Catarina's Ring

by Lisa McGuinness

  He left her to get ready while he went in search of some milky coffee and rolls. When he got back, she was dressed and her bunk was put away.

  He handed her coffee that he had fixed to her liking with lots of milk and sugar, and set out the rolls and jam on the small table that folded down from under the window.

  “We should be in Oakland in around five hours,” he told her. “Then we’ll take a quick ferry ride. After that, we’ll be in San Francisco.”

  Catarina blew on her coffee and looked out the window while she contemplated the reality of being met at the ferry by the entire Brunelli family. It seemed fitting to begin and end her journey on the water. She wondered how they would treat her. She remembered them as boisterous and a bit overwhelming, but of course she’d been a child. Perhaps now she wouldn’t find them as intimidating. She knew her parents trusted them and that Franco’s father and her father were like brothers growing up. Still, that doesn’t mean they would automatically like her, Catarina reflected.

  “Did your parents mind that you wanted to marry me instead of someone here?”

  Franco paused for a moment before answering. The truth is that his mother thought he was being ridiculous and had told him so many times, whereas his father couldn’t have been happier to finally join the two families. His mother had picked out the daughter of one of her dear friends for him to marry. The problem was that Franco wasn’t interested in her. In his mind, she seemed more interested in the diamonds the family could offer her than in Franco himself. He had a hard time keeping a conversation going with her, which his mother brushed off as a temporary problem. Franco doubted that very much. If there’s nothing to say when you’re getting to know someone, how much worse would it be when you already knew everything there was to know? So, he dug in his heels, which was no easy task against his determined and stubborn mother.

  In the end, though, Signora Brunelli realized her husband and son had joined forces. Outnumbered, she acquiesced. But she had still harrumphed loudly and often during the plans and arrangements. Franco was slightly concerned about how she would receive Catarina once she was actually here; a worry he had no intention of passing on to his betrothed.

  Catarina smiled. “And now remind me about your brother’s wife. I remember your brother a little bit from meeting him when you were in Italy, but tell me about his wife. Do you expect that we’ll become friends?”

  “Do you remember that my brother, Carlo, is named after your father?”

  “Of course. My father has always been proud of it.”

  “Carlo’s wife is named Gabriella. You’ll love her. She’s funny and kind. They have two bambini and she’s in the family way again. She gets as big as a house,” Franco laughed, but the fact that he was truly affectionate towards his brother and sister-in-law was apparent. “Their children are Anna and Anthony. I’ve told them that they better not name the third child a name that begins with ‘A’ or it will sound too strange. Don’t you think?”

  “Definitely. When we have children, we’ll make sure their names aren’t too matching. I don’t like that either,” Catarina said.

  Franco took her hand and squeezed it. The thought of having children together made them both smile shyly.

  “Wait until you see the church where we’ll get married. It’s a beautiful Catholic church right in the heart of the Italian section of the city. Mama took the liberty of inviting everyone we know. She wants to show that she was finally able to marry me off, I think.” Franco winked at Catarina.

  “Mama and I made the dress I’ll wear.” She could picture it folded neatly in her trunk, as if it were waiting patiently to be worn. She wished her parents could be at the ceremony.

  They sat side by side in their compartment, watching the landscape turn from mountains to rolling hills and then to small populated towns as they talked about the details of their wedding day. Catarina felt as if her life were moving as rapidly as the train they were on: hurtling down the track toward a destination that she both wanted and feared.

  She felt closer to Franco than she would have imagined after spending only a week in his company. She was determined to make the two of them into a family. She had escaped signor Carlucci, and a coming war. She wanted to make saying goodbye to her life in her beloved Italy worth the sacrifice of leaving the family and land she loved.

  Finally, the train wheels stopped turning and they gathered their belongings while the metal screeched. The train, dragon-like, bellowed a hiss of steam and pulled into the Oakland station.

