“And so you flirted with someone else?” I said and shook my head.
“The games of love have been around for a long time, my dear.” He laughed and put the photo back in the album carefully. We went through the pages and I stared at all the old photos of Nonno and Nonna as they’d gotten together. I stopped him from turning the page as I looked down and saw a photo I didn’t remember seeing before. It was a photo of Nonno and Nonna and she was staring at the camera and he was staring at her. Even though it was only a photo, it was easy to see the love and devotion in his eyes as he gazed at her tenderly. And even Nonna was grinning into the camera softly, her eyes looking bright. There was a magic in the photo, an air of love. It was clear to see and it made me shiver at the power of the shot.
“This is beautiful, Nonno,” I said to him and he took the photo from me and held it tightly.
“She was beautiful,” he almost whispered as he sat back. “My love, my amore,” he said as he stared at the photo. “That day, the day this photo was taken, that was the day that I knew your Nonna and I would be together forever, that nothing would ever part us. That was the day I stopped worrying that she would meet someone else.
“Oh?” I asked him, my heart pounding. I was starting to feel emotional. I sat there wishing that TJ would feel that way about me and that made me feel guilty. I didn’t want to turn every situation into one where I was thinking about TJ.
“Your Nonna wrote me a poem. She read it to me right before that photo was taken,” he said and looked at me, his eyes looking far away as he remembered the moment. “It was so unusual and I hadn’t expected it. I was the romantic in the relationship and even then I was far from a Romeo.” He smiled and then sighed.
“Do you remember the poem?” I asked softly.
“Do I remember?” He chuckled again. “It has been burned into my brain for decades,” he said and looked back down at the photo. “It is one of my fondest memories.”
“Tell me,” I said and reached over and grabbed his hand. “Tell me, Nonno.”
“Okay.” He nodded and then he cleared his throat. He was about to start talking again when he had a coughing fit.
“Nonno, are you okay?” I asked as I watched him coughing. I felt helpless and wasn’t sure what to do. I was about to start patting him on the back when he finally stopped coughing. “Nonno?” I asked again as I saw spots of blood on the tissue he had been coughing into.
“I’m fine.” He shook his head and frowned. “Just a bad cough.” He took a sip of water and then looked over at me and smiled. “Stop worrying and start listening.”
“I am listening,” I said and laughed.
“That moment when your heart skips a beat. When all worries turn to joy. When all fears fade away. That moment when our eyes meet. And our souls reconnect.
And the silence sings a song. That’s the moment that I remember. That’s the dance that I live for. That’s the journey that I pray for. That’s the you that I dream of. This is the moment I was made for.” He stopped and I looked over at him, and saw tears running down his face.
“Oh, Nonno,” I said and reached my arm around his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” He shook his head and gazed into my eyes. “She was my true love and I miss her, but I will see her again.”
“Oh, Nonno.” I bit down on my lower lip. “You both had such a true love.”
“There is nothing else in this world more precious than true love, Mila.” His eyes were bright as he gazed at me. “There is nothing worth living for if you don’t have love.”
“Well, life itself, right?” I said, trying to make light of the situation.
“Life is for the living.” He nodded. “And love is what makes life great.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I said as my heart lurched and I thought back to TJ again. “Some of us aren’t as lucky as you and Nonna. Some of us don’t have happy endings.”
“What are you talking about, Mila?” His eyes narrowed as he looked at me.
“Nothing,” I said and shook my head, embarrassed to tell Nonno exactly what was going on with me.
“Are you not happy, my Mila?” He studied my face shrewdly and I could feel the tears starting to build up. I didn’t want him to know exactly what was going on. I knew that he had to know that something wasn’t completely right. I mean, TJ had essentially just fallen into my pocket in a matter of seconds. Real life didn’t work like that.
“I’m fine.” I took a deep breath. I had to be a big girl. I was not going to let Nonno know how pathetic and sad I was.
“You want to go down to the beach?” Nonno jumped up, placing the photo album next to me.
“The beach?” I asked, flummoxed. “That’s random.”
“Let’s go to the beach and talk.” He looked at me lovingly. “We both could do with some fresh air.”
“Oh.” I looked up at him. He knew there was something I wasn’t telling him. “Are you sure?”