PROLOGUE
Naples, The Kingdom of Naples, March 2nd, 1584
Panting exhausted, signora Lorenzo wiped the perspiration from under her starched white bonnet with a swaddling cloth, which she threw in the dirty clothes hamper afterwards.
“You grow fast, signor Armando,” she jokingly scolded the child. Particularly in good spirits tonight, she chuckled quietly, watching her own nicely rounded belly out of the corner of her eye as it bounced rhythmically with every ripple of muffled laughter.
“Pretty soon, I won’t be able to carry you asleep to your bed,” she continued her monologue while she mindfully tucked the little boy in.
She retired to the fireplace and bent slightly to take the baby girl from her mother’s arms. It was getting late, but the young duchess didn’t have the heart to leave the nursery just yet. In her twelve years of working as a nanny for the rich, signora Lorenzo had never met a mother as devoted to her kids as Maria Vitelli. Most noblewomen would abandon their children into the care of their babysitters. They would come to their quarters only to watch them play for a little while, or to introduce them with exaggerated parental pride to curious guests.
As both children had fallen asleep already tired of too much playing and listening to bedtime stories, signora Lorenzo would have liked to put the three-month-old baby girl in her crib and call it a day. Her mouth watered as she thought of that cinnamon apple pie with crumb topping. She had hidden it under the table in the next room. Her secret lover had brought it to her that evening on the quiet. What a sweetheart! she reflected, filled with joy.
Signora Lorenzo had long quit dreaming that she would still be able to attract a man again. And one so young for that matter, she often marveled. Her waistline had become larger and larger with every passing year, until it had reached third times the dimensions of a normal size. Some men like real women with full forms, so they can have something to get their hands on, signora Lorenzo smiled inwardly. She was confident about her charm once again as she had never been in years. Those small and skinny women with their wasp waist get lost in the bed sheets.
“Just a bit longer, signora Lorenzo,” the young duchess Vitelli pleaded with her, harboring a gorgeous smile on that goddess face. “I find it hard to part with this little angel so easily. Fernando promised he would come to say goodnight to the little ones. When he’ll leave, I’ll go with him, and so you’ll get rid of both of us.”
“Are you talking about me?” the duke inquired playfully as he stepped inside.
“Fernando, my love, you’re late,” the duchess reprimanded him gently. “The kids are sleeping already, and we’re ruining signora Lorenzo’s well-deserved time for herself.”
“How would you like it if we hire a girl to help you, signora Lorenzo?” Duke Vitelly asked her warm-heartedly. “You could allow yourself a few moments of leisure during the day and even at night when the children wake up.”
“Signor Vitelli, you are too kind, vostra Altezza,” the babysitter bowed thankfully.
“We will announce it tomorrow, and we will make the choice all of us, together,” signor Vitelli declared, tenderly touching his son’s face.
Humming a lullaby on the lowest tone he could possibly reach, Fernando took the baby girl from his wife’s arms, gave her a soft kiss on the forehead, and put her into her crib himself.
“She’s so small and beautiful,” he whispered into his wife’s ear. “Just like you!”
The duchess laid her head on his shoulder. A few seconds later, signora Lorenzo answered their goodnight greetings. Delighted, she watched them as they headed back to the party organized at the castle. They walked locked in a passionate embrace, swaying in the rhythm of the music that reverberated this far from the great hall.
Ah, love! the woman heaved a deep sigh. What a blessing it is for a soul to be in love! she told herself, and her thoughts flew again to her secret lover. Tonight, in his absence, I’m going to take great pleasure in devouring that apple pie he brought me, she decided on the spot. Men who think about a woman’s stomach and not only about her ass and tits are few and far between, signora Lorenzo reflected, full of appreciation toward the new man in her life.
After she locked the door, she crossed the entrance chamber with long and rapid steps. She headed eagerly for the next room where she had stashed away that sweet and delightful treat. She had put it on a chair, and then she had pushed the chair under the table – she knew how to hide something good!
The wooden floors were creaking rhythmically under the pressure of her strides. She dashed into the room, salivating already, when only a miracle stopped her from inadvertently stepping on Fortza, the old hunting dog. Armando had recently befriended him. Sprawled out right in the doorway, lost in delicious dreams, Fortza was sleeping and snoring calmly, licking his chops from time to time. A gloomy premonition darkened the woman’s mind and swept away her good mood in a blink of an eye.
