Chapter 20
Justine Russell felt as if she’d scaled Mount Everest when she saw her son walk across the stage to accept his high school diploma.
Kenny had exceeded her expectations as a son and student when graduating in the top ten percent in his class.
Tall, standing several inches above six-foot, and broad-shouldered, he cut a handsome figure in his cap and gown.
It had taken some effort for Justine to get his cap to fit over his Afro while she complained that he’d let his hair grow too long.
Their move into public housing was a smooth transition from where they’d lived so close to Central Park.
Kenny continued to attend the same junior high school, where he maintained his friendship with Ray before the Torres family finally moved into their house in the Bronx.
The move for Ray was perfect, because he passed the entrance exam to attend the Bronx High School of Science, while Frankie had enrolled in the LaSalle Academy, a private all-boys’ Roman Catholic College prep school in the East Village.
The three boys remained close friends throughout their high school years, and once again they would attend separate colleges.
Kenny had chosen to attend City College; Frankie, Baruch College; and Ray had been awarded a full scholarship to attend Columbia University as a pre-med student.
They’d kept their promise to get together the first Saturday of every month to share breakfast at their favorite coffee shop.
There were times when Justine envied their friendship because of the lack of her own.
She’d divorced herself from her family following her grandmother’s death, and she waited until Kenny was three before she sent her mother a Christmas card with a note telling her she was now a grandmother of a three-year-old boy.
The envelope was returned weeks later stamped with: MOVED and no forwarding address. That had made the break complete.
As promised, Frank had gotten Kenny a job working in the kitchen at his cousin’s pizzeria/restaurant.
He’d begun as a dishwasher before graduating to assisting the cooks, making everything from sauce to specialty dishes.
He was fluent in Spanish and Italian, which shocked many of the older residents in the neighborhood when he would occasionally fill in as a server to take their orders.
He’d saved his wages and tips, depositing them in a savings account at a local bank.
Justine knew he’d become involved with several girls when they began calling the house asking for him.
The weekends he didn’t work, he would meet Frankie, and they would go to house parties.
He would come home smelling of cigarettes, declaring he wasn’t smoking while admitting he would occasionally have a small amount of wine whenever he shared dinner with the D’Allesandro extended family the first Sunday of every month.
Frank had extended an invitation for her to join them, but after declining several times, he stopped asking.
He also had stopped coming to her apartment to pick up and drop off Kenny once he attended high school, saying if her son was old enough to take public transportation to and from school, it was no different when traveling across town to East Harlem.
The commencement exercise ended, and she was waiting on the sidewalk when Kenny met her. “Congratulations!” she said, grinning from ear to ear.
Dipping his head, Kenny kissed her cheek.
“Thank you, Mom. I couldn’t have done it without you.
” His eyes, behind the frames of a pair of round, black-rimmed wire glasses, were shimmering with excitement, glasses that were necessary once he complained of not being able to see what had been written on the blackboard.
Reaching up, Justine rested her hand on his clean-shaven jaw. “Don’t say that. You’ve put in the work, so accept your success.”
“Your mother’s right,” came a familiar voice behind Justine.
Turning slowly, she saw a smiling Francis D’Allesandro, dressed in a tailored suit that was the perfect fit for his tall, slender physique.
It was apparent he’d lost weight since the last time she saw him.
For a man in his early forties, he’d aged like fine wine.
His gray-streaked sandy-brown hair was longer and brushed off his forehead, while a network of lines fanned out around his eyes whenever he smiled.
“What are you doing here?” Justine asked, smiling.
“I came to see my best friend’s son achieve a milestone.”
Kenny extended his hand to Frank. “Thank you for coming, Uncle Dee.”
Frank took the proffered hand, then released it to reach into the breast pocket of his suit jacket to retrieve an envelope. “Here’s a little something to help you with your college expenses.”
Kenny looked at the envelope, then took it as his eyes filled with tears. He threw both arms around Frank’s shoulders as the older man kissed him on both cheeks. “Thank you,” he whispered, then turned and walked away.
