“No, I’ve loved you since that very first day I saw you standing in the square … in fact, I arranged to meet you … it was no accident.”
He took her face gently between his hands. Softly, he said, “I’ll tell you something now … I wanted to fall in love with you … but there’s a difference between wanting and loving … I love you … I love you, Gina Maria … truly—you’re everything I dreamed of … do you believe in fate?”
“I’m not sure.”
“I do … I believe it was fate for us. I don’t know what moves our stars … I will not even waste time asking, but this I know … we were meant to live our lives together … I love you, I can’t believe it, but I do.” He smothered her with kisses. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Now, we’re going back. I’m afraid of my feelings …”
The next day, Gina Maria found it practically impossible to contain the joy she felt inside. As she and Pam sat at their table, Gina Maria said, breathlessly, “I thought you’d never get here … I’ve been dying to tell you what happened.”
“Don’t tell me … let me guess … you got laid, right?”
“Wrong … I got loved … if you never tried it, don’t knock it.”
Smiling, Pam answered, “Touché … big mouth McCormack, love object of the universe … so tell me, what happened?”
“Oh, Pam, he really loves me.”
“Hmm … pretty fast workers, these Italians … how do you know he loves you? In any language, it’s easy to make a pitch … did he make a pass?”
“I know he loves me, and he didn’t make a pass … I know because he told me … Pam, he really does …”
“If you say so … now, where do you take it from here?”
“I’m meeting him at Pier One at three this afternoon.”
“That’s great… peachy… groovy … but you’ve got a problem … unless you can work something out with the warden.”
“Why … what do you mean?”
“I mean I can’t baby-sit with you any more … my Dad has to go to London today.”
“Oh, no ! …”
“Oh, yes … he got a phone call late last night saying it was imperative he be there today. Government negotiations wait for no man, much less Cupid … so, sweetie, you’ve got a problem, unless you can hire a governess.”
“Oh, Pam…what am I going to do?” Gina Maria was practically in tears.
“I don’t know, cookie … I guess one of three alternatives.”
“What are they?”
“Well, first, you could go to the board of directors … lay it on them … say, look Pappy, Mummy, I really dig this guy, and wait out the holocaust … or split… or the third is be a nice sweet adorable little chump and stop seeing Romeo … but let me remind you of what happened when Juliet tried that.”
Gina Maria was in a state of shock.
“Come on, kiddo … don’t carry on like the heroine in La Boheme. Life is not an Italian opera.”
Then suddenly, Pam sat quietly and said, “Look, Gina Maria, I’m going to level with you … a lot of the things I’ve been telling you were to make you get angry enough to feel you’re really underprivileged, but emotionally you’re the most adjusted girl I know … in fact, you knock all the psychologists in the creek … why, you should be nutty as a fruitcake, but you’re not … and what’s so crazy about the whole thing is … your folks did all the wrong things according to Spock … but damn it, you’re a terrific gal who really knows where it’s at and I, dear Gina Maria Rossi, take off my hat to you. I really admire you in spite of all the rousting around, the advice, the glib loose talk I spouted. The truth is, you’re the only honest nonconformist I know … because you held out and didn’t run with the crowd like a bunch of sheep listening for the mating call. As my parting shot, the more I think about it … What the world needs now are more Sicilian fathers … Ciao, bambino.”
When Sergio saw Gina Maria, he ran to meet her. Taking her hand, they walked quickly to the gondola. Once inside the enclosure, Sergio kissed her tenderly, with restraint. He released her before his passion rose beyond his control. “Gina Maria, I dreamt about you all night… you touched me so deeply. The beauty in your eyes haunted and followed me everywhere I went … you’re trembling … why? Are you unhappy you came today?”
“Oh, no, Sergio,” she answered, half whispering as her eyes became misty.
“Then why are you on the verge of tears … I don’t understand … I love you, you love me … then why are you so unhappy?”
“I don’t know how to tell you this …”
“Tell me what… what is there to tell?”
“I don’t think we can continue to see each other.”
“We can’t continue to … what do you mean by that?”
“It’s simply no use … I mustn’t allow myself to be in love with you.”
“You mustn’t! This is too much. Love is not a tube of toothpaste you can squeeze and stop. Yesterday I discovered love and today you tell me it’s no use … my whole world is falling apart and you say it’s no use?”
“I won’t be able to see you … my friend, Pam, is leaving. She was my only excuse … from now on, my parents will expect me to be with them. What can I do, Sergio?”
“What can you do? It’s quite simple … we will go to see your father … the problem is resolved.”
“No, we can’t … you know he doesn’t have any idea I’ve been meeting you.”
“So we’ll tell him … since when is it a crime to fall in love?”
“But he doesn’t know about us, don’t you understand that?”
“Yes, I understand, but when we tell him, he’ll know.”
“Oh, Sergio, you don’t know what you’re saying. He’ll get so angry, I don’t know what he’ll do.”
“Why? He beats you? You don’t look like a daughter who’s been beaten lately … so what will he do? Scream … holler … rant, rave?”
“You can say that again … my father can get very angry. You don’t know what he once did and said to my brother Roberto.”
