Page 71 of Chase

“Ok, yeah, sure.” I sniff so loudly, Izzy moves around to face me with a look of concern. “We’ll leave now.”

“Good, that’s…good. I’m going to say my goodbyes now and then I’ll leave,” she says sadly, “this needs to be about your grandmother, not all this other stuff. I love you…I love you both.”

“Yeah, me too,” I whimper a little; there’s too much emotional drama going on for anyone not to break a little.

“She’s not got long left, has she,” Izzy says sadly when I hang up. I can’t say the words, so instead, I pull her back to me and hug for longer than we normally would, knowing that when we eventually let go, we’re going to have to go and face sayinggoodbye to Nonna.

Chapter 24

Theo

The room is empty, save for the old woman lying in the bed before us. The machines beep from beside her, telling us she’s still here, but only for a little while longer. The knowledge of this has me leading Izzy inside, keeping hold of her hand as we take our seats before the woman who has meant so much to us both, the one that brought us back together. We try and smile, even though both of us are losing the fight to hold back our tears. No one wants to face people crying over your impending death.

“Did I ever tell you where that ring came from?”

The old lady points to the ring she gave to me with which to propose to Izzy, long before our fake engagement became an idea; it was when I had come back to save Izzy. I didn’t know then that I was too late. After Ethan had sent his lie of a photography, I had been tempted to throw it away. Fortunately, I put it back in its delicate box and told her to keep for when we were both ready.

“It wasn’t from your grandfather,” she says with a mischievous smile, “it was frommyTheo.” She reaches up tostroke my chin, grinning when she sees the confusion on both of our faces. “His name was Jack, and he was one of my father’s employees. He wasn’t considered good enough for marriage material; it would have caused my father great embarrassment to have one of his lowest paid employees marrying his daughter. When he discovered us kissing one day, I was sent away to stay with my aunt, and he was fired on the spot.”

“Did you love him?” Izzy asks, holding one of her hands with the same hand that holds her ring. Nonna studies it for a moment or two, a tear perching on the end of her eyelashes.

“More than anything,” she says quietly. “He gave me that ring before I was sent away. He said it was a promise to marry me as soon as I returned home. Unfortunately,” she says with a smile that tries to hide the sadness of the memory, “I was married off before I returned home. In fact, I was already pregnant with your father by the time I returned.”

“Oh, Nonna,” Izzy cries, “I don’t know what to say. What did Jack do?”

“He married another girl,” she replies with shrug, “and we avoided each other; it would have been too painful to do otherwise. He eventually moved away with his wife and their two children. I heard he and his wife separated about twenty years ago.”

“Why didn’t you look him up?” Izzy asks, ever the adventurer.

“Because I was still married to your grandfather,” she laughs softly, “and by the time he passed on, Jack had already died.” We all seem to look down with heavy hearts over her sad tale. “The point of this sad tale is that this is not an unhappy occasion because I’m hoping that perhaps I’ll finally get to see him again.”

Izzy finally breaks and cries against her weak hand on the bed.

“Don’t leave me, Nonna, you’ve been my whole family,” she whimpers, shuddering her with the intensity of her cries.

“You have a new family now, Izzy,” she says, stroking Izzy’s blond locks with affection. “Theo is your family now; don’t let him go like I did. Keep hold of one another, no matter what anyone else says or does. If you want to build bridges with Frankie, then do it before it’s too late.” Izzy looks up at her and smiles as much as she can. “I’m going to miss you both, my darlings,” she sighs with a sob that’s enough to break me too.

“I love you, Nonna,” Izzy whispers.

“I love you too, my little Izzy!”

_____

Izzy

Nonna died at four thirty-three pm from lung failure. She had lost consciousness only about an hour before her heart gave out and the intermittent beeping ran constant. On her wishes, no one tried to revive her. I like to think she went peacefully, like walking through a door to meet all the people she had loved and lost along the way. Hopefully, Jack.

Now that she’s passed, and a heavy-set sadness has taken over, my old friend, bitterness is beginning to seep its way in. My only saving grace is Stella’s desperation to remain by my side wherever I go, and Theo of course. However, Theo is just as upset as I am, so we’re kind of trying to lean on one another without a lot of success, not that he’ll admit it. Whereas I keep sitting andstaring hopelessly into space, Theo is pacing, clearly not knowing what to do with himself.

“I bet you wish you could just turn back time and return to America right now,” I eventually say into the silence. “This trip has been full of nothing but painful revelations.”

“Don’t be stupid Iz,” he says, pausing in his latest step and coming to sit next to me instead. “Do I really have to remind you that we’re in this together now? Please stop doubting me, I need you now more than ever, so please don’t push me away.”

I look up and smile at him because I’ve never had someone like him to lean on, not since the last time he was here.

“I’m sorry, old habits and all that,” I reply sheepishly, to which he kisses me. “Apparently, our fathers are already trying to arrange the funeral,” I sigh, not wanting to consider any of the miscreants that call themselves my family. Nonna was right, my family is now Theo and Stella, full stop.

“Izzy,” Theo starts in such a way, I know he’s about to say something I’m not going to be happy about…as if I need anything else. “Mom…I spoke to her last night, and, well, she’s asking to see you.”

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