“You miserable thief!” she burst out in anger. “You ate my apple pie. You did, didn’t you? You ungrateful beast! I’m going to fold your fur! I’m going to have you running bent double, you bandit!”
She rushed and lifted the oversized tablecloth. Its gold fringe border brushed the floor. Infuriated, she looked at the plate and she could not believe her eyes. It hadn’t been moved one tenth of an inch from where she had put it. But somehow, it was unnervingly empty now - not a single crumb left - as if that pie had vanished into thin air, or better yet, it had never existed! There wasn’t even need to clean the damn plate anymore.
“What a wretched rascal! You’ll pay for this,” she threatened the old thief in a vindictive tone. “From now on, you’re going to sleep outside. Come on, move it! Get out of here!”
She pushed the dog with her foot. Fortza muffled something, but didn’t make the slightest effort to get up.
“Damn it! You can stay here then,” the woman gave up, resigned before this irreversible certainty. “Maybe you did me good. I’m too fat already. I’ll make myself a honey tea later,” she spoke aloud all by herself.
Signora Lorenzo checked on the children again. After she made her bed for the night, she mixed a full spoon of honey into the boiling water on the stove. She grabbed a cloth, so she wouldn’t burn herself, and she took the uncovered mug-size teapot and put it on the hot brick on her nightstand. She did that often with her tea to keep it nice and hot until she would be ready to get under the covers.
She knelt down by her bed, closed her eyes, and softly began to recite her nightly prayers, when a strange noise at the door startled her. Instinctively she started to get up, but on second thought, she changed her mind. She decided to finish her prayers firstly. If someone wanted to enjoy her company at this late hour, then they could wait a minute now, she reckoned.
While making the sign of the cross for the last time, she suddenly froze. She felt his ominous presence behind her just as his deep voice whispered menacingly into her ear.
“What did you do with that pie that I brought you? I gave you a chance, you stupid woman!”
Signora Lorenzo turned around and jumped on her feet amazingly fast for her weight. When she saw her so-called lover pointing his sword to her chest, a bitter thought flashed through her mind, like a steel-dagger pushed unexpectedly into her heart. It was the same thought that had consumed her and had ruined her youth, the same one that had encouraged her to remain a spinster: Men don’t like me. There is no love of that kind for me in this world. Only petty interests on their part. Tonight her disappointment accompanied a new realization that was as terrifying as it was invigorating: I will most likely die tonight, but I’m not gonna go so easily. I’m not gonna go without a fight. I’ll square my accounts with this snake-with-a-human-face so nicely, that he’ll remember me for the rest of his pitiful life, she promised herself.
“What did you do with it, woman?” the man insisted. “I mixed laudanum in it enough to put a horse to sleep.”
“The dog ate it,” signora Lorenzo told him.
“That’s a smart dog! Anyway, a lot smarter than you.”
“How did you get in here without me letting you in?” she asked him sharply.
The nasty young man gave a harsh laugh and showed her a key similar with hers. Signora Lorenzo checked the pocket of her nightgown. Her key was safely there. There was only one copy of it, and that was in the possession of the children’s parents.
“Did signor or signora Vitelly send you?” the woman inquired, only to buy more time. She knew the rule too well – the dukes would never give the nursery key to absolutely anyone as long as at least one of them was still alive.
“You know the answer damn well,” he snapped and thrust the key into the pocket of his coat.
Fixing her with his small, beady, reptile eyes, he rolled between his fingers a strand from the left side of his bushy moustache, and then he pushed it inside his mouth and started to chew it. Signora Lorenzo had seen him doing that so many times. Until now, she had used to find his habit quite charming. Tonight however, it seemed disgusting, grotesque, and even animalistic.
“I copied your key on a piece of wax,” he confessed. “Nothing easier than that. The rest of it is pure smithery art, and I’m an artist. You know I have a passion for fine things. It shouldn’t be like this you know. No one should’ve died,” he whispered in an angry tone. “I only need the little girl.”
“You’re a devil!” the woman defied him. “You won’t touch that child as long as there is life left in me.”
