Page 147 of La Dolce Vita

"And stupid!"

"Never stupid. You are not a crazy woman. You may have been naive because you were young. But you were not stupid. So forgive yourself."

He cupped her face in his hands. "Say it. Say I forgive myself."

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

"Say it, Bella."

"I forgive myself," she said and wrapped her arms around his waist.

He kissed his wife. She smelled nice. She clung to his waist, but her tears didn't stop. They dripped from her closed lashes to her cheeks. He stopped kissing her lips to kiss her lashes and face.

"I should have told you about this sooner.”

He knew all too well the complicated relationships a child could have with their parent. And he had enough guilt between him and his father to wash out her pain and drown her in his. They continued with their walk. This time, his arm was locked around her shoulder, and her arm was locked around his waist. There was a short path that opened to a clearing where trees banked the edge of a ridge and a river flowed. Night had completely fallen. It was dark. But a different kind of darkness. The moon and stars made it possible to see each other in the shadows. Mirabella sat at the base of the large oak tree, and Giovanni sat next to her.

"That's the Greenbrier River. I used to fish and swim in it when I was a kid."

“Maybe I can teach the boys to fish?” he asked.

“Really? You know how?”

He chuckled.

"What? What's funny?"

"Of course I know how. Water was apart of my life remember? Lorenzo and I used to go fishing with myPatrioften. Especially when we moved to the Campania,” he said.

“Giovanni?”

“Yes?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“About you and Armando deciding to let the world know about my mother?”

Giovanni sighed. He waited for a beat before he spoke again. "So, Marietta told you?"

"Why didn't you say anything? Do you know how it feels to hear that my mother's drug addiction and affair is now national news?"

"It had to happen. No matter how we told the world, Bella, the result would always be the same."

"Why this way? Why go to war with my brother? After all this time? He has never been a threat to you. He saved my life. And I'm grateful Gio, but I'm loyal to you. Only you."

"War is such a melodramatic term,” Giovanni waved it off. “We’re settling our differences.”

“War is your word. And I’ve heard you use it more than once.”

Giovanni chuckled.

“It’s not funny!”

“Okay.Va bene.I agree. This is a serious matter. He isn't your brother. He all but said so in the news conference. I am removing everyone from our lives that mean us harm."

"There has to be a better way."

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