CHAPTER 20
ANNUNCIATA
Finally, once the children were all ready, Lorenzo drove them to his mother’s house on his way to work. He said he was due to visit one of the Fratellanza’s nightclubs today and that he would see me tonight.
After they had all left, the house felt very quiet. The only other person in the house was Adelina, and she was busy with the housework while Wilbur had gone up to my bedroom for his post-breakfast nap.
I wasn’t used to such a lack of company. In my parents’ house, you’d be lucky to get an hour to yourself before someone dropped in. My father, brothers and cousins were in and out of the house all day, while Fidella and my Aunt Priscilla were also frequent visitors.
I decided to ring Ma and catch up with her. I used my cell rather than the house phone, not knowing if calls on the house phone were recorded by Lorenzo—I didn’t want to have to watch what I was saying to Ma.
“Hi Ma.”
“Annunciata!” she shrieked when she heard my voice, causing me to hold the phone a little away from my ear.
We had a great chat, and after I’d caught up on the latest gossip from Venetiville, I asked Ma for her advice about Clara’s lack of appetite.
“You should try my homemade cotolette di pollo.” Ma’s breaded chicken cutlets were out of this world. “They are very good at tempting the appetites of young children. The secret is to mix plenty of parmesan cheese in with the breadcrumbs and don’t forget the garlic and parsley for seasoning,” she advised.
“Thanks, Ma. I’ll make them tonight for dinner. I know there’s going to be no quick fix, but I want to start experimenting to see what might work with her.”
“You’re going to make a good mom to those kids, Annunciata. I hope Lorenzo appreciates what you are doing for his kids.”
“He only seems to find things to grumble about,” I said in a tone that was a mixture of dejection and irritation. “I got Clara to eat her scrambled eggs this morning, but all he did was complain about how noisy Wilbur was.”
“Give it time, Annunciata. Made Men are a strange species.”
“Ma, I wanted to ask you about speech as well.”
“Speech?”
“Yes. Clemente is two and Clara is four. But their levels of speech are almost identical—both speak in only one-word or two-word phrases. Shouldn’t Clara be speaking more by now, or do you think that Clemente is just advanced for his age?”
“No, you are right, Annunciata. Clara should be able to speak much more than that.”
“Perhaps she’s just shy and reluctant to speak around me because I’m a new person? But if things don’t improve soon, I think I might take her to see a speech therapist.”
After talking some more Ma told me she had to go and I promised to call her again soon.
Hanging up, I looked around myself and wondered what I was going to do to pass the time today. I was up-to-date with my college assignments. Without the children here and with Wilbur still asleep, I had time to think, and thinking made a pang of homesickness hit me.
I knew I had to keep myself busy to stop myself feeling like this, so I got up and went to the kitchen to see Adelina.
“I thought I’d cook tonight, Adelina, if that’s okay with you?” I didn’t want to step on the housekeeper’s toes, especially as I wanted us to be friends—I could really use at least one friend here in Chicago.
“Of course, Mrs. Anni, whatever you wish.”
I checked on what ingredients were already in the fridge and kitchen cupboards, and made a list of what I’d need to buy from the grocery store.
Going into the garage, I picked the same SUV I’d taken yesterday. I really didn’t want to have to take a bodyguard again with me though. It was awkward having one of Lorenzo’s soldiers looking over my shoulder at all times, and my homesickness made me even more adamant that I didn’t want a stranger trailing me today.
Lorenzo hadn’t actuallytold methat I needed to take a bodyguard with me when I went out. I’d taken one with me yesterday, but I told myself that was because I’d had the children with me. Anyway, whatever I did, Lorenzo found a reason to grumble at me, so I decided I should just start doing whatever I wanted to do.
I checked my watch and saw that it was 10.50am. I’d noticed yesterday that the soldiers switched duties every two hours, rotating between gate duty, perimeter duty, and other security duties.
Looking out of the window of the garage, I hoped that there would be a changeover at 11.00am. My luck was in and, on the hour, the two gate soldiers headed to the guardhouse at the rear of the property to switch over.
While they were gone, I drove down the driveway. Upon reaching the gate, I put in the eight-figure code that I’d seen Giuseppe enter yesterday—I’d always had a superior memory when it came to numbers. After a moment, I smiled in triumph as the electronic gates opened for me.