“I’m warning you: If you yell and wake up the boy, I’m gonna have to kill him too.”
“I can die with dignity, but you’ll live like a worm,” the woman hissed and threw the teapot with hot water on his pants, right over his private parts’ area.
Taken by surprise, the man backed up, trying desperately to muffle his anguished cries. Maddened with worry, signora Lorenzo rushed to the children’s room. As she stepped over the threshold, she wanted to cry for help, but she felt an agonizing pain tearing at her lungs. It stopped her breathing. She turned her head and saw him leaning on his sword, still beside her bed, his face red like fire. He had thrown his dagger at her; he had stabbed her in the back.
“You’re such a coward,” signora Lorenzo murmured with her last breath.
She fell on her knees and tasted blood inside her mouth. Incapable of fighting anymore, she let herself slip into death’s arms while raising her last ardent prayer to the sky: Sweet Mary, Mother of God, please watch over the kids!  

CHAPTER 1

Paradise Valley, Arizona, February 29th 1988
The whirlpool that had caught them in and had agitated them like laundry in a washing machine started to lose its intensity little by little. The man looked at his son and understood relieved that the boy had tolerated this voyage quite well. He pushed the water with his arms and legs using all the force he could muster. The three or four seconds until they reached the surface seemed an eternity. They both took a deep breath greedily and with a certain desperation that dissipated fast as their lungs got enough of the so-much-needed oxygen.
With his heart in his throat, afraid that an error in his calculations might have thrown them in a wrong time, Philip Federson scrutinized the surroundings of the lake. The decorum had not changed that much since he had last seen it. Delighted, he distinguished the white contour of Tina’s house somewhere in the distance. An overwhelming joy invaded his soul, a feeling of freedom he had not experienced in a very long time. He hugged his son enthusiastically, laughing happily.
“Hey, Adam, we’ve done it, son! Welcome to the Twentieth Century! How do you feel? Are you okay?”
“Si, padre! Boy, I sure liked this trip! But I’ve got to ask you something. Was signor Camillio right after all? You sold your soul to hell, so you can do magic?”
“No, dear child! And do stop mentioning that stupidity once and for all! Signor Camillio is a bigot and an ignoramus who very pretentiously claims to be a teacher.”
“What is a bigot? Or an ignoramus for that matter?”
“That’s a man who’s not… open-minded, one who follows his religion without thinking, without using his own brain, and he’s intolerant of other beliefs.”
“Aha! I get it now. What about you?”
“What about me? I’m nothing like that. I told you so many times before. I’m a scientist, a physician, a mathematician, a historian, and an explorer. The secret regarding this strange voyage is in knowledge and elaborate calculations. I advise you to forget signor Camillio’s mean and untrue stories. From now on, I will be responsible for your education. I will be your teacher.”
“Bene,” Adam said cheerfully. “I never liked signor Camillio anyway. Now… where do we find some hardworking peasants to serve us?” he asked impatiently.
“We don’t find any because we are not looking,” Philip replied, smiling amused.
“But our clothes are wet, and on top of all, I’m hungry. We could hunt, but it was rumored at the court that you were the most inexperienced hunter of all times.”
“Just gossip, son! Totally groundless gossip! The truth is… I don’t have the heart to kill an innocent being only for my culinary desires. I’d rather become a vegetarian.”
“What is that?”
“A vegetarian is a person who eats only vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and etcetera. He or she never eats meat.”
“Oh, mio Dio, we’re going to starve to death!” the child concluded terrified.
“Adam, stop lamenting! We’re in another world here, son. In fact, while our clothes dry out, we two are going to have a serious discussion.”
“About what?”
“About this era, about this new world for you, about its people and the rules they live by…”
“Aha! Okay.”
Two hours later, starved to the point of fainting, they were heading to the nearest McDonalds restaurant.
“Adam, do you see that big yellow M? That’s where we’re going to eat. We’ll be there in five minutes. Adam…”
Philip Federson discovered horrified that his son was not walking along his side anymore.
“Adam!” he yelled, worried sick.
“Here, padre!” the boy called him from behind a brand-new red truck. “These peasants have wonderful carriages. They don’t even need horses. We’ve got to come with the army and conquer them as soon as possible.”
