Page 34 of Promised to the Don of Naples
She hugged me so hard I lost my breath.
"Madonna santa. You're in one piece." She held me at arm's length and looked me up and down. "You're thin."
"Why does everyone keep saying that?"
"Because you're thin, woman." She took my face in her hands and looked into my eyes. "Tell me everything. Here, now, out of Rosalia's earshot, because she hears everything and tells your father."
"Everything?"
"Everything."
We walked through the garden to the stone bench under the lemon tree where we'd deciphered the Madre Superiora's old Italian at fifteen. The memories were all jumbled up inside me after three weeks.
I told her everything in two hours without skipping any details.
The photo. The vineyard. The ankle. The elbow. Bianca. The red. The office. The three versions. The letter with the altered date. The blue book. Nonna Adelina. The meeting through the wall. The hook. The "you know."
Francesca listened in silence and smoked three cigarettes over the course of the story. When I finished, she blew the smoke upward.
"Bella. You're in love."
"I'm not."
"You're in love."
"I'm not."
"Bella, you just told me you felt hunger after he said brava in your ear. Hunger. You've never used that word in your life."
"I hate him."
"You hate him and you hunger for him. The two can coexist, amore. That's what a complicated woman does."
I went quiet.
"Did you open my letter?"
"No."
"Bella..."
"I haven't opened it yet, but I will."
"Open it now."
I took the letter out of the inner pocket of my coat. I'd brought it with me from Posillipo—I hadn't been able to leave it there. Francesca's wax seal, red, with her initial, still intact.
I broke the seal and unfolded the paper.
Bella... If you're opening this letter, it's because your courage has run out. Remember one thing: you didn't go to Posillipo to get married. You went to find out who killed Matteo. Everything that happens outside of that is smoke. Don't mistake the fire for the smoke. I love you. —Fra.
I looked at her and saw her eyes were wet.
"I knew you'd open it today," she said. "I didn't know if it would be out of courage or out of confusion."
"Both."
"Now I know."
