Page 111 of Angelo

EPILOGUE

"Mamma! Mamma!"

Boyish squeals echoed down a brightly lit corridor at the Renata Vitale Memorial Hospital. Happy giggles were soon followed by the noisy pitter-patter of tiny feet.

Dressed in blue scrubs, Elyse glanced up from the medical charts on her tablet. A smile lit up her face as she spotted her three-year-old son, Niccolò. He was grinning from ear to ear, arms outstretched, as he toddled toward her at top speed. Nurses and doctors made every effort to get out of his way as he zigzagged down the corridor like a tiny human pinball.

Nicco had his father's black hair, his mother's green eyes, and a wild, mischievous streak that often reminded Elyse of Alessandro. Nicco was amamma'sboy, though, through and through. No question about it.

A harried-looking Monte and tired-looking Luca followed closely behind Nicco. After Nicco was born, Elyse reassigned her most trusted bodyguards to watch over her little Vitale prince. For a while, Monte and Luca appeared to be adjusting nicely to their new charge. Well, as nicely as two dangerous criminals with no children of their own could handle an infant.

But, then, around the age of two, he grew from an immobile-ish, slow-moving baby lump and learned how to run, climb, and jump, and the difficulty level of keeping him alive spiked overnight from zero to a hundred. The two seasonedmafiosiwere visibly struggling to keep up with theverymobile toddler's never-ending battery life and death-defying stunts.

"No, no, Nicco!" Luca cried out, panting, "Do not lick electrical outlets! It is not food!"

"Come back here!" Monte grunted in slightly winded tones, "Do not jump off those stairs! This is not a playground!"

Once Nicco came close enough, Elyse laughed and bent down to scoop up her son into her arms. She smothered his cute, pudgy face in kisses as he chortled with delight.

Nicco exclaimed in his sweet, childish way, "Wub you,Mamma!"

Elyse gazed down at her son with soft eyes, replying in a mix of Italian, English, and Spanish, "Mammaloves you, too,mijo."

Soon, Nicco began wriggling out of Elyse's embrace. Like a monkey, he scrambled down her body, grabbed her hand, and started tugging her toward the exit with the strength and determination of a boy ten times his size.

As they strolled down the corridor, Nicco announced to the hospital staff in confident, matter-of-fact tones, "Otay, otay,Mammaandmijogo home now! Bye-bye!"

The staff chuckled good-naturedly and bade them farewell.

A receptionist named Anita called out,"Arrivederci, Nicco!"

Dr. Giordano offered a polite and professional,"Risentirla!"

With a sheepish smile, Elyse said to her colleagues, "I guess I'm taking off now, I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

They called after her, "A dopo, Dr. Vitale!"

Elyse waved to them and proceeded to lead Nicco out of the hospital.

Monte and Luca hurried after them with quick, brusque strides.

Luca addressed her with a hesitant expression,"Signora Vitale?"

"Yes, Luca?"

"I know you are a busy woman. Monte and I do not mean to disturb you at work so often. Do you wish for us to keep bringing Nicco here," he hesitated again before continuing, "every day?"

Luca's question gave her pause. A few weeks ago, Elyse had made the mistake of allowing Nicco to visit her at work. Since then, at Nicco's insistence, Monte and Luca had been forced to chauffeur him to the hospital every day. Failure to comply resulted in hour-long, red-faced, kicking, and screaming melt downs. They arrived daily right before the end of Elyse's shift so that Nicco could, in his own words, "dwibeMammahome shafewy."

Drive Mamma home safely.

As a surgeon, she was well aware that it wasn't professional to let Nicco run wild in the hospital every day. Yet, as a mother, Elyse didn't have the heart to put her foot down. Nicco had been growing increasingly more and more attached to her, understandably so, now that Alessandro was no longer inPalermo.

Nicco had always been a happy, energetic, relatively well-behaved child. He still was a happy, energetic, relatively well-behaved child, for the most part. But, lately, he had grown somewhat fussier and moodier than usual. Elyse tried not to reprimand her son too much for his behavior. Without his big, strongpapàaround, Nicco needed hismammato be his rock. Not his disciplinarian. Elyse suspected that her son was too young to voice the scary, sudden void he felt in Alessandro's absence, so, in response, he chose to keep an eagle eye on hismamma—in case she disappeared, too—with all the clinginess of a baby koala and possessiveness of a Rottweiler pup.

Elyse told herself,This was only a phase. All of Nicco's mercurial toddler-charged vendettas always passed in good time. Elyse assumed Nicco would soon grow out of it in a month or two. Or whenever Alessandro could come home. If anything, motherhood had taught Elyse to roll with the punches because, most of the time, resistance was futile whenever Nicco was concerned. She loved spending this extra bit of time with her little guy, anyway.

So, Elyse turned to Luca and replied, "Don't be sorry, I don't mind at all. As long as Nicco wants to come to me, please continue to bring him."

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