Page 56 of Under Her Skin
Voices.Familiar and not-so-familiar.Help us. Help her…please…
“Turo…Turo? Open your eyes,son.”
Arturo opened his eyes to a bright, white room which made his vision scream withpain.
“That’s it, Turo. Good. You’re in the hospital, son.” He knew that voice.Philipo.
“Uncle?”
A rough-skinned hand took his. “It’s me. You’ve been unconscious for a week now. They had to operate. You had a brain bleed,son.”
Arturo didn’t care. “Hero…”Please don’t say she’s dead, please,please…
“Baby?”
Her voice made all the breath leave his body. “Hero?” Finally, his eyes focused as his love, the one true love of his life, leaned over him and kissed his parchedlips.
“I’m here, baby. I’m not going anywhere.” She was pale, her dark hair in a messy ponytail, but she had never looked morebeautiful.
“Are you okay? You were stabbed! Ithought…”
“I was lucky; the knife missed my major arteries andorgans.”
Philipo put his arm around Hero. “She’s lived up to her name, Turo. She crawled out of my kitchen to your car, found your cell phone, and called thepolice.”
Arturo, his hand seeking hers, squeezed it tightly. “I thought you were dead. You…there was so muchblood.”
Hero nodded. “When I woke up, you were so deeply out, I knew I had to get help for us.” She smiled a little ruefully. “It took me a while. I kept passing out, but eventually, I gotthere.”
“You’re up and walking.” Arturo shook his head in amazement, then winced at thepain.
“You know me,” she said, smoothing his hair away from his face, smiling down at him. “Ain’t nuthin’ gonna keep medown.”
“Mio Dio, I love you, HeroDonati.”
She smiled. “HeroBachi,” she said gently, and hegrinned.
Philipo cleared his throat. “Ah, yes. I have something to say about that. You got married and didn’t inviteme?”
Hero hugged the old man. “Don’t worry, when we’re both healed, we’ll have a big old meringue-fest at theVilla Claudia. My parents are here, too,” she told Arturo, then grimaced as Melly stepped into the room behind her. “And so is Melly. She makes sure I don’t exert myself too much.” Hero rolled hereyes.
Arturo chuckled softly. “I can’t wait to meet yourparents.”
Hero bent down and kissed him, and now he noticed that she moved gingerly, still recovering from her wounds. “Tiamo.”
“Ti amo, Hero. Listen…what happenedto...?”
“The police are handling everything. It has turned into a little bit of an international incident. The Consulate is not happy with the Italian polizia, it’s safe to say. They’re still trying to figure out how Peter got his information and how he managed to get us into thatsituation.”
“He’sdead?”
Hero’s sweet face hardened. “Stone cold. Goodriddance.”
“He killedFlavia?”
Shenodded.
Arturo was amazed to see Imelda wrap her arms around Hero without any hesitation and hold her fiercely. “If Armley hadn’t killed George, I would have done it myself, for trying to force himself on my babysister.”
