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He could see two couples down the block, headed in the same direction he was going, but he didn’t dare to start ru
The police car roared past the group and screeched to a halt in front of the church. At Columbus Avenue, Le
The street phone Sondra had pla
I can’t do that, she thought despairingly. Tomorrow, if there’s a story in the newspapers about the baby, he might remember me and talk to the police. Dismayed, she shoved her hands in her pockets, groping for the coins she needed and the paper on which she’d written the phone number of the rectory, u
It was December 3rd, and already Christmas lights and decorations glittered from the windows of the shops and restaurants along Columbus Avenue. A couple walking hand in hand passed Sondra, their faces radiant as they smiled at each other. The girl appeared to he about eighteen, her own age, Sondra thought, although she felt infinitely older-and infinitely removed from the air of careless joy this couple displayed.
It was getting colder. Was the baby wrapped warmly enough she worried. For an instant she shut her eyes. Oh God, please make this man get off the phone, she prayed, I need to make this call now.
An instant later she heard the click of the receiver being replaced. Sondra waited until the caller was a few paces away before she grabbed the receiver, dropped in the coins and dialed.
“St. Clement’s rectory.” The voice was that of an elderly man. It had to be the old priest she had seen at Mass.
“Please, may I speak to Monsignor Ferris, right away.”
“I’m Father Dailey. Perhaps I can help you. Monsignor is outside with the police. We have an emergency.”
Quietly, Sondra broke the co
An hour later Sondra was on the bus to Birmingham, Alabama, where she was a student in the music department of the university, a violin student whose astonishing talent had already marked her for future stardom on the concert stage.
It was not until he was in the apartment of his elderly aunt that Le
“Yes, Aunt Lilly.” There was no way he could simply hide the baby. He had to figure out what to do. What should he tell her?
Lilly Maldonado walked down the hall to the living room. At seventy-four, she both looked and moved like someone ten years younger than her age. Her hair, pulled back in a tight bun, was still generously sprinkled with black strands; her brown eyes were large and lively, and her short, ample body moved in quick, sure steps.
Along with Le
But as her customers joked among themselves, in exchange for Lilly’s low prices, they were forced to lend considerable sympathetic attention to her endless stories about her troublesome nephew Le
On her knees, a heap of pins beside her, her alert eyes carefully measuring as she chalked hem lengths, Lilly would sigh, then launch into her litany of complaints. “My nephew. He’s always driving me crazy. Trouble from the day he was born. When he was in school: Don’t ask. Arrested. Went away to a prison for kids twice. Did that straighten him out? No. Never can hold a job. Why not? My sister, his mama, God rest her, always was too easy on him. I love him, of course-after all, he’s my flesh and blood-but he drives me crazy. How much can I put up with, him coming in at all hours? What’s he living on, I ask you?”
But now, after earnest prayer to her beloved St. Francis of Assisi, Lilly Maldonado had made a decision. She had tried everything, and none of it had made a difference. Clearly nothing was going to change Le
The light in the foyer was dim, and she was so intent on delivering her speech that she did not immediately notice the stroller behind him.
Her arms folded, her voice firm, Lilly said, “Le
Lilly’s loud, strident tone startled the already stirring infant, and the faint mewling broke into a wail.
“What?” Lilly exclaimed. Then she saw the stroller. In a quick move, she shoved her nephew aside and looked down into it. Shocked, she snapped, “What have you clone now? Where did you get that baby?”
Le
“She’s mine, Aunt Lilly. A girl I was crazy about is the mother. But she’s moving to California and wants to put the baby up for adoption. I don’t want to. I want to keep her.”
The wail was now a demanding screech. Tiny fists flailed the air.
Lilly opened the bundle at the infant’s feet. “The baby’s hungry,” she a
Her expression changed as she unwrapped the blankets from around the tiny infant, picked her up and cradled her in warm and comforting arms. “Beautiful, bella. How could your mama not want you?” She looked at Le
Le
“Star,” Lilly Maldonado murmured as she soothed the sobbing baby. “In Italy we would call her Stellina. That means ‘little star.’ “
Through narrowed eyes, Le