by Lily Zante
“Tori’s missing,” he told her.
Her mouth opened, even as her face crumpled. She’d heard him. But she didn’t believe him.
“She’s gone. Her stroller and baby bag and Lizzi’s things are still in there. I found this.” He’d been clutching her missing shoe and when he showed it to Rona, she burst into tears, grabbing it from him and holding it to her chest.
Behind her, Ava clasped her hand over her stomach as Nico put his arm around her, his other hand on his cell phone. Within seconds a handful of staff members stood before him.
“Show me,” Rona urged and he took her into the gardens. She cried again, inconsolable tears this time, as she picked up the stroller and set it upright again, and picked up the items that had been so carelessly thrown to the ground.
A cell phone rang from one of the bags and she rushed to it.
“It’s only me,” said Ava quietly. “I was checking to see if Lizzi might have taken her phone.”
Rona’s eyes were dark with worry. “Where is she?” She looked at Carlos, her eyes filled with tears again as she refused to let go of Tori’s shoe. “Why would anyone want to take my baby?” Carlos stopped scratching his head, his heart ready to explode, his nerves already like mulch. Terror seized his vocal chords, leaving him mute. The answer to that question filled them with a fear worse than death.
“She can’t be far,” he said, forcing a brave voice, then echoing Nico’s words, “There’s probably a good enough explanation for it. Lizzi’s with her. Lizzi won’t let her come to harm.” He wanted to run in a million different directions, with a million different super powers. He wanted to breath, but his breath was stuck behind the ball of tightness that clamped his lungs together, and he wanted to grip something so hard, just so that he could feel this was real, even though he didn’t want it to be.
“Why did I come here?” he heard Rona whisper to herself, half crying, and half whimpering. She scampered around like a mad woman and he followed her, and saw the half a dozen staff members rushing in different directions in the gardens.
“Do you think?” she closed her eyes and looked at him, as if she couldn’t bring herself to say the words.
“What?” he asked, too scared to find out.
“Ruben, he wouldn’t, would he?”
He felt the veins on his temples throb at the suggestion.
“No,” said Ava. “Of course not. Lizzi has gone too. It’s nothing like that. He wouldn’t be that stupid.”
But Carlos wasn’t so sure. He’d wanted to knock the man to pieces when he’d seen him. Luckily he’d only punched his face but he knew he’d wanted to hurt him more. He wondered if the guy was so into Rona that he had taken some sort of evil revenge for what Rona had done to him; for what Carlos had done to him. What better way than to take the one thing they both loved more than life itself?
“Tori! Lizzi!” Rona cried, her voice shrill. They looked at one another and saw fear reflected. He took a step towards her. “It’s going to be alright. I promise you,” he said and put his arms around her, holding her tightly as she fell into his chest. The feel of her desperate need gave him strength and comfort and they held one another as though their life depended on it.
Chapter 34
“I told you I was fine,” said Elsa stubbornly. Salvatore narrowed his eyes at her.
“It is better you know for sure.” He told her firmly, ignoring her set lip and the frown on her face.
Elsa shook her head and watched as Tori lay asleep in Lizzi’s arms. It had been absurd. She’d only had a minor fall. Nothing much to it. She’d been walking in the gardens quietly, minding her own business but he’d ended up making her business his business and she hadn’t been happy about the intrusion.
“Is he always so stubborn?” Elsa asked Lizzi as Salvatore drove them back to the Casa Adriana. The girl gave her a smile and a shrug.
She had gone out into the gardens after all, after seeing Ava and her heart had surged with joy when she’d heard Tori’s bubbling laugh coming from the pergola. She didn’t have time to dwell on sad memories, not with her granddaughter filling the air with her happy shrieks.
After playing with Tori for a while Elsa had walked around the gardens reliving the past once more. But as she walked that same feeling of dizziness that she had recently begun to experience had started up again. She’d ignored it, carrying on as best as she could, eager not to let anything ruin her day. But the dizziness had worsened, causing her to misjudge her next step and she had come tumbling to the ground. She remembered letting out a shriek as she had fallen. Luckily she’d landed on soft grass and, dazed and shaken, she’d remained there, unable to get up again.
