Unforeseen

Chapter XVIII

When I woke up the next morning, I found the left side of the bed to be empty. The sheets were untouched, and the pillow had not been slept on. It was clear that Gabriele had not come back last night. Following my normal routine, I got up, got ready, had a cup of coffee with a small breakfast,and headed down to the restaurant. Morning turned to afternoon which turned to night and still I had not seen or heard from Gabriele. My shift had ended late afternoon, Giorgia insisted I return home and get some rest, but my mind was restless, which made my body the same. I begged her to let me stay and help do the dishes with Nannina and clean the dining room to keep me busy, to this she agreed. 

At this point, I was very worried because I didn't know what his business actually entailed and if he was in fact mixed up in the same affairs as his family was, but I knew one thing for sure, this was not like him. Late-night had fallen and still nothing, as I depressingly made my way out of the restaurant and up to my apartment. Had this been the end? Did I run something good, off? Was it the way I had behaved last night? But it couldn't have been...I was on my best behavior; I gave everyone a shy smile, and I was attentive when the group spoke among us. I tried my best to look like I was engaged. Maybe it was because I didn't go out of my way to make friends with some of the other ladies. Or maybe he saw their side of things and that I didn't fit in with them. Maybe when he met with his colleagues last night, they convinced him otherwise, that we aren't meant for each other because let's face it...at the end of the day we shouldn't be together. We are from two different worlds, and I was finally moving in my own direction.

At last, I knew how to live again on my own, how to be me, and be okay with myself. I had come to terms with my past, and I was finally in a really good place. And now for what? What do I do now? I know what I must do now...pick up the pieces that are left of me and start over once more. I could've let my mind continue with its mad thoughts, but instead, I did the one thing I had grown good at in the past...I crawled into bed with a heavy heart and fell into my escape of deep, dark sleep. 

The next day as I made my way down to the bottom of the stairs, I saw a shadow standing inside, his back was to me as he looked out the small window. The man had one arm above his head pushed up against the door, and he was leaning on it, in a relaxed way. It was hard to make out who he 131was since the bulb at the bottom of the landing had burnt out weeks ago, and no one including myselfhad gotten around to change it yet.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" I yelled down to the man before getting too much closer. 

"I know I have a lot of explaining to do," the man's words echoed back to me. 

By the sound of the voice, I knew it to be Gabriele. Part of me wanted to start screaming profanities at him, part of me wanted to cry. I wanted to run down to him and rush into his arms while tears streamed dramatically down my face. I wished to beat on his chest, pound on it with both of my fists in the most savage way so that he could hurt as I hurt. But that wouldn't even be the half of how he made me feel, what he made me think since he had been gone. 

Instead, I chose the higher road and decided to approach this whole situation calmly. "Well...you can start with where you have been?" 

"Do you want the good news or the bad news first?" he asked in a monotone voice. 

I thought it might help to ask, "Will the good out way the bad?" As I was uncertain which one would be better to start off hearing. 

"I think it will." 

"Then the bad news first," I said confidently.

"I got shot the night I dropped you off." The calmness in his voice sent chills down my back. 

"What!" Rushing down to his side, I grabbed him by both biceps and spun him around to face me. Though his face appeared undamaged I could tell he had been beaten down and hurt in the worst of ways. 

"Wha–What happened?" I could feel the breathcatch in my throat when he didn't answer right away. I searched his eyes for more emotion than what he was giving until he began speaking once more. 

"Remember that thing I told you was urgent,and I had to take care of that night," he said, "it went sour, one of my frien–one of my colleagues got killed and so did one of my brothers. It was a terrible night. I buried two of the best men I had ever known."

It started out slow, he bent his head down and pinched the top of his nose with his thumb andpointer finger, squeezing his eyes tightly shut as he did so. Without much time he began to weep softly. He laid his head down on my shoulder and fell into me hard. I had never seen this much emotion come out of him before. In fact, I couldn't recall seeing this much emotion out of a man my whole life. My father was as tough as iron, he had no emotion whatsoever, Nicholas had always held his composure so well that I never knew how he was feeling or what he was thinking and then there was Danny. Danny truly did wear his heart on his sleeve, but I can't recall ever once seeing him cry.In the short amount of time that the tears had come on was as quickly as they had dissipated. In a few short moments, Gabriele had pulled himself together, wiped any trace of his tears away, and stood taller and more like stone than ever.

"We couldn't catch the men that did it," he saidbetween sniffles, "but we think we have a pretty good idea of who it was. We are going to make the hit tonight." 

"Make the hit..." I mouthed so quietly I barely heard myself repeat the words out loud. 

It was happening again. I could feel it coursing through my body, the way I felt before as I recalled the last time a job went bad. When I had losteverything that mattered in my life, everything that was my purpose for existing. I felt somewherebetween getting the wind knocked out of me bybeing punched in the stomach and my own throatdeliberately collapsing on me, depriving my lungs of air. 

"Yes, the hit!" he reiterated. I could plainly see that he was very irritated by my response. "You're a smart woman, I know you know what that means!" 

"Well yes I know what it means but–" I shrieked, "wait...how do you know that I know what that means?" 

"As I just said you're a smart woman. A smart Italian woman, you know the reference. And if you don't know of it by personal experience then youhave gained at least some sort of knowledge from hearing about it prior, possibly even through a grape vine." 

Brushing aside his last comment I asked, "And what pray tell is the good news?" 

"Now that I'll have to show you, let's head out." Grabbing my hand, he began pulling me out of the door towards the car. 

"No wait, I can't, I have to be at work!" I fought to pull back from his grip. 

Resting both hands on either side of my face he held me there, staring at me intently. "I already talked to Giorgia, she said it was okay if you took the day off." 

With that, I headed off silently to Gabriele's good news. We drove on for what felt like hours until I suddenly asked him where we were going.

"We are going to the good news remember?" he asked with a slight laugh. 

"I do but where are we? None of this looks even remotely familiar, how far are we from home?" There were so many things about this ride that made me anxious. The biggest factor was not being given any details as we kept on our way. 

"To answer your questions, we are not too far away from home, about four and a half hours now I'd say if I had to guess, we are in the northern part of New Jersey. What do you think of it?" he cautiously asked me. 

"I must say it is very different looking from home," I said, eyeing him suspiciously. "It has that countryside feel and with that comes more scenery and a lot of trees. I've noticed it's definitely quietertoo than where we live, and I would have to say I don't think I've seen us pass another house in quite some time." 

Gabriele continued to be gauging my reaction as he spoke. I didn't know what exactly he was looking for. What was he hoping to see? "Indeed, we are deep in the countryside now. We are currently in one of the rural counties, beautiful out here isn't it and peaceful." 

"Now that I can't argue with," I said with a smile. 

"Here we are, finally arrived!" he said, as we drove down a wide gravel road, which Gabriele called a driveway. It was outlined on both sides with a single file line of brick.