go down the stairs to meet her new daughter-in-law, she remembered that Ciro had raced from the pier to the Milbank House to the church to claim her before she married another man. War, evidently, makes a man think and spins the hands of a clock speedily as if the inner springs are broken.
Antonio, who knew his mother so well, read her expression of worry.
“Mama, I know for certain you will love her.”
“How?”
Antonio called down the stairs, “Honey?”
Angela Latini, in a crisp periwinkle wool suit and matching hat, walked up the stairs in her high-heeled pumps. She was beautifully turned out, a New York deb gracing the Iron Range.
“Zenza!” Angela put her arms around the woman who’d filled a void so deep that the job seemed impossible. Enza was her mother and her friend, and now, she was her mother-in-law.
“But, how did this—”
“We were at Aunt Laura’s apartment and we looked at one another . . . ,” Antonio explained.
“And we realized how similar we are,” Angela said. “And we spent a long week on the town, talking.”
“And we decided to surprise you.”
“I’m surprised—and I’m so happy!”
“Zenza, I was afraid you wouldn’t be happy.”
“Why?”
“Because no one would be good enough for Antonio.”
“Ah,” Enza said. “You are.” She put her arms around Angela.
Angela, who had never felt that the loss of her own mother had healed, began to cry in the arms of the woman who had stepped in to fill that void and love her. “I’ll be a good wife. I learned everything from you.”
“No, you came to me well trained in all things. Pappina was your mother, and she was the best mother any girl could ever have.”
“The truth is, I’ve loved Antonio since I was a little girl. I prayed that someday he would come back to me, and I would be old enough, and he wouldn’t have fallen in love with someone else. I prayed he would wait for me. I know it sounds crazy—”
“No, it doesn’t. Not at all. Sometimes a childhood dream is the best dream of all.”
Enza embraced her son and her new daughter-in-law. She thought about Ciro and how she’d loved him from the first moment she saw him, and how tradition, properly cared for, nurtured, honored, and respected, continues to feed the soul of a family. Antonio saw love so he could eventually choose it. So had Angela, and she, too, recognized it and waited for it to find her just as it had found Luigi and Pappina.
Enza wrote to Luigi Latini with the news. He had remarried in his village and was, by all accounts, happy. This letter would delight Luigi; he learned that Antonio and Angela would take their honeymoon in Italy and visit him and his sons and their families. Luigi would remember to tell Antonio all the stories about how Ciro became his partner, but in fact, Ciro had been the leader, and Luigi would have followed him wherever he wanted to go.
Enza smiled when she thought of her son joining the Latini family, with its growing numbers, and climbing the Passo Presolana to see Vilminore and Schilpario, where Enza and Ciro’s story had begun. Enza would write to Eduardo and Caterina, who would know Antonio upon first sight, as Ciro always called his boy a Montini.
“You wanted to see me, Zenza?” Angela stood in the doorway of Enza’s bedroom in her robe. Enza looked up at her and for a moment saw Pappina’s face, as she was the first time she’d met her on Mulberry Street. Enza remembered Angela as a little girl, and could hardly believe she was a woman now, and her son’s wife.
“Yes, yes, honey, come and sit with me.”
Angela sat on the edge of the bed.
“I couldn’t be happier for you.”
“I know.” Angela put her arms around Enza. “That means everything to me.”
“I want to give you something.” Enza gave Angela a small velvet box.
Angela opened the box and lifted out a delicate blue cameo, suspended on a string of pearls. “It’s exquisite.”
“It belonged to my husband’s mother. She was once a privileged girl from a good family, and when she was widowed young, they lost everything. But through all her troubles, she managed to hang on to this necklace. This is the family you have married, Angela. They are strong, and resilient, and they hold on. Wear it and think of them.” Enza fastened the necklace on to Angela’s neck.