In the next moment she’d heard a voice behind her. Her heart jumped as she heard the same Italian accent in a man’s voice, thick and deep.
“Are you alright?” For one foolish, crazy second, she thought of Edmondo.
“Edmondo?” she’d even asked. But the man who walked up to her from behind was nothing like Edmondo. She felt silly. Of course, it wasn’t Edmondo.
“Have you hurt yourself?” The stranger had asked, bending down to her level. She’d stared back at him, disappointed and then looked around her. She knew she was in Edmondo’s garden, but suddenly she didn’t know why she was on the ground. And who was this stranger?
“Does your head hurt? Do you have pain anywhere?” he asked her, putting his gardening hoe on the grass. Thick, unruly eyebrows framed a lined and wrinkly face. He must have been handsome once, in his youth, she guessed.
“Lizzi!” He’d bellowed and then shouted something in Italian.
“I’m perfectly fine,” she’d told him and tried to get up but she’d felt weak, as though her muscles had stopped working completely.
“You’re not fine,” he told her.
“I am,” she insisted, with an irritation she reserved only for her girls. Lizzi rushed out with Tori in her arms and her face reddened when she saw Elsa on the ground. The girl looked at her in alarm, putting a hand to her face. She was just about to voice her concerns when Elsa shushed her.
“I’m perfectly fine,” Elsa insisted but again, when she tried to get up, she couldn’t.
“Don’t move,” the man insisted, wagging a thick finger at her. He looked at the girl. “Where is the manager?” he asked.
“There is nobody at reception, Nonno.” She told him and the man expressed a face full of disapproval.
“Gandma,” Tori giggled, probably finding it funny to find Grandma sprawled out on the ground.
“I’m getting up, Honey,” Elsa said, and made another attempt.
“What did I tell you?” the man asked, annoyed. “You will hurt yourself more.”
“Look, Nonno. I am—”
“I am not your Nonno,” he said, looking at the way her legs had buckled underneath her. “I am her Nonno—it is the word we use for grandfather.”
Lizzi giggled. “He’s concerned about you, Elsa.”
“I can see that. But I am perfectly fine. I’m a little shaken if anything. I got confused just now. But I think I am fine.”
“Can you move your foot?” The man asked.
“I’ll move more than a foot,” Elsa replied, stubbornly. She refused to be treated like an invalid by him. She adjusted herself slowly so that her legs were now in front of her but bent at the knees. Carefully she straightened them out then wriggled her feet and legs too. But when she tried to get back up to standing, she couldn’t, until she reluctantly accepted the man’s outstretched hand. He grasped her easily, and with another arm around the small of her back, gently helped her to standing.
She didn’t like that he had touched the small of her back the way he had. And she certainly didn’t like his familiarity.
“Please tell your Grandfather that I am perfectly fine.”
“I can hear you perfectly,” he said. “My hearing is good.”
But when she took a step forward, her head spun and she would have fallen again had the
old man not reached out for her, holding onto her and keeping her upright.
“You need to go to the hospital and get checked out. I will take you.” He told her. “Come,” he walked her carefully to the bench nearby and helped her to sit down. Too shocked to refuse, Elsa did as she was told. Her dizzy spells had never lasted this long before.
“One moment,” he told her and then walked away to put his gardening tools back into the toolbox. Lizzi watched her grandfather and then looked at Elsa helplessly as she shook the grass off her clothes.
“I think you should get checked out,” Lizzi advised her. “You still seem a little shaky.”
Elsa knew the girl was right, and her grandfather too. She’d almost been about to fall again. It wouldn’t do to be in this state at the wedding. Reluctantly, she agreed.
“Here,” he said, returning and taking her arm, “let me he help you. I’m Salvatore.” She’d been too stunned to reply.
