covers across her lap. “Don’t worry about that. I won’t be needing any help from you.”
“You got some other plans I don’t know about?” Mrs.
O’Hara scoffed.
“No, I’m staying right here,” Nainsi said.
“How you figure that?” her mother asked in amazement.
“She won’t throw me out. You’ll see,” Nainsi replied smugly.
“Stupid, stupid cow,” Mrs. O’Hara lamented. “Didn’t you hear a word she said?”
“I heard every word, but she didn’t hear any from me.
She will, though, and then you’ll see. Now I’m tired. You can go along home, Mommy, so I can get some rest.”
“Who’s gonna look out for you if I leave?” Mrs. O’Hara asked in disgust. “Nobody here’s got any love for you.”
“Maria will look after me, won’t you, Maria.” Nainsi seemed to take great delight in the prospect of having her sister-in-law waiting on her, although Sarah couldn’t imagine Maria would treat her very kindly.
“Yes,” Maria confirmed mildly. “I will take good care of her and the baby. Tomorrow, you come back when she is feeling better and the baby is awake.”
“And be sure and tell Brigit I had my baby and that he’s a boy,” Nainsi said. “Go to her flat and leave her a note so she’ll see it as soon as she gets home. I want her to tell all my friends. Don’t forget!”
Mrs. O’Hara nodded absently. She didn’t look happy, but she didn’t argue about leaving. Sarah was sure she found the prospect of spending any more time in the Ruocco house thoroughly distasteful. She walked over to get a last look at the baby. “Sure looks like a little dago, don’t he?” she remarked.
No one replied.
Mrs. O’Hara sighed. “I’ll be back to see you tomorrow, girl. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep your mouth shut, and not make things any worse. I wouldn’t put it past this bunch to slit your throat for you.”
Nainsi just smiled serenely as she watched her mother walk away.
Sarah slept poorly that night. She kept thinking about the innocent little baby and wondering what would become of him. Obviously, Nainsi couldn’t hope for help from the baby’s real father, or she would never have seduced Antonio into marrying her in the first place. She wasn’t the first girl to have done such a thing, and she might even have gotten away with it if her baby had been small or sickly. Or even if she’d married a man with no mother to catch her out and expose her lie. But she hadn’t, and now she was going to have to suffer for failing to plan more carefully.
Finally giving up on sleep, she got out of bed before dawn and made herself some breakfast. Maeve and Aggie were still sleeping soundly. Sarah decided she’d make her usual follow-up visit to the new mother first thing and then be back in time to enjoy the whole morning with the girls.
Hunched against the morning chill, Sarah made her way over to Little Italy. In earlier times, she would have taken a Hansom cab, but now she had to economize to provide for her new family. Even at this early hour, the streets and sidewalks were alive with traffic as people went to work or to shop. Housewives bartered with pushcart vendors over the price of their wares while draymen shouted at their horses as they fought their way through the crowded streets to deliver their loads.
Mama’s Restaurant wasn’t open yet, but the family would already be up and about, shopping for fresh vegetables at the market and making the noodles and sauce they would serve later. Sarah hoped Nainsi and the baby had rested better than she had, and she wondered how long she could de-lay Nainsi’s departure from the Ruoccos’ home.
The front door of the restaurant was locked, so Sarah knocked. She could hear movement inside, and soon Lorenzo, the middle brother, opened the door. He held a broom in one hand, and for a moment he didn’t recognize her.
“I’m here to see Nainsi and the baby,” Sarah said, knowing he wouldn’t be happy at the reminder of the family crisis.
“Oh, yes, please come in,” he said, stepping aside. He wasn’t quite as appealing as his brothers, she noticed. Joe had the winning smile and charming manner. Antonio was boyish and sweet. This brother was too mature to be boyish and too serious to be charming. Or maybe he simply wasn’t very happy that she was here.
He’d just closed the door behind her when they heard a scream. It was the first in a series that continued, scream after scream after scream, as he raced to the stairway door, Sarah at his heels. Someone else was behind her, but she didn’t stop to see who. Fighting her skirts on the narrow staircase, she nearly fell more than once. Gratefully, she flung herself through the open door on the third floor through which Lorenzo had disappeared.
Just as she’d feared, the screams were coming from Nainsi’s room. Lorenzo reached the doorway first, but he stopped dead. Sarah tried to see what was going on, and when he wouldn’t move, she shoved him aside and pushed her way in.
The screams were coming from a slender young girl who stood just inside the door, paralyzed by what she saw on the bed. She just kept screaming and screaming with each new breath until Sarah took her by the shoulders and turned her around, shoving her into Lorenzo Ruocco’s arms.
“Valentina!” he cried, wrapping his arms around her.
“What is it?”
She made a strangled sound and began to sob.
Meanwhile, Sarah had seen the reason for her terror. Nainsi lay still on the bed, her eyes open wide and unseeing, her face a ghastly gray. Sarah knew before she even touched her that she was cold and a long time dead. Still, she checked her pulse just to make sure. The body was already beginning to stiffen.
“Is she . . . dead?” Maria asked, peering wide-eyed around her brother-in-law’s shoulder.
“I’m afraid so,” Sarah said.
Valentina smothered another anguished cry against her brother’s chest, and Maria stared in horror, crossing herself.
Then she also pushed her way past them into the room.
“She died from having the baby?” she asked Sarah, staring mesmerized at Nainsi’s body, which looked like a doll that had been tossed carelessly aside. Her arms lay outstretched, as if she’d just flung herself down on the bed. Her legs were under the bedclothes, but the covers were slightly rumpled, as if she’d been tossing in her sleep.
Before Sarah could answer, Maria suddenly realized her responsibilities. “Lorenzo, get Valentina out of here, and go find Mama. She already left for the market, but she’ll be back soon.”
“Come along, Valentina,” Lorenzo said gently.
“The baby was crying,” the girl whimpered. “He was crying so long, I went to see what was the matter.”
Both Sarah and Maria looked down at the cradle at the same time. The baby lay still, sobbing almost soundlessly, his little face scarlet and his dark hair damp and bedraggled.
As Valentina had said, he’d been crying for a very long time, and now he lay exhausted, barely able to make a sound.
Maria scooped him up into her arms.
“He’s soaking wet,” Maria said in dismay. “Poor bambino.”
“It’s all right,” Lorenzo was assuring Valentina. “Let’s go downstairs.”
“But why did she die?” Valentina asked plaintively as she let her brother lead her away.
“The baby is hungry,” Maria said with an edge of desperation in her voice as she tried to soothe him. “What can we do?”
“We’ll have to get some bottles and milk,” Sarah said.
“Can we send someone for them?”
“Yes, Lorenzo will go, if you tell him what we need.”
“I’ll make the baby a sugar teat in the meantime, and we’ll give him a little water. He’s probably dehydrated.”
Maria’s eyes widened again. “Does that mean he will die?”
“Oh, no, it just means he needs some liquid.” She grabbed up a handful of diapers and a clean blanket from the dressing table and started to usher Maria out of the room. Then she stopped, remembering the girl lying dead.
