Work in Progress

In the last chapter, Chloe went into labour. Frantic calls to Luca went unanswered. Thinking of Chloe as her own daughter, Carm desperately tried to find her son to let him know he was about to become a father.

Dominic Luigi di Angelo was born at 5:12 a.m. the next morning. Carm stood vigil at Chloë’s side, holding her hand as Chloë squeezed tightly through the delivery, giving a tight squeeze when her efforts became most difficult.

Later, as she was making calls from Chloë’s hospital room, Carme looked up to see Luca coming through the doorway. Not wanting to waken the new mother, Carm stood up and gestured at her son to meet her in the corridor.

“About time,” she growled at Luca. “Where have you been? Everyone’s been trying to reach you.”

“Ma…I didn’t get any calls. My phone was off for some reason.” Luca shifted his weight, looking uncomfortable.

“Why was it off at a time like this?” Carm quizzed. “Shit, Luca, your child could be born any minute and you’ve got your phone off?”

“I didn’t realize it was off,” he replied.

“That doesn’t sound like something you’d do…accidentally switching off your phone.”

“I know, Ma. It was a huge mistake. I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t tell me,” Carm said. Tell Chloë. When she wakes up. She’s exhausted.”

“So everything went OK?” Luca asked with more than a little hesitation. “Someone at reception here told me it’s a boy. Is that right?”

“Yes.” Carmen visibly changed her tone. “You have a son. And he’s beautiful. Perfect.”

“I want to see him. Where is he?” Luca seemed to soften in his defiance of the blame to which he knew he would be subjected. “Ma? Where is he?”

Carm pointed back into the hospital room. “He’s right there, in the bassinet beside the bed. Go ahead. Just try not to wake Chloë. She needs her rest. And you can be sure she’s more than a little disappointed you were a ‘no show’.”

Before Luca moved toward the room, Carm caught him by his right sleeve. “How did you finally find out? Who got in touch?”

“Gary. I’m glad someone rang him. He knew how to reach me. He didn’t phone. He came and got me.”

“Where were…?” Carm began, then changed her mind. “Never mind. That’s for later. This is a happy time. I’m happy. I have a grandson. “But,” she added, ”I’m still pissed at you for missing your kid’s birth.”

“Honest, Ma, I feel terrible. It was just a huge mistake and it’s my fault for not checking my phone but, no shit, this wasn’t supposed to happen for another week.”

“Never mind,” Carm said, deciding just to enjoy the occasion and the tiny new life. She linked her right arm through Luca’s left and walked with him to the bassinet.

“Man, he’s got a lot of hair. Black hair,” Luca remarked.

“Well, he’s half our blood. It’s as it should be.” Carm smiled down at her new grandchild, then gave Luca a sideways look. “Isn’t he gorgeous?”

Luca seemed lost for words. “He is. He’s perfect,” he finally managed.

“Can I pick him up?” he asked his mother quietly.

“Yeah, it should be OK,” Carm said. “Just be careful and try not to wake Chloë.”

Luca nodded, still looking down at his son. “Of course, I’ll be careful.”

As he went to lift him, the baby woke with a tiny cry, seemingly peeved at being disturbed.

“Now you’ve done it,” Carm chided her son.

Hearing her new son’s cry, Chloë opened her eyes, obviously confused where she was and what was happening.

“Hey,” Luca smiled at her. “Great job, babe.”

Chloë stared at him blankly, then recognition and memory took over. She burst into tears.

“Where the hell were you? I was trying to get you since it all started. Everyone kept trying to get you,” she sobbed.

“I know, Chlo, I’m sorry. It was my fault. My phone…”

She didn’t want this fight now. This was the most perfect moment of her life, something that felt magical and precious. Chloë looked at Luca. “Forget about it for now,” she said, smiling at the tiny baby in Luca’s arms. “He’s the most beautiful boy.”

“He is. I’m really sorry, Chloë. I’ll make it up to both of you.”

At that, Carm indicated with a nearly inaudible ‘Ha’ that she doubted Luca could make up such a grave failing.

Chloë, however, relaxed back into her pillow and gestured to Luca to place the baby in her arms.

Luca bent down to hand his child carefully to his mother, then lifted a hip to sit on the bed beside them.

“I wish my parents were here,” Chloë murmured to the baby. “I don’t know how they’ll respond. I’m going to wait a few days before telling them. I don’t want to ruin this brand new happiness.”

Carm had been sitting by the window in a visitor’s chair. “Are you sure you want to wait?” She addressed Chloë.

“Yep. Absolutely. I can wait for their reaction.”

“OK,” Carm and Luca said at the same time.

“So…” Luca looked at Chloë with a slight smile, “this isn’t Clara Maria?”

“No,” she responded. “Dominic Luigi it is.”

“How will your parents feel about the name?” Carm wondered aloud.

Chloë looked at her, seeming on the verge of more tears. “It doesn’t matter what they think. They missed their chance at having a say.”

Luca was holding two of Dominic’s tiny fingers. “So, little boy, I’m your papa.”

The baby gurgled and smiled.

“Look, he’s smiling,” Luca said.

“That’s gas,” Carm was quick to clarify. They all laughed.

Dominic Luigi was christened three months later. Chloë worried that her parents would decide not to be there. Our Lady Immaculate was a huge and imposing church and they had never been to a Catholic celebration. It wasn’t that they hadn’t had the opportunity. It just seemed they always had ‘something else’ to do whatever day the event might be.