Chapter 35
She felt the weight of Carlos’ arm firmly around her waist and was thankful for having him to lean on. She’d been rooted to the ground and now listened to the commotion around her as people looked for her daughter. Ava stared at her, looking more worried than a woman in her condition ought to. Nico rambled into his cell phone, his voice loud, his expression grave.
All she could think of was her daughter. A feeling of dread had settled in her stomach from the moment Carlos had uttered those two awful words. A weight had settled over her as if a boulder of rock had just fallen on her shoulders. The weight grew more unbearable with every passing minute as she realized that she had no idea where Tori was.
She was just a baby. A baby. Rona knew her life would be over if she didn’t have her in her arms again. She clutched her little girl’s shoe ever tighter in her hand, felt Carlos kiss the top of her head, felt time stop. Heard the thunder of her own heartbeat, heard the gurgle of her daughter’s voice in her head. Saw the image of her in her bright green dress. A cry escaped her mouth at the memory.
“Carlos,” she moaned. “I can’t live without her.” She buried her face in the safety of his chest and drew strength from his strong arms, from his protection and from his promise to put things right.
“She’s going to be fine,” she heard Carlos say, but she knew that he too was breaking apart just like her. He was only trying to keep it together, just for her.
She couldn’t breathe, probably because her mouth was so dry, her tongue stuck to her mouth, her insides heaved. She lifted her head and looked around to see everyone in motion. Only she and Carlos clung to one another like survivors in the ocean—otherwise they would have fallen to pieces by now. She swept a hand across her forehead, seeing Tori’s face in her mind’s eye. Her laughing, squealing, giggling daughter whose face and voice brightened their every waking moment.
How had this happened? These things happened to other people. Not them.
And still she heard Tori’s giggling voice in her head. Felt Carlos’s arms loosen around her, heard him let out a gasp. She turned her body around so that she had her back to his chest and looked to see Tori and Lizzi walk into the garden. Her heart dropped like a rock and she blinked from the shock of what she was seeing. Lizzi looked puzzled to find everyone staring at her.
“Tori!” yelled Carlos and sprang towards his daughter. Rona’s heart thumped and she put her hands to her mouth, unsure whether to trust the vision before her. Then she saw her mother and the gardener slowly walk in behind them.
“Mom?” Ava’s voice behind her was loud, filled with surprise and shock. Rona stayed rooted to the ground, staring and not understanding. And then she moved, a few strides was all it took to reach Carlos and Tori.
“My baby,” she wailed as Carlos handed Tori to her. She held her baby tight, hugging her to her heart, closing her eyes, and smelling the baby smell of her once more as she buried her lips on Tori’s soft fleshy cheeks.
“What’s happened?” asked Elsa, as much surprised by their reaction as they were by her appearance.
“Where have you been?” asked Carlos. She felt his arms enclose her, and she held Tori even tighter, too scared to let her go.
“To the hospital,” Elsa replied, not without irritation. “What’s going on here?”
“We thought Tori was missing,” explained Nico.
“Missing?” asked Elsa. “Why would you think that?”
“Why were you at the hospital?” asked Ava, her face twisted in confusion.
“Don’t worry. Everything’s fine. But why do you all look as though you’ve seen a ghost?”
Rona spoke just then. “Mom, you had us worried sick. We couldn’t find Tori or Lizzi—and we thought the worst.”
“The stroller was knocked over and it looked as though someone had left in a hurry. What did you expect us to think?” asked Carlos.
Elsa closed her eyes and let out an angry exhale. She scrubbed her forehead, shaking her head. “I had no idea. I didn’t even think to call you.” She fanned out her hand over her chest. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s my fault,” said Lizzi, stepping in.
“Why is it your fault?” asked Elsa. “If anyone is to blame, it’s me. I had a fall, a minor one, and then I was marched to the hospital.”
“Marched?” Rona asked.
“It’s Salvatore’s fault,” stated Elsa, stiffly. “He insisted on taking me there. I am so sorry I put you through so much worry,” said her mother, looking at her. “You really thought she’d been taken?”
