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His Son Stopped Calling Him Papa
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“It’s all right, Don Moretti. Go take care of your other child.” My six-year-old son raised one small hand and waved goodbye to his father. Matteo froze. For twenty-eight days, I had been teaching Luca to call him Don Moretti instead of Papa. It started the night Luca was burning with fever. Bianca Bellini sent word that her son was crying for Matteo, and my husband left our sick child without looking back. I held Luca against my chest and whispered, “Say goodnight to Don Moretti.” A week later, Matteo promised to attend Luca’s school presentation. Bianca sent for him again. Tommy had no father to sit beside him, she said. The other boys would laugh. Matteo went. I placed a sheet of paper in front of Luca and handed him a pen. “Write to your teacher,” I said. “Tell her Don Moretti will not be coming.” Every time Luca used the title, he hesitated. Sometimes the words took so long to leave his mouth that I nearly told him he could still call Matteo Papa. Then came the Moretti succession dinner. Matteo had promised to present Luca before every capo and elder, name him as his chosen heir, and give him a permanent seat at the Moretti table. Luca counted the days for two weeks. But outside the estate, Bianca’s driver stopped us with another message. Tommy was crying because the other children said he had no father. Pity crossed Matteo’s face. Before he could explain, Luca waved goodbye. “It’s all right, Don Moretti. Go take care of your other child.” Then he slipped his hand into mine. “Mom and I don’t need a seat at the Moretti table anymore.”
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His Son Stopped Calling Him Papa Chapter 11
When I woke the next morning, the corridor outside our room was empty. Matteo had gone, but the hotel clerk brought up an envelope bearing his handwriting."Serena. Luca. I will not give up on us." I read it once and dropped it into the wastebasket.Luca sat at the small table beside the window, eating bread with strawberry preserves. He glanced toward the basket. "What did he write?" "Nothing important," I said. "A weather report." Luca smiled.It was the first real smile I had seen from him since we left New York.Over the following year, Bianca's case was the first part of our old life to be settled.The nurse who had entered Tommy's room reported what she had seen to the hospital superintendent.The physician documented the severity of the boy's reaction, while the remaining almond biscuits and their paper wrapping were handed to the police.An investigator from the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children interviewed Tommy.He said his mother had known the biscui
His Son Stopped Calling Him Papa Chapter 10
Matteo left the hospital and drove straight to Grand Central Terminal. By then, the last evening train to Boston had already departed.He stood beneath the great iron clock while porters and travelers passed around him, his coat still carrying the sharp smell of hospital disinfectant.He questioned the station clerks, the ticket office, and the porters assigned to the Boston platform. One of them finally remembered Serena and the little boy beside her.They had boarded the three o'clock train with several trunks and a small leather satchel. The porter also remembered Luca tearing a bundle of photographs into pieces before boarding.Matteo said nothing when he heard that. He merely placed several bills in the man's hand and walked away.Outside the station, he ordered one of his men to telephone every hotel near Boston's central railway terminal.Another was sent to question the Moretti family's business associates in the city. Within an hour, they had found the hotel where Serena and L
His Son Stopped Calling Him Papa Chapter 9
The nurse sent both adults into the corridor while the physician worked on Tommy.Once the door closed, Bianca wiped her face and looked at Matteo without the helpless expression she had worn for years."Yes, I did it deliberately," she said. "I needed you to come.""You poisoned your own son because you wanted my attention.""What choice did I have?" Bianca snapped."I have a child and no fortune of my own. You came whenever I said I was frightened. You liked being needed, Matteo. Do not pretend I forced you to neglect your wife."Matteo's face lost what little color remained."You told me your husband deceived you. You said your family forced you to leave New York.""I left New York for an Englishman who promised me estates, servants, and money. When his fortune disappeared, so did I. By the time I returned, you were Don Moretti. I knew exactly what your name could give me.""You came back for my money.""For your money and your protection," Bianca said. "Serena helped too. Every tim
His Son Stopped Calling Him Papa Chapter 8
It was after eight when Matteo returned home.He opened the door still clinging to the hope that Serena had taken Luca to her mother's house, or perhaps gone to Boston simply to frighten him.She might be furious enough to leave for a few days. Surely she could not mean to stay gone. The entrance hall told him otherwise.Serena's shoes had disappeared from beneath the coat rack, along with Luca's little boots. Only Matteo's black leather shoes remained.He walked into the parlor and found the same careful absence everywhere. The matching cups Serena and Luca used at breakfast were gone.So was the photograph from their summer by the sea.Luca's toy soldiers no longer crowded the hearth, and someone had cleared away his books, his wooden horse, and the box that held his building set.Nothing had been left in disorder. Serena had packed slowly and deliberately, taking everything that belonged to her and Luca.Matteo stood in the middle of the room for some time before forcing himself ups
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