eve leaned back a bit to look up at her mother with concern. “Sorry Papa, please continue. I promise to be good.”
He ran his hand across her thigh, “Papa likes it when you’re bad.” He wiggled his brows.
Mira rolled her eyes. “The story?”
“Yes, yes the story. Let’s see where did I leave off? Oh! At night the lake would light up with a million fireflies blinking. Fish would jump out of the lake to catch them!” Giovanni’s hand shot up and tickled Eve. His daughter exploded in giggles. “They love to eat the glowing bugs. My papa and Uncle Rocco would catch tons of fish because of the frenzy in the waters,” he said, pulling a laughing Eve toward him and burying his face into her tummy to blow air bubbles. Eve kicked her small feet and beat her fist on the mattress continuing to giggle. “I asked my papa why did the lucciola dance around dangerously close to the water. Didn’t they know the fish would eat them?”
Eve flung herself at him. She dropped on his chest and laid there. Mira eased down into the covers and moved in close. Her hand rested on his hip. “My papa sang the nursery rhyme to me. He said that the firefly was the most important gift from God. They were harborers of the light, a beacon of good fortune for any man led by their magnificent glow. A threat to the creatures of darkness who worked to destroy and lead righteous men from their destined path. And that is what you are for me lucciola, my light out of darkness.”
When Giovanni closed his eyes he saw his father on the lake, forcing him to remain seated next to him and face his fears of the glowing bugs buzzing everywhere in the darkness. He was just five and his mother often had no say if he could accompany his father on these trips. Giovanni always felt like he was such a big boy on those trips. Funny how Don Tomosino who never showed a soft side to family or friends felt relaxed enough to share a nursery rhyme with his boy.