  The doors clanged open and people began unloading. Franco leaned out the window to see if his family was on the platform. He had a feeling they would surprise them at the train instead of waiting for them to take the ferry to San Francisco. He was right. He burst into laughter, shouted and waved, calling out their names, but Catarina, standing behind him, couldn’t see the group that had gathered.

  “I hope you don’t mind,” he told her, “but it looks like they decided to surprise us and meet us here.”

  “What?” Catarina was momentarily frozen, having thought that she still had time to prepare before meeting them.

  “Don’t worry,” Franco squeezed her hand reassuringly. “They’re going to love you.”

  Franco’s father sent a porter in along with Carlo to help Franco with Catarina’s suitcase and trunk. Carlo threw the door open with a bang and stepped into the compartment. He hugged Franco, slapping him on the back, then grabbed Catarina and hugged her, too, as if they were long-lost friends.

  “Look who’s all grown up,” he exclaimed, making her feel not only welcome, but showing he was ecstatic to have her join the family. It was the best greeting she could have imagined.

  “I feel that it was just yesterday that we were running around your orchard together,” he said, as he hustled them off the train.

  Like Carlo, Franco’s father grabbed each of them separately in bear hugs and welcomed Catarina.

  Franco’s sister-in-law and their two children stood back respectfully waiting to be introduced, which Franco did as soon as his father released them. Catarina knew right away that Franco was right, she would like Gabriella. She was lovely and had a ready smile. Anna and Anthony seemed shy but interested in Catarina and said a formal buon giorno to her.

  While the hugging and greeting took place among the rest of the family, Franco’s mother stood slightly separate. Finally, she came forward.

  “Buon giorno, Catarina,” she said, and placed her hands on each of Catarina’s shoulders. “Benvenuta nella nostra famiglia.” Welcome to the family. She kissed her on each cheek and smiled into her eyes. Franco felt himself exhale a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. His mother was warm and plump, and had the same nose as Franco. Her eyes also held the same kindness and Catarina could tell she would be safe with her. It wasn’t as good as having her own mother here, but she immediately felt that she could trust this woman.

  “Thank you, Mama,” Franco mouthed above Catarina’s head and his mother winked at her son in return.

  Chapter 18

  JULIETTE, IAN, AND AN UNEXPECTED FIND

  They sat for what seemed like ages on the tarmac, waiting for a jet with a mechanical problem to be relocated. Between that and the eleven-hour flight with an extremely large, snoring seat companion, Juliette had never been happier to get off of a plane in her life. On the way to the baggage claim, she popped into the bathroom to brush her teeth and splash water on her face, then joined her fellow passengers at the carousel to retrieve her bags.

  While she waited, she turned her phone back on and checked messages. There was one from Gina letting her know that she and their dad would be waiting eagerly for her outside of Customs, and one from Roman asking her to call him so he would know she had arrived safely. She wanted nothing more than to pick up her phone and hear his voice, but for her own sense of self-preservation she instead texted a quick “arrived safely” to him, then tucked her phone back into her purse.

  As he
r mind drifted while she stood beside the luggage carousel, her dad’s contractor, Ian, suddenly popped into her head. Now that she was back, she wanted to get in touch with him to say “thank you”. She made a mental note to ask her dad for his contact information just as she spotted her bags coming down the ramp and clunking onto the rotation belt. Slinging her shoulder bag on and edging her way through the crowd, she was in a good position to make a grab for them. Then, after waiting in a line that seemed to be inching forward at a sloth’s pace, and having her suitcases repeatedly smelled by drug-sniffing beagles, she was through Customs and searching for her dad and sister.

  She stared blankly around her, lost in an island of strangers before hearing her name being called. Gina was rushing towards her as fast as she could while pushing their father in a wheelchair, his leg sticking straight out and a huge grin on his face.

  Juliette’s face went ashen.

  “Oh my God! What happened to you, Dad? Why didn’t anyone tell me you were hurt?”

