Page 94 of Good Sisters

‘We all feel very protective of Clara.’ Sophie stepped in. ‘We would never let anyone into her life who is not going to enhance it.’

‘Enhance?’ Marco asked.

‘Make it better,’ Sophie explained.

‘She can talk?’ Lorenzo asked. ‘My cousin child is autism and he no talk.’

‘Oh, yes, Clara can talk better than any of us,’ Sophie said.

‘She’s full of facts and information,’ Dad added proudly.

With trembling hands, Louise opened her laptop and pressed play. Clara’s sweet face filled the screen. She was reading a poem she had written about living with ASD.

Marco and his two friends watched intently. Marco’s chin wobbled, his eyes filled with tears, and as Clara read the last line, ‘I know I’m different, but different can be good’, he completely crumpled and began to sob.

I bent down to grab my handbag, rooted out a pack of tissues and handed one to him.

‘Mia preziosa figlia,’ he cried.

I nodded, yes, she was precious.

By now, the whole bar knew something big was happening and they had all been peering over, but when Marco began to sob loudly, they gathered around us.

Marco pointed to the screen and cried out, ‘Mia figlia!’ a few more times.

Everyone oohed and aahed and stared at us and at Clara and shook their heads in amazement. Marco was patted on the back and there were a lot of loud Italian exclamations. This was not how I had pictured it going down.

Drinks appeared and toasts were made, and we just nodded along, smiling.

‘Sono padre!’ Marco sobbed over and over.

I watched Louise flinch every time he said it. After the fifth or sixth time, when the cheers were getting bigger, Louise stood up and shouted, ‘STOP.’

The place hushed. ‘Yes, Marco is a father. He is my daughter’s biological father, but I will decide if and when he meets her. We have a lot more to discuss and it will not be done in front of a crowd. Marco, I want you to come to the hotel tomorrow morning to talk properly. I’m exhausted. It’s been a very long day. Nothing has been decided. This is just an initial conversation. I need to sleep now. Goodnight.’

‘I come in morning.Grazie, Louisa.’ Marco was full of emotion.

‘Come alone,’ Dad said.

‘My name is Louise and don’t thank me yet.’ I could see Louise was worried now that the news had been broken. She had to deal with the logistics of it all. She looked completely spent. She packed up her laptop and her emotions, andindicated that we were all leaving. We waved goodbye to the men and followed her. Once outside, we threw our arms around her.

‘Louise, that was crazy and incredible,’ Sophie said.

‘Are you okay?’ I asked.

‘How are you feeling?’ Sophie said, trying to take her hand.

Louise shrugged us off. ‘Please, not now, I can’t. It’s been a lot. I need peace and quiet. I need to think. I can’t take any more questions or drama. I’m drained. I’ll talk to you in the morning.’

‘Give her space, girls. It’s been a very emotional evening.’ Dad put his arm around Louise’s shoulders. ‘I am so proud of you for the way you handled that. Your mother would be too. Sleep on it. We’ll talk to Marco tomorrow and figure out the next step. Come on, pet, I’ll walk you back to your room. I’m exhausted myself after all that.’

‘Did I do the right thing, Dad?’ Louise asked.

‘Yes, pet. It was all a bit haywire, but at the end of the day you have found Clara’s dad and he seems like a decent man. Now we all need to get some sleep. With clear heads, we’ll get a real sense of him tomorrow. You did well tonight. I’m very proud of you.’

‘Us too,’ I said.

‘So proud,’ Sophie agreed.

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