“Adam, did you learn anything from what I told you earlier? Did you listen?”
“But, father, I’m Principe Cialdini, and this is my land. All these peasants, who are staring at us as if we were men from the moon, and all their wealth belong to me. They are mine by rights!”
“Oh, it’s my mistake, son. I’m sorry. I omitted to tell you that not only we’re not in the year 1588, but in 1988, but also we’re not in Napoli, Italia anymore. At this moment, we are in Paradise Valley, Arizona, USA. You’re a common citizen here, without nobility titles, without any castles or servants, and… pretty modest financially speaking.”
“How modest?” the seven-year-old boy asked frowning.
“Well… Eight years ago, I used to have a house. It was all that was left from my mother’s dowry. My father didn’t get to spend that too on his drinking habit. And then I had a… secondhand carriage without horses, a Corvette. That car was in excellent condition, believe me! In addition, I was able to afford to pay a woman to come once a week and take the garbage out of my house, change my bed, clean my kitchen and bathroom, and put things in order a bit.”
“No horses, no land, no army, no chefs or other servants?”
“No, signore! Nulla di questo genere... Nothing of this kind.”
“Oh, mio Dio! Mio padre è un vero perdente,” the child whispered, shaking his head disheartened.
“What are you mumbling there? Hey, amico, I’m not a loser! I’ve never been and I’ll never be one, okay?” the man protested. “Scientists are not wealthy and famous in these times either. Still, they’re not locked up into the infamous Inquisition prisons without any pity at all; they’re not tortured or burned at the stake as they are in your glorious times. If you want money, fame, and to have your ass kissed incessantly, you should become an actor, a football or a basketball player, or a politician.”
“I don’t even understand what you’re talking about. I want to go back. I want to go home. I’d rather be a dead prince than a poor peasant!”
“I’m sorry, Adam dear, but I’ve got bad news for you: You cannot!” Philip informed him, gloating inwardly. “Next possible trip is in four years from now, on February 29th. You’re trapped here with me, son. Now please don’t resort to that cheap fainting trick. I know you’re faking it, so you can have it your way all the time. Maybe I should also mention that your smelling salts are still with signor Camillio. I didn’t even bother to think of taking them with me.”
“You promised me wonders, but it’s worse than I’ve ever imagined,” the kid wailed.
“Nothing is worse than death, Adam. Especially when you’re seven years old. You better thank God that we’re both alive, and face all the troubles like a man. Life would be so boring without them. As for the wonders I promised you… be patient! Everything in its own time.”
“Can you at least feed your family?”
“My family?”
“Your family! Me,” the child specified sulkily, hugging himself while his cute little face took on a desolated expression.
“Yeah! What a big family! Of course I can! If the money from eight years ago is still current, then we certainly have food for a few weeks,” Philip announced pretty optimistically, evaluating the pile of wet dollar bills in his hand. “And if the banks are still working – I don’t see any reason why not – I saved something for difficult days like these. Just until I find a job, and then everything gets back to normal, you don’t have to worry about that.”
“And where are we going to sleep? I haven’t even seen stables around here.”
“There is still time until tonight. We’ll see. I doubt that anybody has taken my house away.”
They finally arrived at McDonalds, and Philip ordered a box of chicken nuggets and a couple of enormous hamburgers.
“Is there a masquerade around here that we haven’t heard about yet, or are you guys actors?” the young employee with a tattoo on her neck and a ring in her lower lip asked amused.
“Allow me to introduce myself, signora,” a very proud Adam started to speak. “I am Signor Adam Federson Cialdini, future viceroy of the Naples Kingdom of which vicereine is my mother presently. Also, my mother is an Aragonese princess, and that makes me a prince of Aragon.”
The young woman got all confused and she blushed lightly.
“These actors!” a cowboy grumbled, and his eyebrows drew into a frown.
Apparently hunger had a bad effect on him – he seemed angry like a harassed bull.
“They are so cocky that they’re getting too big for their britches. The minute they get a tiny part in some sixpenny movie, they think they’re kings and princes! Not smarter than my cows if you care for my opinion.”
Adam treated him with a disdainful glance.
“Father, you should demand satisfaction from this churl and restore your family’s honor!” he asked authoritatively with a touch of belligerence in the tone of his voice.