She was happy at how attentive Luca had become. Now the three were sharing the apartment, family time became exactly what Chloë had hoped. Before Dominic’s birth, Luca seemed to have a lot of overtime evening shifts, and got together with friends often on the few night he wasn’t working. He must have turned down the extra shifts, Chloë figured, “and,” she thought, “he just wants to spend more time with his little boy.”

Gary and Luca’s cousin Rosa, with whom Chloë had become great friends, were Dominic’s godparents. Both were Catholic so they were obvious choices, and they were best friends.

“Honey,” her mother had said, “you know we aren’t comfortable with other denominations. Your dad and I would feel so out of place.”

Chloë hesitated before answering, surprised that her mother had called her ‘Honey’. It had been many years since such a term of endearment had been directed her way. There was no point belaboring their decision, she knew, though she still held out hope they would want her to bring their grandchild for visits. She didn’t dare suggest a meeting with Luca. The three had never met, and she wondered if they ever would. Surely they would want to join in family events? She wasn’t sure how they would fare amid the big, noisy and boisterous di Angelo family get-togethers, but she hoped that at some point her mother and father would want to share in the love and warmth of their new extended ‘family’.

The year passed far too quickly. It seemed like mere weeks until Dominic turned one. Carm insisted on throwing a huge party in the restaurant dining room. They closed the business for the day, something previously unheard of in the history of Ristorante di Angelo.

Chloë was waiting for Luca’s aunt, Sophia, to relinquish her tight squeeze on Dominic so she could take him to the table holding the gigantic vanilla birthday cake. Carm had baked it the day before and couldn’t be dissuaded from the three tiers she insisted were necessary to feed the combined guest total. The icing was a shade that perfectly matched the blue eyes that were so striking against Dominic’s jet black curls.

Once she had wrested her son from Sophia’s grip, Chloë carried him to the table. Luca joined them and had a few words to say to his relatives. He then picked up the heavy silver knife and began cutting slices from the cake.

It was so close to perfect. Chloë had been holding her breath, hoping that her parents would make an appearance. When they finally did, she could barely believe her eyes. She ran to them, baby Dominic in her arms, as soon as she saw them. Her father was holding a huge wrapped gift, beaming at Chloë and the grandson he had only met once before. Her mother, however, looked decidedly uncomfortable and studiously unhappy about being there in the midst of so many strangers. Chloë gave each of them a big hug and kissed each on the cheek, Dominic caught between them. She smiled at her mother in a way she hoped would invite her into the midst of the crowd.

“Would you like to hold Dominic?” she asked her mother. Seeming unduly surprised at such an invitation, her mother hesitated. Chloë held her breath, silently begging her not to ruin this joyous day. When her mother finally smiled at her and held out her arms, Chloë couldn’t stop the tears from coming. She felt her heart might break with this tiny joy. She happily put Dominic in his grandmother’s arms and said, “Dominic, this is Nana.” Dominic reached out his right hand and touched ‘Nana’ on her nose. The smile grew larger and Dominic’s grandmother hugged him tightly, tears to match her daughter’s in her eyes. Chloë glanced at her father, who winked at her. He had come to see Chloë and Dominic the day he had first heard about the birth, insisting Chloë never tell her mother about his visit.

Chloë felt the stress that she hadn’t known gripped her leave her body. Her shoulders relaxed and her breath seemed to flow more easily. This was perfect.

Except it wasn’t.

Here in the heart of both their families, Chloë was acutely aware that something was still missing for the occasion to be perfect. She had dreamed that the three of them – she, Luca and Dominic – would have become a true family by now. She wanted to believe that Luca planned to marry her. They had become so close since the birth of their child. Luca came home immediately after work and stayed in with them most nights. He rarely joined his friends for their Thursday night sessions at the sports bar. When he did, he often surprised Chloë with something simple…a rose, a box of chocolates, that sort of thing. So corny, she thought, but at least he was thinking of her. Perhaps, by Dom’s second birthday, she and Luca would be married. She hung on every minute spent with him and knew she would never not love him. If only he felt the same way. It was her fondest wish and heart’s desire.

Luca’s routine never altered. Few evening shifts and Thursday night out with friends. The two of them never went out for what she hoped would be a romantic dinner, but they spent quite a few evenings at the restaurant or visiting in the house next door. “Coals to Newcastle,” Luca would remark. “A busman’s holiday.” Indeed, why would they spend money on evenings out when they had a restaurant that took such good care of them? Chloë did her best to convince herself that she didn’t mind.

She was sorting through clothes for the laundry one afternoon. Dominic was sleeping well now, and was in his crib for an afternoon nap. Chloë had a bad habit of forgetting to empty pockets of Kleenex or such contents before throwing shirts and pants into the wash, and had spent more time than she would have liked plucking shredded material and paper from inside the washer and dryer. There had been a few lost receipts along the way, but Luca laughed about it. She thought of her mother. Her mother would have been furious.

“Life is good,” Chloë thought to herself as she slammed the washing machine door. “As good as it’s ever been, anyway.” She went back to the bedroom and noticed one of Luca’s shirts on the closet floor. “How did I miss that?” she wondered. She was planning to do a second wash for towels and bed linens so she could just throw his shirt in with those.

Absent-mindedly, Chloë felt her way into the shirt pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper. She immediately recognized it as a movie ticket. When had he been to a movie?

She squinted at the tiny print. It was from the previous Thursday evening.