“What else were we to think?” asked Rona. “Everything was left abandoned in the pergola. Even Lizzi’s bag. Ava called her, but her cell was here. We didn’t know what had happened.”
“Nonno called for me, he screamed out my name,” Lizzi explained. “I grabbed Tori and I ran. I must have knocked over the stroller in my hurry.”
“You told me you were going back to the pensione to lie-down?” asked Ava. Elsa brushed her palms together. “I had intended to, but first I wanted to see Tori, so I went into the gardens. I wandered around a little but then—I don’t know how it happened—I fell. I couldn’t get up for a moment or two.”
“Longer,” said Salvatore, taking over. “It was quite a time that your mother couldn’t get up.”
Elsa frowned at him.
“I ran inside but there was nobody at reception,” said Lizzi.
“But I managed to get up,” said Elsa.
“With some help,” added Salvatore.
“And I was perfectly perfect,” Elsa continued.
Salvatore snorted. “Except that she wasn’t. She was still not properly balanced when she stood up. I thought she might fall again. She didn’t want to listen to me,” he shrugged. “But I took her to the hospital anyway. I think it is better for the doctor to tell her if she is perfect or not.”
“Mom?” Ava questioned. “What’s going on?”
“Tell them,” Salvatore insisted, as though he wanted her to suffer the disapproval of her daughters.
“It’s nothing.”
“It is not nothing,” Salvatore insisted.
“I can speak for myself.” Elsa told him, giving him an angry stare.
“Mom?” Rona chimed in. Now that her daughter was safe and well and back in her arms, she could worry about other things.
“I’ve been on anti-depressants—”
“Anti-depressants?” asked Rona.
“For a while,” replied Elsa, twisting her hands together. “Apparently they don’t go well with my blood pressure medication.”
“For how long?” Ava asked.
Elsa looked at the floor and fiddled with her wristwatch. “I’ve had trouble sleeping, since…since…” She looked away.
“Taking both medicines together made her dizzy and that was why she fell.” Salvatore finished for her. “Maybe it is a good idea to get your mother to see the doctor quickly. Maybe he can check her prescription.”
“I’ll do that,” said Ava.
“She can see our fami
ly doctor.” Nico offered. “In fact, why don’t I call him over right now and he can—”
“No,” said Elsa with a determined expression on her face. “I’ve taken enough orders for today,” she looked accusingly at Salvatore.
“I am happy that you are better,” said Salvatore, returning Elsa’s glance. “But I am sorry for the trouble to you all,” he announced, looking at the rest of them.
“Thank you, Salvatore,” said Rona, grateful that he had been so concerned about her mother to take her to the hospital; whether her mother liked it or not. Judging by the hostile look on Elsa’s face, Rona guessed it was obviously a case of the latter.
“I will get back to my work,” said Salvatore, giving everyone a wave of his hand. He gave Elsa a final parting look, not quite soft, not quite angry. Just unsure.
“I’m sorry,” said Lizzi, the girl looked truly remorseful.
“I’m going back inside,” said Ava, giving Tori a kiss on the cheek.
“Maybe you should take a rest yourself,” suggested Rona, noting that her sister looked exhausted. “You’ve had enough drama for the day.”
“I’m taking her home,” said Nico. “I’ll put her on bed rest for the remainder of the day.”
Ava shook her head, “It must be an Italian trait, this bossiness around women,” her lips curled up as she spoke.
“Shall we go home,” Carlos asked, rubbing his hands around her shoulder.
“Yes,” said Rona, kissing Tori’s head one more time. “Let’s go home.”
Chapter 36
Tori had fallen asleep in the car as they reached the pensione and Elsa had retired to her room not long after. It was still only early evening and Carlos put Tori in her cot while Rona cleared away the baby bag, discarding the dirty bottles and Tori’s dirty clothes.
It had been a terrifying scare and thankfully nothing more. She had counted her blessings the whole way home, knowing she was lucky that the danger she had believed her baby to be in had only been imagined, and had never been real.