Exposed

Chapter Thirteen

We've been in the air for over an hour. Matteo has barely uttered a word since we hastily left the cabin, leaving my family questioning the purpose of our unscheduled departure, which we refrained from telling them. He's staring intently out the window, noticeably lost in thought.

We both are, understandably.

His aunt is dead. That's all he's told me. The questions are endless.

How did she die?

Where is her son?

Why the hell does Matteo have to go see a lawyer?

                                                            ***

I walk into the apartment behind him, watching as he silently sets down the luggage.

I can't take the silence anymore. "Can you tell me something, anything?"

"I don't know anything, Em. I'm just as in the dark as you are."

"Did he say what she died from?"

"I didn't ask. He just told me that he needed to speak with me about matters pertaining to her."

"You weren't in contact with her, right?"

He shakes his head and walks toward the living room, running his hands through his hair. His silence makes me nervous.

"You're keeping something from me, Matteo."

"No, I'm not. I haven't spoken to her since that day I forced her and the kid out of the apartment."

I lean against the wall, looking up at the ceiling. "You don't think..."

"That she had me down as a next of kin?" he finishes for me with a dark chuckle. "The thought has passed through my head more than once today."

I let out a nervous breath, suddenly feeling very sick for her little boy, and for Matteo, who has to confront the fact that his aunt's last wishes could very well change his life forever. For his sake, I hope there is someone else to take in this child. After everything that Matteo has been through in this past year, the struggle he's endured, I'm not sure what this will do to him.

"I can't even believe this," he says. "God, I hope it's just to cover her funeral."

I swallow, braving his wrath to say what we've both been thinking for an entire flight and taxi ride to this apartment, what has to be said. "What if it's not?"

He looks at me as though I've grown an extra head. "I don't even want to think of that."

"You have to. What if she left this child to your care?"

"Then, I tell them no. And they find someone else to give him to. I'm not father material, Emma. I'm barely boyfriend material, for fucks sake."

"That's not true."

"It is and you know it. It's why you're looking at me like that. You know I can't do this."

"Matteo, you can do anything you set your mind to!"

There's a gentle knock at the door. It pierces the air, our tense atmosphere. I hold my hand over my beating heart, rubbing as Matteo answers the door, clearing his throat tellingly before greeting the man. The lawyer is carrying a large, leather briefcase, dressed in a brown polyester suit that would have been fashionable... in the seventies. With a kind smile, he holds his arm out as Matteo leads him to me.

"This is Emma, my girlfriend," Matteo introduces.

"Rory Elwes," the man states with a firm nod. "Nice to meet you."