In the morning, I lay curled against Calvino’s chest and breathe him deep until he insists on getting up, making coffee, and cooking breakfast. “It’s the right thing to do for our guests,” he says with a smile. “Besides, I think everyone needs a little normalcy right now.” I sigh as I watch him go but he’s right—things have been supremely un-normal lately and we could use the meal.
By the time I’m dressed and showered, I find Charlie and Emilio in the living room. Baby Emilio is so adorable in a matching sweat suit with little pictures of Cookie Monster studded all over his legs and chest. Sesame Street is on TV and he crawls over babbling at me, and I laugh as I scoop him up. The kid’s on the verge of walking, but he hasn’t gotten brave enough yet.
“How’d you sleep?” I ask Charlie. She looks exhausted and haggard, and I know she’s probably only just holding on.
“Better than I expected,” she says smiling, or trying to anyway. “Helps that Emilio was absolutely exhausted and went right down. I haven’t slept in the same bed with him since I was breastfeeding. It’s giving me some bad flashbacks. Real baby PTSD.”
I laugh and accept mug of coffee from Calvino after I place Emilio on the couch beside his mother. He wriggles around and plops onto his back and grabs at his feet and just smiles in the way little pre-toddlers do when they’re bored, but happy.
“We can look into getting a crib. Maybe one of those pack and plays? And a sound machine if he needs it, and a humidifier, and wow, babies need a lot of stuff.”
She laughs and touches my arm. “All that would be ideal, but I’ll survive for now. I’m just really thankful you came for me is all.”
“I couldn’t leave you behind,” Calvino says with a shrug and returns to cooking. The smell of bacon and eggs wafts into the air, and even though I’m not particularly hungry, the simple normalcy of making food somehow undercuts the otherwise massive tension we’re all feeling—just like Calvino said.
I sip my coffee as Charlie relates her perspective of what happened the night before: Rella and Susi helping her pack and slip out, her escape with Calvino and their near miss, and then passing out back at the apartment. “I never would’ve guessed this was possible, you know.” She hugs Emilio against her and the little baby squirms until he drops down onto the floor and sits watching Elmo sing about counting.
Calvino brings her coffee which she drinks gratefully. I watch and try not to bug her too much, but I have a million questions and they’re all incredibly pressing and banging on the inside of my skull like a pair of trashcan lids. But I keep my mouth shut until Calvino finishes cooking and we eat a light breakfast at the table, including little Emilio, who picks at eggs and makes an adorable mess out of a pile of ketchup.
Charlie gets her boy settled in front of the couch in a nest of blankets with a little tablet and puts videos on for him which seem to distract him enough for her to stand by the window, take a deep breath, and slowly let it out. I sit with Calvin on the couch, both of us drinking coffee, and he gives me a concerned frown.
“I know what you two are thinking,” Charlie says quietly, her back turned to us. “You want me to uphold my end of the bargain, right?”
“We’re just worried is all,” I say and nudge Calvino in the ribs before he can say something stupid.
He grins at me. “Right, just worried.”
Charlie laughs bitterly and there are already tears in her eyes as she turns to face us. “It’s okay, I understand. You have a right to ask me whatever you want and I’ll do my best to answer.”
I try my best to be calm about this, but the question bubbles out unbidden: “You said Vince isn’t Emilio’s father. Can you tell us who is?”
She nods slowly and looks at Calvino. She’s blinking rapidly not and trying hard not to cry, and it breaks my heart how much pain she’s in, but we need to know. Stealing her away from Vince was bad enough, but unless we have a good reason, we’ll all have to be on the run for the rest of our lives.
“I never wanted this to happen. Can I start out by saying that, just so it’s clear? I didn’t want this and it wasn’t my idea, but after the Riley thing failed and she didn’t get pregnant, he was desperate. He came to me one night with this crazy idea and I told him I’d never do it, but he was persistent. He said it was the only way we could guarantee my child would be a product of the Manzini family, that Emilio would look like everyone and act like everyone. He was crazed, but he said it was the only way.”