The Sicilian Affair

Chapter 12 - The One Place that isn't stained

Tomas sat in isolation. Trapped behind the closed doors of his father's wall. Those walls, they still haunted him. They bared witness to so many tragedy, so much hurt, deceit and lies.

He knew that coming back here wasn't going to go smoothly but his mother, she was all that was left. He loved, yet resented her at the same time because he still blamed her and if he didn't then he feared that the memory of Paolo would be gone. It would remind him of how much he had failed to protect him.

His son.

Tears prickled in his eyes and his lips trembled as he felt his mind drift back to the first month after Paolo had been born, when he and Nicoletta had took turns pacing around the nursery, trying to sooth their restless son.

He remembered once reading about how becoming parents could sometimes put a strain on marriage but Nicoletta and him had become quite the contrary. Their love for Paolo had brought them even closer, determined to love this little bundle of joy and protect him from everything and everyone who would wish to harm him.

But their harmonious relationship was shortly lived, by time Paolo had turned three, Nicoletta had started an affair with a musician who was frequently invited on Island to entertain their guest.

He wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it for himself. They were both shameless, selfish and oblivious to word around them. He remembered walking into his mother's bedroom in search for Nicoletta as their guests were getting ready to leave but to his horror as he looked outside the window ; his wife, the mother of his child, naked and relentlessly being pounded in the pool by the very man that he, Tomas Carsingni had paid to provide entertainment.

'You cannot blame me for falling in love with another man.' She had told him when Tomas had confronted her.

'You never really loved me Tomas. Our marriage was arranged by our fathers but it was never what you really wanted. I'm tired of being stuck, here, on this forsaken island. Pedro travels the world and that's what I want. I want to be with him, to see the world and not rot here for the rest of my life.'

His fingers curled into balls as it did that very same night.

'But I was loyal to you. I cared for you and this is what you do. In this in our home, where our son plays? Where he swims!?' He had replied fiercely.

'Be glad that it wasn't in our bed because it's about the only place that we haven't done it yet.' She spat.

His mother had raised him to never lay a hand on a woman but that day he had been more than tempted. It took all of his strength and the reminder that she was still the mother of their son.

'Go with your lover if you want but Paolo stays with me. I will never give him up.'

He couldn't bare the thought of his son growing up fatherless or another man stepping in, replacing him. So he immediately applied to court for sole custody of Paolo and even after Nicoletta's deceit, he couldn't allow himself to be selfish, so he agreed for her to have access visits btu under strict supervision as he did not trust her.

But he had underestimated the power of love. A mother's love. Tomas thought bitterly.

In a way he had been selfish, selfish to think that she would walk away leaving Paolo behind. He had play through so many what if's and if only, yet none of the scenarios could bring his son back.

The last day of her visit, Tomas had been out of the country, leaving Paolo with his mother.

'Promise mama, promise that you will not take your eyes off of him. Not for a second. Not until she's gone.'