Page 251 of Vita Mia

Mirabella looked to her daughter who was now on the floor with her cousins helping them with her block puzzles. She hadn’t seen MiaBella smile much all day. She nodded that she agreed.

“Why don’t you go for a swim, before it gets too late?”

“Swim? At the beach I love?” Mirabella said with sarcasm.

“I’m sorry for my snippy comment. I’m jealous of the fucking beach, this place, even Gio’s memory! I’m jealous because it’s been five years and I miss you Mira.”

Mirabella stared at her sister-in-law unable to respond.

“But it’s going to change. After tonight, everything changes,” Catalina said.

“How?”

“You should go back to the beach house. I know you like it out there. The men are here, and Mia is with me. Clear your head. Focus. Relax. Come to Palermo when you’re ready and we’ll talk about France or whatever you want.”

Mirabella’s brows lowered. “What are you up too?”

“Nothing, everything, I’m just being less judgmental and more supportive.

Mirabella smiled.

“Grazie, let me pack Mia some things...”

“No need. Bionca has already packed a bag and it’s in the car.” Catalina stood. Mirabella frowned.

“Give me a kiss,” Mirabella said to her youngest child. MiaBella walked over and stood on her toes. She lifted her chin to kiss her mother and then hugged her waist.

“Bye mum, see you today.”

‘Tomorrow, Mia,” Mirabella smiled.

“Oh, yes. See you tomorrow.”

“Take a swim and relax. I’ll call you tomorrow,” Catalina said and kissed her cheek. Mirabella walked her and the children to the door. She gave Catalina a smile and waved goodbye to them. She watched as they drove away and then closed the door on the day.

A night swim was never advised with the tide on her stretch of beach. But she had two hours before the sunset. When she was alone in the ocean she felt free. No longer trapped by her regrets and loneliness. The vast emptiness out stretched her own.

She climbed the stairs and went into her room. She shed her clothes and stood before the mirror. Physically she didn’t feel different, but she could see the changes to her body.

Mirabella put on a yellow swimsuit and long sheer white cover-up. She let her hair free of the hair-tie and it drifted past her shoulders. She met Bionca downstairs and told her she’d go for a swim. Her assistant smiled in appreciation but didn’t object. Catalina recommended Bionca shortly after Mirabella moved to Mondello. The young woman was very loyal and helpful.

Mirabella returned to the beach. Dominic’s men were already on the shore. She could see them pacing closer and then far between. She ignored them as usual and they ignored her. She removed her cover-up, folded it, then placed it on the sand with her sandals on top. She walked into the sea water that had been warmed by the sun all day and when the waves crashed against her hips she dove in.

Freedom came beneath.

She opened her eyes and saw the murky water cloudy from the tide stirring the sand. She swam with long strokes of her arms and quick kicks of her feet, and then she surfaced. A blast of fresh air filled her lungs. Giovanni had taught her to swim. Most of their marriage her swimming was always confined to the pools of Melanzana. However, since his death she loved the sea. She felt him among the rushing tide. It was strange, but she did.

She swam toward the coast line. It was not easy. But years of practice made her a pro.

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GIOVANNI CLOSED THEflip phone. The caller informed him that she was in the sea. He got up from the chair and walked toward the open patio. From the darkness inside he could see the ocean but he had to step closer to the front to see her. And when he did he froze.

Five years was an eternity without her. He watched her disappear in the rolling waves and then reemerge. He feared for her safety. The sun was slipping away from the sky. And though Dominic said this was her ritual, it felt too risky for his conservative Bella. Why the ocean? Why swim at all? He may not have been in her life but he knew everything about her. She wasn’t a natural swimmer. It took learning and plenty of patience to get her this comfortable. And after the deep depression she suffered after his death he expected her to be more cautious and withdrawn. The anxiety attacks that had left her hospitalized twice. The medication they kept her own to calm her was constantly modified. And he was the cause of it all.

The desire to hold her had always been a need, but over the years it became a desperate obsession until it morphed into life-saving emergency. That is why he broke his vow.

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