“Whatever Roberto did, I don’t know, and maybe he had it coming to him … so what has happened as a result? Roberto hates his father?”
“No, he loves him.”
“So? When your father gets over his anger and realizes I want to marry you … and this is not panky-hanky…”
“Hanky-panky, Sergio …”
“Ah, yes … hanky-panky … he’ll relent.”
“I don’t think I have the courage to tell him.”
“So if you don’t have the courage … I will be your courage.”
“Sergio … what are you going to do? Walk up to my father and say, Mr. Rossi, I want to marry your … what did you say before?”
“When? Before what?” … marry …
“Of course. What did you think my intentions were? If this was anything but true love, you would have been in my bed long before this. I am a very ardent lover as you will find out on our wedding night … it will be like Columbus day when they light the firecrackers.”
“That’s the Fourth of July.”
“Ah, yes, the Fourth of July … I get confused … now, we will turn back and go to see your father.”
“No … please, not today.”
“Why not? Today is as good a day as any other…”
“Let’s wait, Sergio. I don’t think I’m up to it.”
“You will not be up to it tomorrow or the day after … the time to do something is now … while you are frightened … it is then you show the true nature of your strength… Turn the boat back,” Sergio called to the gondolier.
Standing in front of the hotel, Gina Maria looked at Sergio, “This is going to be very difficult…”
“So … anything worth achieving is difficult.”
“You’ll have to wait in the lobby while I tell my parents … and that may take a very long time, Sergio.”
“So … it will take a long time … I have waited before in my life for much les
s.”
“I don’t know what will happen, Sergio.”
“I do … if you can’t get to base first.”
“First base! …”
“That’s right, first base … then your father will have me to contend with … and my dearest, Gina Maria mia, he will have a very stubborn fellow on his hands.”
Dominic looked up from the paper as Gina Maria entered.
“Well… did you get bored with Venice? This is the first time you’ve come back to the hotel so early.”
“No … I … I … where’s Mama?”
“Taking a bath.”
“Oh …”
“Oh is right. Her feet are killing her … in fact, her feet are killing me. We walked from store to store all day … by the time your mother leaves, Venice will be out of merchandise.” He laughed. “And what did you do?”
She was going to throw up. “Excuse me, Papa,” she said, running to the bathroom. Once the nausea subsided, she went back and sat in the large chair opposite her father.
“Do you know, Gina Maria, since we’ve been here, I don’t think you’ve felt too well.”
“I feel fine, Papa.”
“You don’t look fine …”
“I’m okay, Papa.”
“Really? … Gina Maria, do you have a problem?”
“What makes you think I have a problem?” she said, trying to keep her voice even and the nausea down.
“Because you’re nervous and pale … and because you came back so early. Did you have an argument with Pam?”
“No …”
“Honey, whatever’s bothering you, you can talk to me.
She looked at Dominic and bit her lip. “Could I really, Papa … I mean really?” She was asking, questioningly … searchingly.
“Why, you know you can.”
“No, I don’t, Papa …”
“What do you mean you don’t … did you ever have a problem you couldn’t come to me with?”
“No. When I’ve come to you with problems, you listened and helped, but, Papa, did it ever occur to you that I might have had problems I didn’t think you would understand, so I kept them to myself?”
“No, because I thought you knew I’d understand anything that would be important to you.”
“That’s because I always discussed problems that never offended you.”
“Never offended me? That’s an odd thing to say. Obviously, you’re trying to tell me something.”
“Yes, Papa, I am …”
“But you don’t think I’ll understand.”
“Yes, that’s right, I don’t think you’ll understand.”
“I feel badly about that… but test me.”
“I’m afraid, Papa … I think you’ll be very angry.”
“Angry … angry … Am I such an ogre? What have you done that I couldn’t understand or forgive? What is it, Gina Maria … tell me.”
“I know you’ll be very angry.”
“I’ll try not to be.”
Clearing her throat, bracing her hands firmly on the arms of the chair, she said, “Are you ready for this?”
Dominic nodded yes as he ran his fingers over his dry lips.
“Okay, Papa … I’m in love …”
“In love!” he exploded, “in love with whom?”
“With a very handsome young man.”
Catherine came out of the bedroom when she heard the shouting.
“What’s this about a …”
“Stay out of this, Catherine. Now, where did you meet this handsome young man?”
“At the Doges’ Palace.”
“See, Catherine, I warned you Pam is not a chaperone. Two children alone in a foreign …”
“That’s just the point, Papa, I’m not a child … you’d like to have me be one all my life, but I’m a woman.”
“You’re not a woman.” Dominic’s voice rose higher, “You’re a girl of seventeen.”
“No, I’m a woman … Mary Queen of Scots was the Queen of France when she was fifteen.”
“I’m not interested in history. And this handsome young … this bum is not the King of France … who is he … what is he … what do you know about him? And you’re in love!”
“In love!” Catherine now echoed.
“Yes, in love … in love and he’s no bum. You don’t have a right to say that… you don’t even know him … he’s a count.”
“I can imagine, and I’m a cockeyed prince from Japan.”
“See, Papa, I was right when I said you only helped with problems you accepted … Papa, I’m terribly disappointed in you … for the first time …” She ran from the room and threw herself on the bed and wept.
