Make you Mine-estrone Macaroni

Chapter One

"Leave, Leandro! You have no business calling yourself my son! There is no place for you here at my home, do not dare return!"

Signor Geronte throws his son, Leandro, onto the steps outside the doors of the Geronte home by his red scarf. Leandro picks himself up and begs to his father on his knees. "Father please, do not disgrace me. I love him, do you not love your own son?" "A son who loves another man is not son of mine." Geronte shouts at Leandro, who is still disheveled on the steps. Geronte raises his umbrella and pushes his former son down the steps, leaving him tarnished in the streets. He scoffs as he walks inside his mansion and slams the doors. As he strides across the house, he halts in front of a large family painting of Leandro, his daughter Giacinta, and himself. I'm a fit of rage, he raises his umbrella and goes to tear the painting straight across the face of Leandro.

Just then, Giacinta grabs the umbrella and takes it from him. "Father! How could you do such a thing? He is your son, and you are his father! Have you no heart? No compassion?" Geronte snatches his umbrella back and raises it, threatening Giacinta. "I am a father to a son no more. He has disgraced the good name of the house Geronte. He shall see not the compassion of which you speak." Gently, Giacinta lowers the umbrella and holds her father's hand lovingly. "Father, my brother is in love with Ottavio. I see no reason he is a disgrace. I will love him unconditionally until I die." Geronte rips his hand from his daughters and strides away. As he walks up the large, marble stairs of his home, he shouts to Giacinta. "That man is no longer a brother to you. Love is a hateful and cruel thing. Each moment it perseveres drains me of my joy. I can never forgive Leandro for what he has done to me."

Giacinta stops at the bottom of the stairs, clutching the railing and shouts "And what if it had been me, Father?" Geronte halts in his tracks, but cannot bear to look at his daughter. "What if I had loved another woman? Would you have me banished from our home? Would you have me on the streets again as I was for years with mother when we had been lost? Would you punish me to the same fate she suffered?" Tears fill Gerontes eyes as he turns and slowly walks down the stairs. "Giacinta, you know that you are different. You know-" "But why!?" She yells, pushing herself away from the railing she had been holding. "Why must my fate differ from my Leandro's?" Giacinta storms toward the large door to find Leandro, when Geronte reaches out for her, the tears that flooded his eyes now trickling down his cheeks. "Please, Gia. I cannot lose you again. Not like i lost your mother. Leandro is no brother of yours, stay here with me." She opens the door. "If Leandro cannot be my brother, then you cannot be my father. Good day, Signor." The door slams.

That night, Geronte sits at the side of his bed, next to his nightstand. He thinks about the events of the day and how he can proceed. Then, his Nurse entered his chambers. "Signor, dinner is prepared." "Thank you. Lean it on the table. I will be a while." He turns away from her. His nurse closes the door and walks to him. "Signor, would you like to discuss today? It must have been hard for you to know about Leandro after..." Geronte cuts off his Nurse. "He will not be accepted in this town. I must protect him. He cannot know of my past." Geronte opens his bedside table and dusts off an old picture frame that was inside. A photo of Argante and himself was behind the frames glass. "Perhaps... now that your wife is gone.. you should go to see Signor Argante?" suggests the Nurse. Geronte stands angrily. "How could you say such a thing? Knowing what resulted the last time we..." Again, tears flood his eyes. He turns his back to his Nurse. "Leave me, madame. Do not come back this evening." The nurse exits the room, and Geronte sits back onto his bed. As he stares into the picture, tears stain the frame. He takes out the photo and flips it over. The back has a message which reads "I will forever love you, unconditionally. ~Argante" Flustered and confused by the battling thoughts in his head, Geronte shoves the photo into his drawer and prepares for slumber.