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It would have ended there if she hadn't continued to yell at me, but I no longer knew what she was saying. Her words had become all short spits and crazy, whirling gestures. Thank God, the child was okay!
The commotion that followed was confusing and ugly; it lasted about twenty minutes. Besides the woman and me, it involved two policemen, the waiter and a number of «eyewitnesses.»
The police wanted to know if that _was_ my child – had the woman stolen anything from me, did I want to press charges? They didn't ask her one thing, although she continued to yell until one of them threatened to take her to jail unless she shut up.
When it was over, they told her to get out of there. Touching their hats to me, they gave me one last suspicious look and then followed her out to make sure she left. The poor waiter, who was completely baffled by then, kindly asked if I wanted another _spremuta_. It was obvious though that he wanted me out of there too and the whole thing forgotten. I said no and gave him ten thousand lira for his trouble.
I immediately went to a post office and – without thinking – called my parents in New York to see if Mae was okay. They thought it was very cute that I was so concerned, but it _was_ the middle of the night there and they hoped the ringing hadn't wakened her. My mother reminded me to bring home a big piece of Parmesan cheese and told me not to waste my time in Italy worrying. I felt very foolish, but greatly reassured.
When I met up with Da
Luckily, di
Everyone wanted to see pictures of Mae and I gladly obliged. Two of them decided after seeing the snaps that she must marry their sons in a few years and have Italian _bambini_. I didn't dare ask how she was to manage two husbands at the same time!
We ate and talked and it seemed as if someone was always gesturing wildly or else refilling everyone's glass with red wine. Da
«Make a weesh, Cullen!»
«Yes, wish that we win some more games next year!»
«Hey, _fungione_, it's her birthday today, not yours!»
I closed my eyes and wished the fifth Bone of the Moon for Pepsi. I certainly had everything I wanted.
At the hotel afterward, we decided to take a bath together. Halfway through, we made slow, fu
The nice thing about sex is that you can use it for so many different things: to get hot, to cement a bond or – in the case of that moment for us – to be little kids again together, having a great sexy time.
When we'd untangled ourselves from the love tub, Da
«What are you doing?»
«You'll see.»
I looked at my reflection in the mirror and frowned. «Da
«Be quiet and just come in here when you're ready.»
I wrapped a towel around me and marched in. . . .
When I came to Europe and joined Da
This night in Milan it was sitting on top of one of the pillows. Da
It was a complete Da
«You're such a big . . . treasure. You know that, Da
«You're welcome. I think you're losing your towel there.»
I pulled him down on to the bed and at half-speed, as sexily as I could, put his necklace on, watching him closely the whole time. My body felt charged with electricity, which made my skin hot and tight and tingly. We were both ready again, but it had to be slow now. Not fu
He understood. We had done it this way before, but because it was Milan and my birthday, and as much magic in the air as we'd ever have between us, we waited even longer. Da
«Happy birthday, my Cullen.»
Later, dripping and exhausted, I fell right to sleep. I dreamed we visited the grave of our daughter.
I figured we missed the call by about twenty minutes. We were already on our way to the Milan airport when Da
My parents gave us the news when we returned to New York and went over to their apartment to pick up Mae. Da
Trouble always knows how to take you by nasty surprise. One minute you're sitting at home by the fire, then – _blink_ – you're suddenly in a completely foreign city where you don't speak the language, all the banks are closed, you've got no map and night's already come.