Elizabeth Street - Laurie Fabiano [141]
“Get her inside,” shouted the other woman from the door.
The women stripped off her clothes in front of the fire. It was the first time they had been removed, and her petticoat was nearly shredded. Hanging her clothes near the flames, they shooed her naked into her room and slammed the door.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1909
A savage wind whipped at the windows of 202 Elizabeth Street. After two days of snow it was beginning to rain, but rather than melt the snow, the rain covered it in a crust of ice.
The baby was coming. Giovanna wanted to hold out as long as she could before calling Lucrezia; she was worried that the more time Lucrezia spent in the apartment the greater the risk that someone would slip and say something. Finally, she could wait no longer, and Rocco left to get the midwife.
The weather was too horrid to send the children down the block to Lorenzo’s apartment. Instead, everyone, including Rocco, huddled in the children’s tiny room and left the kitchen and bedroom to the laboring woman and midwife.
Lucrezia didn’t see the same kind of determination in Giovanna’s labor that she had with the first baby. Although that could be explained by the sedatives and two weeks in bed, she figured it had more to do with the unspoken horror that had made Giovanna construct this strange altar in the bedroom topped by Saint Anthony. Lucrezia found the story about Angelina being in Italy hard to believe. But the idea that Angelina had been taken from Giovanna was also too terrible to fathom.
Because pain makes truth harder to hide, many times in the middle of a contraction Giovanna wanted to confess to Lucrezia the inner torment that had nothing to do with pushing this baby out of her body. She longed to birth her baby and her secrets at the same time. The pain of needing Lucrezia so badly was indistinguishable from the labor. But between contractions, it didn’t matter. Lucrezia was not family. No longer could they trust anyone who was not of their flesh and blood.
It was nearly dawn when her son emerged. Her long, difficult labor had mimicked the storm raging outside the windows. Giovanna had been so certain that the baby was a boy that she was taken aback by Rocco’s surprise and excitement. After Lucrezia had cleaned the child and the birth area, the children crowded around the bed. From the moment Lucrezia put the fair boy in Giovanna’s arms she was heartened. No one was trying to replace Angelina. At the foot of her bed, the candles on her makeshift altar flickered. At least twice in the night they had gone out, and she had begged Lucrezia to relight them.
“So, children, this is Nunzio,” announced Rocco. Giovanna smiled at Rocco for remembering his promise, but she had prayed to Nunzio and the angels all night long and knew what she must do.
“No, the child will be called Anthony,” Giovanna whispered.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1909
“Domenico, come see our new brother,” greeted Mary when Domenico stepped in the door.
Domenico was so anxious to speak with his aunt that he hardly glanced at the infant.
“Zia, they arrested Lupo today. He’s in the city jail.”
Once again, Giovanna was left wondering what this would mean for her daughter.
“Do you know on what charges?”
“For blackhanding a shop owner named Manzella.”
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1909
“Lupo had this all planned. There’s nothing to worry about, Leo,” reassured Inzerillo.
“You should of told me is all. I was real surprised,” complained Leo.
“Leo, speaking of telling each other things, Molfetti stopped by to see me and said that the fruit seller’s wife knew that he unlocked the vestry door. How did she know that, Leo?”
“How should I know?”
“You said the Gallucci brothers were nervous she knew too much. What else does this woman know, Leo?”
“I told you, she knows my name, and she knows what those idiots look like. That’s all. Hey, we’re getting the money aren’t we? Just like I told you.”
“That’s right, Leo, you’re getting the money and you need to get more. With Lupo in jail, we need cash.