Page 36 of Vita Mia

“She’s alive, Gio. That means God is listening,” Mirabella said. He looked at his wife and nodded and put his arm around her shoulders.

“Can we travel with her? In the helicopter?” Mirabella asked.

“I’m afraid not, Donna,” the doctor apologized. “But I assure you both girls will be in the best of care in Napoli.”

“The burns? She had burns?” Giovanni said.

The doctor nodded. “We have tended to them. She has superficial partial thickness, and deep partial thickness to her burns. It means there may be scarring, and she’ll definitely have some pigmentation loss on her left hand up to her wrist but the rest of her arm should heal just fine. Oh, ah, one finger is particularly scarred, we did the best we could to save it but she lost her nail bed.”

“There were others, any news on our friends? The ones admitted?” she asked.

“We had a total of thirteen, and we’ve lost six so far. Mostly their burns were too severe. I—” He opened his pad and scanned the list. He rattled off the names of two servants, and four men who worked for Giovanni. The prognosis for the other seven was just fair. Three of the two burned victims would be transferred to Napoli.

“Grazie,” Mirabella said.

“We’ll head to Naples immediately,” Giovanni told the doctor.

“They will be ready to receive you, when you arrive. God bless you Don Giovanni, and your family.”

Giovanni shook the doctors hand and then put his arm around his wife’s shoulder again. He kept her close as they walked out of the hospital to a waiting car. Renaldo tended to the authorities who had arrived to interview the family and witnesses of the fire. The Don was able to escape from the back of the hospital with Mirabella and his children unseen. Alone in the limo with his family he found it hard not to cry with his wife. He held on, and again he begged God for mercy.

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GIOVANNI HAD FALLENasleep for under an hour. He wasn’t sure how, but he did. His wife, however, remained alert and awake. He woke up to see her feeding Leeza from her breast. Gino slept on his chest and Gianni slept with his feet on Gio and his head resting on Mirabella’s lap.

“Bella?”

She glanced over to him and he could see the devastation in her face. His beautiful wife had aged in just a few hours. Her eyes were swollen with dark circles beneath. Her skin pale, ashen and dull. Her hair was listless.

“We’re close. We should be there in another hour or so,” Mirabella whispered.

“Are you okay, Bella?”

“Stop asking me that. How could I be okay?”

He nodded.

They continued to ride in silence.

Mirabella spoke next.

“Cecilia is dead.”

Giovanni glanced to her.

“Maybe not.”

“She’s dead,” Mirabella said her bottom lip quivered. “Cecilia’s dead. She’s dead. They’re dead. Leo too.”

He reached over and took her hand.

“I remember when Fabiana died in front of me. I remember the blast, the fire and the heat. I remember the last time I saw her, and that moment when it all blew up in my face. I can remember it clearly now Gio. But before tonight, I had forgotten. How did I forget? All these years Fabiana visited me in my dreams. She would warn me. I thought the dreams were visions. I thought they were about you and Lorenzo. But maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it was me all along warning myself, that if I lost focus on my babies, that fire that took my best friend would come. Heat and pain, and suffering. It would all blow up in my face. It’s strange Gio. What you know when it’s too late.”

“Fabiana was not your fault. It was mine—”

“Stop. Please. It’s just us,” she sniffed. Mirabella wiped at her eyes. “Don’t you see what’s going on around us. The price we’ve been paying for our love. Fabiana and Cecilia lives are gone. People are dead and dying. It’ll never stop. Never. God doesn’t work in reverse Gio. We aren’t blessed. We’re cursed. No matter what you say to me, or how hard I love you, this is our life. A curse. And our children Gio, we can’t protect them... not from us.”

“We can. We will. I’ll do anything Bella I swear. I’ll give it all up for you and the kids. I’ll let the fire take me first.”

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