Philip carefully estimated his possible opponent. The guy was a gorilla! Over six feet tall, he weighed at least three hundred pounds. And that without his cowboy hat, without his leather belt with large silver buckle, and without his crocodile cowboy boots. His bushy, nicotine stained moustache vibrated threateningly. Hungry and nervous, he seemed downright ferocious!
Philip smiled embarrassed.
“Figurants. We’re only figurants, secondhand actors. We’re just having fun, sir, really. Please excuse us. You have a very nice day now!”
Philip’s humble attitude took the cowboy by surprise, and he greeted in a more conciliatory manner.
“Howdy there, gents!”
Philip answered the salute with a short, nervous laughter. He quickly took his bag with food, and then he grabbed Adam by his shoulder and pushed him out of the restaurant.
The boy continued to protest and act embarrassingly agitated and unhappy.
“But, father, what about the honor?”
“Shut up, Adam! What about it? I’m not in the mood to fight with a monster like that one! Did you happen to notice that he was twice my size?”
“A sword! Somebody hand me a sword! I’ll teach him a lesson!” Adam yelled desperately, looking for approval around him without any success. “That peasant must pay for his insolence!”
“Man, you should teach that boy some respect,” another McDonald’s client told Philip.
The man pulled his son forcefully behind the building.
“Listen, Adam! How many times should I repeat to you that life here is totally different from what you’ve lived before? There are other rules and laws, happily for me and for all mankind. If you want to eat, then you do what I tell you to do. Do you understand?”
The boy looked defeated toward the bag with goodies. It emanated a tantalizing smell of freshly cooked homemade food. He swallowed hard. Philip kept on scolding him.
“Just calm down, for God’s sake, and accept the reality! I’m pretty sure that it’s not gonna be long, and you’ll start to adapt. If I survived eight years in the sixteenth century, then you’ll survive a few years too in the twentieth century. Do you want to know something else? I believe that, in the end, you’re going to like it here better than there. In a year or so, you’ll like it so much that your desire to go back to those times will fade away entirely. You’ll see. Mark my words!”
“Mother is right; you’re getting drunk on cold water. I’m the true heir of that dukedom. One day I’ll go back and I’ll ask for my rights.”
“Yeah, but for that you need me,” Philip interrupted him. “I know that sounds like blackmail, but you shouldn’t forget a very important thing: I’m the only one who can help you, vostra Altezza!”
“I’m going to study, I’m going to become a scientist like you, and I’m going to discover the way back home all by myself,” Adam stated in a decisive tone, tightening his fists by his side and looking at his father with determination and bravery that were worthy of a mature man.
Philip burst into laughter. He was proud of his son. The boy had his courage and his iron will – only the purposes were different most of the time, thanks to the bad influences of the education he had received at the castle. Philip was confident that he would be able to change that in time and turn his son into a fine man.
“Bravo! This is the first good thing you’ve said today. Now, I would be delighted if you would accept to have supper with me, signore,” Philip said, performing an exaggerated, theatrical bow, and inviting his noble and arrogant progeny to take a seat at one of the outside tables at McDonalds.
“Mio Dio, padre! This is the most delicious food I’ve ever eaten,” Adam admitted gladly a few minutes later. “This is one thing worth staying here for.” He licked his fingers, full and calm at long last. “These peasants surely know how to cook a meal. I feel forced to recognize their skills.”
“I’m glad you liked it. That was a hamburger. And… the people here are folks like me. They’re not peasants, Adam. That’s an offensive word, and I forbid you to use it in public. When you’re just with me, you can exteriorize yourself. You can talk as you please, you can tell me anything that crosses your mind, and you can ask me if there is anything you don’t understand. But from now on, you’ll use ma’am when addressing a woman and sir when addressing a man. Did I make myself clear?”
“Yes, signore!
“Yes, sir! Philip corrected him on the spot.
“What now? You’re a sir too? You just said that when I’m only with you I can speak as I want to.”
Philip rolled his eyes. He realized instantly what a huge responsibility weighed on his shoulders now – he needed to raise and educate his child. All by himself! I’m a single parent, he thought sadly. He hated this term. He had always hated it. He had heard it way too often popping out of his father’s alcohol stinking mouth. Philip promised himself that he would be an exemplary dad for Adam, that he would do anything in his power to give him the best education, and – especially - that he would offer him all the love he was able to give. That parental, unconditional love that Philip had never known.
