Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
GIOVANNI
“You’ll want to come home, of course,” Enzo says. “We already have that home helper lined up from before you left, Nonna, and Giovanni, Nico, and Lucy and me can alternate staying with you.”
Nonna and I are in an ER treatment room, on a FaceTime call with my brothers and Aria, who’s rubbing her eyes because it’s an indecent hour in Greece.
The doctor left a short while ago, after telling us Nonna had a “lucky break”—literally.
She broke her fall with her hands, and now one of her wrists has a nonsurgical fracture.
The doctor gave her a splint, and in a few days, they’ll take X-rays and decide whether she needs a full-on cast. Either way, she’ll need several weeks of physical therapy.
It could have been so much worse, so much fucking worse. A voice in the back of my head keeps berating me for not being there.
I let my nonno down by not having prevented this. By not watching out for her when I was needed.
“Yeah, of course,” Nico replies. “We’ll make up a calendar.”
I remind myself that this is not unexpected. I knew Nonna would want to go home eventually, and I’d have to separate my time between the two places that have my heart.
Bianca will understand why I have to go, and we’ll make it work. Already, I’ve switched to a credit card that accumulates airline miles, although the thought of seeing her mostly on screens for the immediate future is a jarring one.
“Yes, of course,” I agree thickly. “Of course that’s what we’ll do.”
My nonna slaps me with her good hand, her expression as fierce as it is whenever some fool dares question her cooking. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re going nowhere.”
“What are you talking about?” Enzo asks.
“Giovanni will live here,” she says firmly. “He’s staying.”
My lips part. “But Nonna—”
“But nothing,” she insists. “Rose and I, we were going to tell you what we decided at Thanksgiving, when we were all sitting around the table, but you might as well know now. We’re not leaving each other.
We’ve decided to be companions until the end.
We’ll spend the fall and winter in North Carolina with Giovanni, Bianca, and the rest of Rose’s grandchildren, and the spring and summer in Maine with all of you. It’s settled.”
“It’s settled?” Enzo protests. “And you didn’t think we should get a say?”
“No, my boy,” she says flatly. “I may be old, but I’m not dead. I’d rather be with Rose than some home helper who’s paid to hold my hand. I’ve felt more alive with her than I have in years.”
“You may both need a home helper,” Enzo says. “You’re not going to be able to lift things yourself for weeks.”
“Giovanni and Bianca will do it. They’re both young.”
I’m staring at my nonna in disbelief. “You really want to stay?”
“I’m done with the winters at home. This is a good plan for us.”
“Nonna,” Aria says, now looking wide awake. “Are you in a relationship with Nonna Rose? Did you get into that apple fight because you were into each other?”
Nonna glowers at her. “Madonn’, what nonsense. Your nonno was my one true love. Rose is like the sister I never had. Both of us are done with love. It’s a young person’s game.”
“And what happens when you get into the next apple fight?” Enzo asks.
“We have this disagreement about Ted, and Ted is dead. Simple. No more argument.”
“You mean their great-uncle Ted?” Nico asks, frowning. “I don’t think I ever heard that man say more than a couple of words.”
“This is Rose’s secret,” Nonna Francesca says staunchly. “I won’t break it. She will tell if she wants to tell.”
“Of course you say the one thing guaranteed to make us all desperate to know,” Aria says, but her humor seems forced. After a second, she adds, “Are you really okay? I can come home. I—”
“You will do no such thing. No one will change their plans for me. I have my own plans, and Giovanni’s girl is a nurse. Bianca will help me.”
“Giovanni’s girl?” Aria says, lighting up. “You been holding out on us, Gio? I knew you liked her, but you like a lot of people. I didn’t know for sure you like-liked her.”
I smile. “I went to a romance book club meeting at a retirement home with her today, so yeah, I guess you can say I like-like her.”
“I’m gonna go to that someday,” Aria says with a sigh. “It sounds perfect.”
Wait until she sees the Dong of Discussion.
“I hope so.” I pause, glancing from one little FaceTime image to another on my phone’s screen. Fuck it. Time to be truthful. “I might as well tell you all…I’m in love with Bianca. I’m going to marry her someday.”
Enzo grins at me as his fiancée, Lucy, hugs him from behind, waving at the camera. “So now you know what it’s like.”
“So now I know.”
“You’re all crazy,” Nico says. “At least Aria and I are sane.”