  “He’s okay,” Gina was quick to hug and reassure her while simultaneously her dad said, “I’m going to be fine.”

  Juliette untangled herself from her sister’s embrace and bent down to give her dad the best hug she could considering the awkward maneuvering around the outstretched leg protruding from the wheelchair.

  “What happened?”

  “It looks bad, I know, but it could have been worse, believe me,” he told her.

  “Dad fell off a ladder and busted his leg. He was in traction, but he’s on the mend now.”

  “But…?”

  “I know, I know…we probably should have told you, but Roman had just told you about Maddalena, we didn’t want to give you an excuse to run home instead of finishing your class.”

  “What were you doing?” Juliette looked at her dad.

  “I was working on the sky light. It’s leaking again and I was up on the ladder holding the window up while Ian bolted it in place.”

  Gina chimed in, “Fortunately he didn’t break his neck on the way down, and Ian called an ambulance right away.”

  “Your poor contractor; he was probably freaking out after being with you when you got the call from me on the day of Mom’s accident, and now this. He’s going to be afraid to work for our family.”

  “Geez, that’s true,” Gina said. “I hadn’t even thought about that.”

  “How long were you in the hospital? Was this just last week?” Juliette asked.

  “Just a few days, Sweetie. No big deal.”

  “Well, broken heart or no broken heart, you should have told me. I can’t believe you didn’t.”

  “We’ve been fine, right Gina?”

  “It really was ok once we knew he’d be good as new. It was a little scary until then, but you were going through your own stuff and we didn’t want to add to your stress.”

  “Sorry,” her dad looked properly chastised, “but you can’t be mad at us now because we’re too happy to see you!”

  “True, and good strategy, I guess. But,” Juliette’s mind immediately went to the worst-case scenario, “you could have been paralyzed or killed! Look at you. Are you in pain?”

  “I’m not in pain, so don’t worry about me,” he said. “They’ve got me on great pain meds.”

  “I tried to get him to stay home, but he was extremely uncooperative. Finally, I took pity on him, shoved him into the car, and brought him with me.”

  Juliette laughed and her father shook his head as if to deny the whole story while Gina rolled her eyes and sighed theatrically.

  “This way we got to park in the handicapped parking area, which is way closer.”

  Juliette laughed. “You guys, it feels so good to be home!” she said. “I’ve missed you!”

  The three of them talked nonstop all the way to the car. They barely broke their stream of conversation while they wrangled Juliette’s dad into the back seat and got him buckled up. “I can hardly wait to start looking at spaces to rent, “ Juliette said, speaking about her café, hiding her emotions about Roman behind a curtain of cheerfulness.

  “Actually, Juliette,” Gina piped in, “you’ve already been looking, unbeknownst to you, because Dad’s been a little bored since he’s been laid up.”

  “At least once they took me off the Percocet,” he said. “Until then I was laying in a warm sunbeam of contentment.”

  “He’s not joking. He actually said, ‘I’m having such a nice afternoon’ while he was in traction.” Gina laughed. “Anyway, once the fog cleared, he started scoping out venues.”

  “It’s true, but no pressure. I gathered some information for you online while being forced to convalesce, but I don’t want to get in your way.”

  “I’d love to see what you’ve found.” Juliette knew her dad had been lonely with too much time on his hands since her mom’s death. She could only imagine how much being stuck in a cast would add to that, so if helping her find a restaurant space interested him, she was happy to oblige.

  “And,” her dad told her, “If you’re going to move forward with this, I’ll have to reintroduce you to Ian.”

  “I actually want to get his contact info from you for another reason as well,” she said. “I want to say thank you to him for driving you to the hospital and staying with me until Gina got there when Mom died.”

  “That would be nice. I’ll text you his info right now,” Alexander said, pulling out his cell phone. “He’ll be perfect to use when you find the right place.”

