Page 100 of Storm in a D Cup

I made a note to myself to try and patch things up with Julian when I got home and at least remain on amicable terms, assuming we could ever manage to be there at the same time.

One by one, everyone came downstairs, hanging around in the small kitchen where we used to congregate as kids, waiting for Nonna Silvia to bring dinner and our aunts to bring our laundry and spend some time with us or help us with our homework. And now it was all just a blur.

We went out into the living room, where family friends had already gathered, just as the hearse arrived. As I ducked into the family limousine that would take us to the funeral hall, I glanced up at a taxi pulling up next to me. Before I even recognized him, my heart skipped a couple of beats. Julian unfurled out of the vehicle, haggard and sad, his eyes searching for me.

All around me, there was a sudden hush and a murmur to the effect that,See? She’s not divorcing – there’s her husband now.

‘Oh, Julian! You came…’ Marcy breathed like Scarlett O’Hara and started to cry. He turned and embraced her as, high over the crowd, our eyes met and held. Marcy clung to him and started to cry really hard, her nose going red and dripping.

Then came Judy who threw herself at him so violently he almost dropped her. Vince pried her out of Julian’s arms and shook his hand thoroughly. Vince had always liked Julian. Everybody had always liked him. Because he was a decent guy.

I watched as he weaved his way through the sea of relatives that parted before him. I swallowed. He’d come. He was here.

‘Don’t screw it up, Erica,’ Paul whispered to me as Julian approached and stopped right in front of me, his eyes searching mine.

‘You look absolutely gorgeous,’ was all I could say as he folded me in his arms, kissing my forehead and instantly filling me with that usual warmth that could only come from his presence.

‘Maddy called me. I took the first flight back… I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I’m so sorry – for everything,’ he breathed into my hair.

Or that’s what I think he said. For now he was here, and that was enough.

23

The Beginning

It was cold for late December and the trees surrounding the cemetery were like giant burning black arrows shooting up into an anthrax sky.

We had buried my dad three days earlier and at my request to return to the cemetery Judy insisted on accompanying me and Julian while Vince stayed home with Marcy. And now I wanted to share with my husband one of the most important things in my life.

Winter was already a fact and I breathed in the familiar fragrance of Boston just before a snowfall. I slung my arm through his and stuffed my free hand into the new black coat I’d purchased at – you guessed it – Macy’s (without Marcy) and headed toward the south side of the cemetery.

‘Dad’s grave is the other way,’ Judy called after us. I stopped amidst the flaming leaves, kicking at them with my feet the way I used to as a girl. ‘I’m not going to Dad’s grave yet,’ I called back, and to Julian who was regarding me quizzically, I smiled and explained, ‘I’m taking you to meet my Grandma Silvia.’

We stopped just before her headstone.Silvia Bettarini, Beloved Mother and Grandmother.

‘You’d have loved her. She was amazing.’

‘She was if she was anything like you.’

I turned to look at him and our eyes held. ‘I love you so much, sweetheart,’ he choked.

He pulled me close for a kiss and I fell against him. I hadn’t done that in a long time. ‘She would have loved you…’ I hiccupped.

‘We have so much to talk about…’

‘Yes…’

‘And when we’re done, we’ll take the kids on a fantastic trip – anywhere you want.’

‘Anywhere?’

‘Absolutely.’

‘Sounds like heaven,’ I said with a smile as a snowflake landed on my nose and Julian kissed it.

*

We stayed around for a few more days to help with all the paperwork and all the thank you notes until Marcy assured us she’d be OK, and that we should go back to the kids.

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