Page 40 of Amadeo
Valencia gasped.
I could also hear Amadeo taking a deep breath. I needed to finish telling this before I totally cracked. It had been two years, yet it felt like it happened just yesterday. “I-I got an ambulance and got her to the hospital. They wouldn’t allow me to do anything for her medically since I was obviously her sibling and I was upset of course. She didn't die, but she never woke up…S-she went into a coma.”
Amadeo grabbed my hands and held them. “My lord, Gia. No wonder you…”
I nodded. “She might have made it through but in that province, they believed in God working miracles and not as much for humans working the same.”
“Very Catholic, si, si.” Zia nodded. “Sacralità della Vita. The Catholic Church holds that life is a gift from God, and humans are stewards, not owners, of their lives.”
Nodding, I swiped at my tears again which was useless as more rolled down along my face. “That is what they said. The Sanctity of Life. I wish I would have understood the totalmeaning of that at the time. I stayed with her for a straight week in the hospital as I refused to leave her there alone. I ordered clothes for myself to be brought there and I washed up in the bathroom of her room. Then I had to go to get our things from the hotel, they wouldn't allow anyone else to claim our belongings. The hotel kept calling the hospital over it. I wouldn’t have cared except our passports had been in our hotel room. There had already been the scandal of her attempting suicide there, so the hotel was not happy as it was.” I did cry in earnest now. I finally cracked. I’d never gotten to talk about this before now. I actually refused to talk about it. I shoved it down and allowed my hatred for Amadeo to fuel me. Now, I didn’t have that and I felt like I was falling apart.
Amadeo scooted his chair over and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
I trembled and fought to get myself together as I went on in a strained voice, “She was so young! I mean why would they just do that? End her life. Take away her chance to fight? Why? I raised hell as I flipped out on them, telling them they had no right to do that. I threatened to go to the American Embassy and file a complaint. So they had the police come in and take me to jail.”
“Oh, no,” Zia murmured. “So awful.” She handed me another tissue. “I am so sorry you went through all that alone, dolce ragazza.”
“They expelled me from the country and put me on a plane,” I added. “And I admit it when I returned to America, I went right back to school and changed my major in Neurology.
“Specializing in coma patients,” Amadeo added in a gentle tone.
“Yes,” I replied. “I never got to help her but I would help others and unplugging is not in my handbook. Not unless it has been years and their body is failing.”
“So all this time, you believed Deo had been the man who…” Zia asked as she shook her head.
I broke out into fresh tears as I cried out, “Yes!”
“Gia, please don’t cry over that. I understand, I do,” Amadeo pleaded with me as he squeezed my shoulder.
“Si.” Zia nodded. “There is no one kinder, more warm and caring than Deo.”
This did not help my weeping. “I know!” I cried louder. “I believed he was this horrible heartbreaker.”
“He could break them by ignoring the women who follow him around, which he does a lot.” Zia nodded. “But I can see he’s done with ignoring.” She gently smacked Amadeo on the back.
He nodded at her then looked back at me to ask, “So my father knew about this?”
Nodding, I sniffled. “He did.”
“But he had to have known I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
I shrugged. “I’m unsure. He insinuated it had been part of the family who’d been responsible. But we never mentioned your name in particular.”
“That is most likely what he believes as we all heard about it. He wouldn’t think Amadeo had done this.” Zia stood again and grabbed the dustpan as she explained, “When the local law tracked Claudio down, they pressed murder of the second degree on him.”
I snapped my head up and turned to look at her. “What?” I hadn’t heard about this.
“Si.” Zia nodded at me. “The laws are a bit different over there but I think it would be like manslaughter here. Maybe they took you seriously about making a complaint? He got ten years.”
Amadeo scoffed. “Not long enough.”
Zia seemed to agree, “His family was saddened by him having to go to jail but they knew it had been true. He had been known for doing the same thing to many young women. Even the engagement rings weren’t real. He used fake names and addresses. He plotted these sorts of things and they were crimes in a sense. Even if he didn’t steal their money or belongings, he stole their hearts and often their innocence. But that incident went further than he’d counted on and he deserved to be sentenced for it. So finally after…” she paused and gave me a nod. “He got put in prison.”
I sighed and felt glad my tears had dried up. It wasn’t death by castration but it was the best news I’d heard in a while.
Amadeo had been staring at me.
I looked up at him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he never wanted to speak to me again. “What?” I asked nervously. Waiting for him to tell me off.