Dominic paced the floor and ranted. “See … guide your children, give them values, try to teach them decency and honor and look what happens …”
“Stop screaming, Dominic. I’m just as upset about this as you are, but you handled it in the wrong way.”
“Sure, sure, I know you have no temper. You never raise your voice above a whisper.”
“Why are you fighting with me? In this case, I happen to be on your side, but shouting at Gina Maria when she thinks she’s in love isn’t going to solve the problem,” she said with no small amount of anger.
“So, what should I have said … Okay, fine, Gina Maria, if you want to be in love with some—”
Interrupting him, Catherine said above his voice, “You should have sat down quietly and listened, then asked to meet the boy. I’m no pushover, Dominic, and you know it, but we have to face the fact Gina Maria’s at an age where she can’t help being attracted to the opposite sex. She’s a normal girl. We should go down on our knees that she’s a decent, lovely girl who has never caused us a moment’s anguish. And that’s a hell of a lot more than most parents can say today.”
“I find this pretty damned strange … your attitude about this, when all you did was bitch … bitch and find fault when Dom and Tory fell in love … and what gets me is they married girls from fine families whom we knew all about. I don’t know what the hell’s come over…”
“Listen, Dominic, if you really want to have a fight with me, I’m ready … but my Mama taught me a few things among which was if you want to lose, just oppose a child.”
“Terrific, how much you learned from Mama, but her advice seems only to apply in this case. How come you didn’t use the same philosophy a few months ago with Tory … answer that.”
“Okay, I will … Tory’s a boy … I mean a man … a man can’t become pregnant … a girl can … that’s why I want to meet this young man. At least we’ll know what he’s like and Gina Maria won’t have to go runnin’ off to meet him in some dark corner … for God’s sake, Dominic, someone as smart as you shouldn’t have so much trouble tryin’ to figure that one out.”
Dominic poured himself a stiff drink, went to the window and looked out… stood there for a very long time, thinking. Then he turned around slowly, trying to keep his voice even, with all his discipline, he asked, “Alright, Catherine, since you’re so well versed on the subject of juvenile warfare, what do you suggest we do?”
“Not we … since it was to you Gina Maria came in the first place, I think you should go in and speak softly and fatherly and now.”
He hesitated for a long moment, then half angry, half conciliatory, he opened the door to Gina Maria’s room. He saw her sobbing and he knew how much she must have hated him at this moment. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he took her hand and said quietly, “Alright, Gina Maria, where is this young man?”
“Downstairs … he’s been waiting for a long time.”
Dominic bit his lip. “Okay, have him paged … let him come up.”
“May I go down and bring him?”
Slowly, Dominic shook his head, “Alright, go down.”
“Oh, thank you, Papa,” she said, kissing him, then jumped off the bed, went quickly to the bathroom, washed her face as Dominic walked back to where Catherine sat.
Within seconds
Gina Maria was out the door and running down the hall. As she got off the elevator, a nervous Sergio came to her. “Well?”
“My father wants to see you.” She took his hand and together they went up in the lift without a word exchanged. Entering the large sitting room, they found Catherine seated on the settee while Dominic stood with his hands behind him. His face was set and unsmiling.
Slowly Gina Maria said, “This is Sergio DiGrazia … Sergio, this is my mother, Mrs. Rossi.”
Sergio walked to her, kissed her hand and said, “Charrrmed.” The sound of those rolling R’s … and the kiss on the hand too … Who did he look like? A young Italian Tyrone Power dressed in white flannel trousers, a raw silk pastel plaid jacket and the yellow open polo shirt exposed his brown hairy chest. Catherine was taken with him from that first moment. But she wasn’t surprised, knowing Gina Maria would never have struck up an acquaintance with anyone less than this sort of young man. He was a gentleman … didn’t have to go to Harvard to recognize that.
Very continental … bowing from the waist … kiss on the hand … the whole bit. However, no things went unnoticed by Dominic. Very schmaltzy, as they say back home … “My father, Mr. Rossi,” Gina Maria said, leading him.
“My pleasure, Mr. Rossi,” Sergio said, extending his hand which Dominic reluctantly shook, as though … he were stroking a dead mackerel.
I think the count is already counting the money, Dominic thought as he said, “Please be seated, your Highness.”
For a moment Sergio’s right eye narrowed, but he seated himself in a chair. Gina Maria cringed, embarrassed by her father’s rudeness, but seated herself across from him. Catherine was positively incensed by the remark, as she listened to Dominic begin the interrogation … very slowly … very poised … very sure.
“Now … your Highness, my daughter tells me she is in love with you.” Dominic paused for a moment, which gave Catherine the opportunity to think, no wonder he wins all those cases, he must scare the hell out of the witnesses. “But what are your feelings?” she heard Dominic ask.
Sergio answered with all the poise he possessed, “Your daughter, sir, is the only woman I’ve ever loved with such deep devotion.”
Very good … also very clever and true to form. “Alright … now, being a European, brought up in the finest traditions, I’m sure, when I ask this, you will understand … what are your intentions?”
Fairytales Page 32