“Did I embarrass him, Justine?” Frank asked her.
Her eyelids fluttered wildly, because she’d never seen her son this emotionally demonstrative. There were times when she thought him too serious for his age. “I don’t think he’s embarrassed. There are times when it’s difficult for Kenny to show what he’s actually feeling.”
“I’ve said this before, Justine, but you deserve a medal, because Kenny has become a spectacular young man. And if I did have a son, I’d want him to be like Kenny.”
“It’s still not too late for you to have one,” she teased.
Frank slowly shook his head. “No, Justine. I can’t imagine myself becoming a father at my age. If it had happened five or six years ago, then maybe. But definitely not now.”
“It’s the same with me. At thirty-five, I couldn’t think of having another baby when my son is old enough to make me a grandmother.”
“At least you can look forward to becoming a grandmother when I’ll always be an uncle.”
Justine wanted to tell Frank that was a decision he’d made for himself, just like when she’d decided not to marry and have another child.
She knew she’d turned a corner in her life when she had finally taken off the gold band she wore on her left hand.
When Kenny had mentioned it to her, she told him it was time for a new beginning, that she was tired of living in the past.
“Did you attend your nephew’s graduation?”
“Yes. When my brother enrolled Frankie at La Salle, he complained constantly that he didn’t want to go to an all-boys’ school, but that’s what he needed to keep his mind on his studies rather than on girls.
I told him there will be plenty of time for girls once he completes his education.
I don’t know what it is, but something tells me that women will be my godson’s downfall. ”
“We all have to live and learn, Frank. If I hadn’t moved from the Bronx to Mount Vernon to live with my grandmother, I wouldn’t have ended up a widow with a baby on the way, because I never dated boys in the Bronx.”
“Are you saying you regret marrying and having your son?”
“Oh, no,” she said quickly, as she watched Kenny talking to a curly-haired girl. There was no doubt the girl was entranced with him because of the way she was smiling up at him. “I don’t regret having Kenny; he is the reason for me becoming who I am today.”
“And you know how much I like who you’ve become,” Frank said, winking at her.
Justine moved close to him. “You’re still a silver-tongued devil when it comes to compliments,” she whispered.
A hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “That’s because you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known.” His smile faded. “I know I’ve never said it, but I fell in love with you years ago, and nothing has changed. I loved you then. I love you now, and I will love you forever.”
Justine put her hand over her mouth as she struggled to control her emotions.
What she’d suspected for years was now apparent.
Francis D’Allesandro was in love with her, while she denied loving him.
Although she’d told herself that she wasn’t in love with him, there were so many things she loved about him.
He’d become the surrogate father Kenny never had, and there were a few times when her son said he hoped Frank would become his stepfather.
Frank reached into the pocket of his suit trousers and gave her his handkerchief. “I’m sorry if I upset you.”
She blotted her eyes, careful not to smear her eyeliner and mascara. “You wait until we’re surrounded with hundreds of folks to tell me this.”
“When would be a good time, Justine?”
“I don’t know.”
“Neither do …” His words trailed off when Kenny came over with the girl clinging to his arm.
“Mom, Larissa wanted to meet you.”
Justine smiled at the petite, pretty Black girl with large brown eyes and a head full of curly black hair. “It’s nice meeting you, Larissa.”
“And this is my uncle,” Kenny said, introducing Frank.
Larissa’s expression mirrored confusion. “I … it’s nice meeting you, too.”
Kenny laughed. “Tell her that you’re my uncle,” he said, speaking Italian.
“Ha ragione,” Frank replied in the same language. “I am his uncle,” he confirmed, switching to English.
Larissa appeared even more confused as she stared at Kenny. “I didn’t know you spoke Italian.”
“That’s because I only speak it when I’m with my uncle’s family.”
“Well,” Larissa drawled smugly, “I happen to be half Italian on my father’s side. That’s where the name Rossi comes from. Mrs. Russell, my parents have invited some of my classmates to come to our house for a barbecue. I told Kenny I’d like him to come, but he said he had to ask his mother.”