Aria pulls a face but doesn’t say anything, so I’ll have to interrogate her later about whatever Greek guy she’s obviously seeing.
Selfishly, I hope he’s not wonderful enough that she wants to make her move permanent.
I might not be going back to Maine to stay, but I’d like my little sister to eventually be in the same country. Ideally, on the same coast.
“All right. All is settled. We’ll make arrangements for Thanksgiving in Apple Ridge,” Nonna Francesca says, an obvious kiss-off.
“Does this mean you’re officially done with the business, Gio?” Nico asks, running a hand across his jaw.
Fuck, there it is.
I pause, considering what to say, and decide there’s nothing like the truth. “Yeah. I’m staying here with Bianca…at least until the nonnas go back to Maine. It sounds like my schedule should be flexible enough to allow for travel.”
“We go now,” Nonna says. “I’m tired.”
They all sign off, one at a time, and I lower my phone, feeling fully exhausted.
What a day…
“Look at me, Giovanni,” Nonna says, reaching for me with her good hand.
I stare into her eyes, feeling a twinge of shitty guilt for not having been there when she needed me.
The one moment I should have been there, I wasn’t.
Hell, I was probably holding that teal dildo while my grandmother was falling down the stairs.
If that’s not a thought capable of fucking with a person’s head, I don’t know what is.
“I know what your nonno asked you,” she says out of left field.
My heart instantly feels ten pounds heavier. The thought of either Nico or Bianca betraying my confidence weighs at least that much.
“Who told you?” I ask with a moan.
She shakes her head so adamantly, her hair rearranges itself. “I could tell. Your nonno loved all of you children so much, but you, Giovanni. He saw himself in you.”
“Oh,” I murmur, feeling a swell of grief.
She pats my hand. “You’re a good boy, Giovanni. But your nonno, he should never have asked that of you. You can’t be there every moment. No one can.”
“You’re not living with Nonna Rose just for me, are you?” I ask, hoping she’ll say no. I don’t know if I can let her do it if the answer is yes.
“Not just for you, no. I love being around my young people, but I also need someone who understands what it means to grow old. To be tired down to your bones and have stories no one else cares about or remembers. Jokes no one else understands. I need that in a way I didn’t realize before we came here, and you and Bianca need each other. ”
“We do,” I agree, feeling it down to my soul. She’s taken the weight of my promise off my shoulders, and for the first time in years, I feel free to fully make my own decisions. “I love you, Nonna.”
“And I love you. Go out there. Tell them I’m not dead yet.”
I was hoping someone would bring us the discharge paperwork soon so we could just leave, but Nonna’s right. I should give the others an update. I kiss her cheek and then hurry out of the room.
I expected to find Bianca out there. In my heart, I knew she’d wait, however long it took for them to give us news. I knew it because I’d do the same for her. Yet, seeing her in the flesh is enough to fill me with fresh hope.
And she’s not alone. Nonna Rose is there, and Miles, Theo, and Isabella. Even Emily is waiting alongside the others, a paperback splayed open in her lap. The waiting room is full of them.
Bianca gets to her feet and hurries over to me, wrapping her arms around me. “Oh my God, we were so worried. I was so relieved when one of the nurses told me it was a nonsurgical fracture. That’s the best type. We’ll take care of her just fine at home—”
I pull back so I can look at her, and I feel tears well in my eyes for the first time since my nonno died. Nearly five years.
“Unless you’re leaving,” she says quickly, her voice hitching. “I understand if you need to leave. I expected that. I’ve been trying to prepare myself—”
I pull her back into my arms, holding her to my chest so she can feel how my heart beats for her.
“I’m never leaving you unless you tell me to.
Nonna knew about the promise I made to Nonno.
She knew, and she released me.” I feel the tears wanting to fall, and fuck it, I’m not afraid to cry.
Not on a day like today, when it feels like I’ve finally found my place as a man.
Bianca hugs me back, so tightly it hurts. “Oh, thank God. We’ll find a way to take care of them both, no matter what.”
I’m not ready to let her go yet, so I kiss the top of her head and hold her close.
Several seconds later, I finally pull back slightly, and say, “Nonna Rose, I think maybe you have some news you’d like to share with everyone? Our nonna couldn’t wait until Thanksgiving to tell us.”
All eyes promptly land on her.
“Calm down,” Nonna Rose says with a laugh. “I’m not dying yet. It’s good news.”