19. Anna
Anna
The guards keep us surrounded and more guards greet us as we reach the end of the hall where a security station similar to those used at TSA is set up.
The soldier manning the area gives Vincenzo a nod.
“I’m going to need everyone to empty your pockets, place everything in one of the round containers, then I’ll have you walk through one at a time. ”
Vincenzo leans down so only I can hear what he’s saying. “Nothing to be afraid of, princessa. They’re just checking for bugs. She’s with us,” he tells the guard. I put my purse in the round bowl and walk through as the soldier nods to the other that I’m clear.
Vincenzo walks through without emptying anything in his pockets, as does Nicolo. Vincenzo wraps his arm around my shoulders as Saint walks through and all the lights on the devices around us light up.
Vincenzo gives the guard a nod. “Saint’s with us.
” We walk toward the door to our left and Saint moves in front, a stance of protection that I’ve seen over and over in my lifetime.
He opens the door to let all of us through and only after we’re through does he follow us down the hall.
Nicolo leads us down another hall and then opens another door into a clinical looking space that reminds me so much of the safe room my papa used to have in Jersey City, only not nearly on this scale.
A female in scrubs gives us all a nod as we enter.
She gestures to the sinks. Nicolo slides up the sleeves of his white dress shirt and suit jacket and washes his hands thoroughly using the soap from the dispenser and then gestures for us to do the same.
“They don’t mess around about germs,” he says.
Each of us scrub up before we’re permitted to follow the lady into another room.
“Your mother is already under. This is where you’ll wait.
As soon as I’m able I’ll be giving you personal updates from the phone on this table.
The rest of your family are on the way down from her room,” she says, gesturing to an old school phone that’s clearly wired into the infrastructure and not in any way hooked to an intranet of any sort.
The waiting room now looks like any other waiting room with some very significant additions such as the sixty-inch big screen overhead on the wall in front of us and the coffee pot that brews an amazing smell that I’ve only once smelled before, the same stuff that Nicolo has imported.
I’m not usually a late-night coffee drinker but there’s no way I’m falling asleep and it smells delicious. I head to the machine as everyone settles into chairs. “Who wants some?” I ask.
Nicolo gives me a nod. “I’ll take one, thanks.” Saint gives me a nod too but doesn’t say anything else at all. I pour the brews and make one for myself and Vincenzo and then feel him behind me. “Here, let me take a couple of those for you.”
Vincenzo takes two of the cups and hands them to his brother and Saint while I bring his and mine back to our seats and hand his to him. I take a sip of the strong, robust coffee that his brother loves. “This is exceptionally good,” I say, sipping on the full mug of brew.
Nicolo nods. “It’s the best bean in all the world if you ask me.”
Vincenzo laughs. “Nobody did.”
I look to Nicolo. “What’s the story behind the coffee you love so much?”
He starts to say something, but the door opens, and Lanah, Gianni, and Agosto all walk in together. Lanah runs to Vincenzo, and he scoops her up in his arms, drawing her to him. “Ma is going to make it, capisce?”
Lanah’s tears slide down her face and onto her shirt and he comforts her until she’s composed herself. “I know I’m supposed to be stronger but damn it, one moment she was good and the next Ma was on her deathbed again.”
Vincenzo smooths her hair, cradling his sister in his arms. “She’s going to make it, sweetie. She’s a DeLuca, she’s going to make it.”
My chest tightens with emotion watching him hold his little sister. His jaw tightens and I can feel the tension and the weight of the responsibility that Vincenzo holds for his family.