  Suddenly the memory of Ian sitting next to her in the hard, plastic chair at the hospital flashed through her mind. She could almost feel the rough texture of his callused palm, holding one hand while she hugged the box of letters to her chest with the other. A ripple of tension shot across her body when she remembered that day. She hadn’t had a panic attack about it in months and hoped the tingling tightness wasn’t a precursor to one now.

  “You could even meet with him and tell him what you have in mind ahead of time,” Alexander said, not noticing the subtle deep breathing Juliette was trying to do without her dad or Gina seeing, nor the relief on her face as the feeling passed.

  On the drive home, Juliette drank in the familiar sights and was filled with a sense of peacefulness.

  The wheels crunched onto her gravel drive and she sighed with relief at the sight of her little in-law studio. The red geraniums blooming in the flower boxes fleetingly reminded her of the flowers on the balcony of her apartment in Lucca. It felt distant already. She noticed the sage was overwhelming the flagstones of her walkway and made a mental note to trim it back.

  The windows were open, letting in the cold spring air, but it was lovely to walk into a fresh house.

  “I hope it’s all right,” said Gina. “Christine thought it would be nice to open the windows and let in some fresh air for you. I didn’t think you’d mind.”

  “Are you kidding? It’s just one more thing to love about my best friend. I can’t wait to talk to her and catch up.”

  Juliette noticed more things Christine had done, including a bouquet of flowers left on her kitchen counter and fresh milk and her favorite yogurt in the fridge.

  “First things first,” Juliette said, after she dumped her luggage into her room, texted a thank you to Christine, and they’d gotten her dad situated onto the couch. “Presents!”

  She unzipped the larger of her suitcases and took out a few things she had brought home for each of them, which they oohed and ahhed over appreciatively. Then, while Juliette took a quick shower and cleaned up, Gina picked up dinner from Juliette’s favorite sushi place so they could eat together before Juliette completely crashed from jet lag. She already felt a bit spacey, but knew she could at least make it through dinner with her family.

  It had been too long since she had eaten sushi, and Juliette savored every morsel as she regaled them with stories of Italy. She swirled wasabi into her soy sauce and happily endured the heat. But after a while, her eyes were burning and she knew she couldn
’t keep them open much longer.

  “I’m sorry you guys, but I have to get to bed. I feel like my head is actually going to fall off my shoulders and roll across the floor.”

  “You do look exhausted, Sweetie,” her dad said.

  “Get some sleep then,” Gina told her. “I’ll get Dad home.” She kissed her little sister on the cheek. “It’s great to have you back.”

  “Even though I loved Italy more than I ever imagined, which is saying a lot, I am very relieved to be home. It was hard to be away from you guys for such a long time. And once Roman broke up with me, I literally had to tell myself each day that I could get through it; and then another day would come and I’d tell myself the same thing.”

  Gina squeezed her sister’s hand.

  “Yeah, that last week was not so fun,” Juliette said and hugged her again. “But you know what? If it hadn’t happened, I would have been spending every spare moment with Roman instead of pouring over Catarina’s letters, and I wouldn’t have noticed the recurring theme of strength they were infused with: the promise of being able to take charge of life, make it a full one no matter what, and choose to be happy. It was like . . . I don’t know . . . like suddenly waking up. I felt freed from my paralysis.”

  Juliette thought about those feelings once again as she climbed into her pajamas and snuggled in bed with her book, enjoying the fact that she was in her own bedroom. She read for about two minutes before her burning eyes got the better of her and she clicked off the light.

  She stirred briefly at around five a.m. and peeked open an eye to check the time, but refused to give in to wakefulness, rolled over, and went back to sleep. When she awoke again, the light was streaming in her window. A quick glance at her clock showed that it was already eleven thirty in the morning. She stretched in bed, feeling beautifully rested, and then threw back her covers. She picked up the folder her dad had left for her. It was filled with sheets of paper detailing listings of various retail spaces for rent. She climbed back in bed, and started looking through them.