Work in Progress

Rosa had found a job in Toronto so had moved out, leaving a bedroom where Chloë had her privacy in the sprawling di Angelo home. Gary had wanted Luca to stay in their apartment until he’d found another roommate but, though he still was based at his shared accommodation with his long-time friend, Luca headed directly to the restaurant every day after finishing his shift. Carm had said he could reclaim his childhood bedroom as soon as he found a new home for all the restaurant stock that had replaced him when he had departed to room with Gary.

The situation wasn’t one the family heralded, but they didn’t try to conceal the arrangement and its reason. The staff and many of the patrons were aware the Chloë had replaced Joyce as Luca’s love interest. Those who knew of Joyce’s departure didn’t bemoan her absence. She had not been the most obliging of servers. Chloë, however, soon won fans among the regulars. Unlike Joyce, she had a smile that wooed the most demanding of patrons and she was more than willing to engage in chit chat and hear updates on the lives of the regulars she served.

Carm hadn’t overburdened her with too many shifts and those she had were never between any hours but 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The restaurant was fairly empty until the lunch rush, but it quickly came alive with the busy hum of the noon crowd, mostly folks employed at the many professional offices that surrounded Ristorante di Angelo. Chloë knew she could never repay the family for everything they had done for her, and was grateful for the employment that Carm had found for her. Her hourly wage went to cover the room and board she was given, though Carm and Gino had only relented to her desire to pay her way when Chloë was intransigent about remuneration. She agreed to keep her tips, and it wasn’t long before she was clearing a substantial amount every shift. That money she saved scrupulously for the baby’s arrival.

Her world had been turned upside down since Luca entered her life, but she had made her way through the challenges and changes and now had found a degree of happiness she had never believed possible. She missed her own parents, but was still deeply wounded at what she felt was their betrayal. However, Carm and Gino opened their home and hearts fully to her. Though she sometimes felt disloyal, she wished her parents were even a tiny bit like the di Angelos. They had accepted her with no mention of inconvenience or any sense of wrongdoing. Indeed, Carm and Gino quickly came to regard the mother-to-be of their first grandchild as one of their own.

Luca, who knew how loving and family-oriented his parents were, nonetheless was taken aback by just how accepting and receptive they were to Chloë and their new reality. Carm was particularly taken with the newcomer and silently reproached her parents for withholding their love and acceptance from their only child. She failed to understand how parents could turn their backs, especially when their daughter most needed their support. The poor girl was cast adrift in a world of virtual strangers yet her parents had not endeavored to make contact. Would they come around when the baby was born? Surely they wouldn’t treat a grandchild with the same disapproval they had shown their daughter? Carm sincerely hoped things could be made right with the girl’s family but, at the same time, took great pains to make Chloë feel welcome, safe and loved.

Luca and spent the latter part of every evening together, when both their shifts had ended. Luca’s behavior and seeming attitude bedazzled Chloë. She wondered if he felt not only duty, but true attraction, toward her. Most of their time together was spent watching television shows they both enjoyed but, whenever their daytime schedules synced, the pair would head to the local malls to shop for the clothes and accessories a baby would require. These times with Luca were better than Chloë had ever imagined. They seemed to be in agreement on most things and more or less shared the expenses, with Luca – whose income was substantially more - going the extra mile, and his parents providing the bigger items. Luca had still to move back into his family home so the restaurant stock in his old bedroom was rearranged to accommodate a crib, stroller, high chair and baby swing. It was Carm’s idea that the room should be transformed into a nursery and there were times she wanted to tell Luca to room with Chloë, but her strict Catholic upbringing still held some sway with her. When Luca finally moved out of the apartment he shared, she had converted the family office into a comfortable space for him. She would worry about living and sleeping arrangements later. For now she wanted to enjoy the new feeling of exhilaration that made its way through her whenever she thought about the tiny person who would be joining the family soon.

“I think Carm…your mother…is as excited as I am about the baby,” Chloë said to Luca as they were watching The Big Bang Theory.

“As WE are,” Luca immediately corrected.

“OK – and that makes me very happy by the way – WE are. I can’t believe how generous both your parents have been. I’ll never be able to repay their kindness.”

“They don’t want repayment, kiddo. Absolutely not. This is their grandchild and this family sticks together always. They would do a lot more if we needed it.”

“We?” Again that word.

“They’ve done more than enough. There is so much love in this house that I can’t imagine a better place to bring a baby.”

“It’s great for now,” Luca agreed. “Eventually, we’ll have to find our own place though.”

This was the first time Luca had alluded to a life together but, as much as Chloë wanted him to clarify the statement, she instead held his words tight within her, afraid to contemplate them lest they shatter. She cherished the idea of a life with Luca and their child, but was uncertain what he had in mind. As much as Luca showed her affection and went out of his way to make her feel at home in the di Angelo world, Chloë was unclear about his true feelings towards her. Was his kindness and attention purely reflective of what he had shouldered as his responsibility, or were his feelings about her in any way reminiscent of hers towards him?

She didn’t want to tempt fate by pursuing the topic with Luca. Chloë was content to live in the present. Despite her strong desire for a future life with Luca, she feared that speaking the words out loud would ruin the fantasy. She hoped it wasn’t a fantasy, but kept her imaginings of what was to come to herself.

The winter seemed interminable, dragging on into the slush and rivers of grey melting snow that streamed along the sidewalks and roads. “Depressing,” Chloë thought, surprised that she felt anything but depression.

By April, the certainty of nature’s reawakening reflected her excitement in the prevailing atmosphere, and a celebration of new life. With less than three months between her and her due date, she found staying in the present more difficult than she would have liked. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, girl,” she thought. “Let it happen.” Somewhere she had read or heard the adage, “Pray for it, then prepare for it.”

She had prayed incessantly and fervently for the future she imagined in her most self-indulgent moments, and was certainly doing what she could to prepare for it. If only it would happen as she envisaged and hoped.

Carm had started calling her, “Cara” only a month into her arrival. Chloë felt the word like a soft wave washing over her. Her parents had never called her ‘dear’ or ‘sweetie’ nor any such form of endearment. She wished Luca would follow suit, but was content that he liked to address her as “kiddo”. Once, he had let “Babe” slip from his lips and immediately changed the subject they had been discussing to their baby. At least that was how Chloë had interpreted the incident. “Don’t get your hopes up,” she chided herself when she felt any mounting elation, or when she’d grasped too tightly at what she hoped was Luca’s sentiment.

When May blossomed into June, excitement in the house was palpable. Even Gino seemed to be riding the wave of promise. Chloë felt more alive and enthusiastic than she’d ever felt. Maternity suited her and she refused to allow fear or worry about the impending birth any accommodation in her mind. Though she lacked for nothing new, Carm had surprised her with a baby shower in mid-May. There were patrons from the restaurant who Chloë had first come to know in her role as a server, but had begun to turn to that of friend and confidante. Several of Luca’s cousins and a few aunts, none of whom Chloë had previously met joined Carm and Manuela in the main dining room of Ristorante di Angelo for an evening that, had she known about it, would have caused her great anxiety. As the party unfolded, Chloë’s world expanded into a universe of camaraderie, different from anything she’d previously experienced. It was the blessing of family, of a big family that was truly happy for her and Luca, and wanted to make them and what would be their family welcome and loved.

In a world turned upside down from what she had known less than a year ago, Chloë could barely contain the excitement and gratitude she felt. All thoughts of university and future studies had been supplanted by her eagerness to meet her child, and introduce him or her to this wonderful place she hoped she could call home. She couldn’t help wonder, though, if Luca was feeling the same urgency to settle into a new home life.