“Now, that I’ve fed my family,” he said fast, to drive away that pessimistic thought, “I can afford to take care of a strictly personal problem. We’ve got to pay a visit to someone.”
They found a kind Mexican gardener, who gave them a three-mile ride in his truck full of agricultural tools. Adam was in seventh heaven. The modern carriage, although dirty and stinking of manure, was running faster than the kid had ever seen anything moving before.
They went back to the lake’s area. The Mexican guy dropped them off just a few hundred yards from a charming property with beautifully manicured gardens and lots of orange and lemon trees in blossom. A white, elegant house built in old architectural style reigned peacefully in the middle of that land.
“Are these your estates?” Adam asked impressed. “They remind me of our home and castle. I think mom would like to live here.”
“No, Adam, they’re not. Tina lives here. She’s my ex fiancée.”
“Oh! So she’s the one you love, isn’t she? ‘Cause mom says that you’ve never loved her, only she loved you.”
Philip didn’t answer that question. Love was a topic too complicated for a seven-year-old child’s mind. He straightened his son’s clothes, smoothed down his own hair, and heaved a deep sigh.
“Adam, Tina and I… we’re going to have something to discuss. It’s something very important. I beg you to keep quiet. Just stay obediently by my side until I tell her what I have to tell her, and then we leave, okay?”
“Are you gonna tell her that you love her? Are you gonna throw a bunch of lies in her face, so she’ll let us sleep at her house?”
Exasperated, Philip took a deep breath. He avoided the answer again.
“Adam, son, you’re very selfish. You think about yourself only: who serves you, who cooks for you, where are you gonna sleep… Please promise me that in the next ten minutes, you’re going to behave yourself and stay still and silent beside me. Just that!”
Adam made a face and consented unenthusiastically.
“Bene, sir!”
With every step that he took, the distance between that white door with flowery glass, where he had rung the bell so many times before, diminished, and Philip felt his heart beating faster. He took an embroidered handkerchief out of the pocket of his long, blue silk coat. It was still wet. He wiped his forehead with it. All I want is to find out that she’s alive, that she’s okay, he thought, getting emotional.
They arrived at the doorstep. Philip found in him the courage to ring the bell. He heard her voice, and a thrill of pleasure and panic flashed through his body. The door opened, and Tina stood right there, wearing white shorts and a yellow t-shirt that hugged her breasts in the most wonderful way. She looked so young, so beautiful and radiant, as if all those years had been just a dream. Her goddess face, frozen by the shock of seeing him unexpectedly, reminded Philip of the still blossomed roses surprised by the first breath of a cruel winter.
“Hello, Tina!”
“Phi...” the woman murmured, leaning on the doorframe. “Why did you come?” she hardly spoke after a few seconds. “It’s too late…”
A little girl came running from inside the house and threw her arms around Tina’s leg. She couldn’t have been more than four years old.
“Mommy,” she whispered timidly. “Do we have guests?”
The woman put a hand on her small shoulder – a gesture that seemed more possessive than protective.
“I’m Eveline,” the little girl introduced herself. “Are you, by any chance, the prince from the fairy tales?” she asked Adam.
“Yes, signorina. And you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen,” Adam claimed charmingly, and he gingerly touched the girl’s dark blond curls. “Mio Dio, you look like an angel from those religious icons that hang on the walls of my castle.”
Eveline giggled embarrassed. She took a bonbon out of the pocket of her turquoise dress that matched her blue-green eyes perfectly. She handed it to him smiling happily.
“Do you like chocolates? Look, I saved this one for you, in case you’d come to see me.”
“Evie, you’ve been stealing bonbons again. I’m going to punish you,” the woman said, as if she wanted only to fill up the silence between her and her ex-fiancé.
Her mother’s threat, lacking every consistency, did not affect Eveline at all. She continued the conversation with her newly found friend and admirer.
“Who is he?” she wormed the secrets out of Adam with the most adorable smile.
“He’s my father. But he doesn’t know how to hunt or how to use a sword. I do! He’s just a scientist.”
“What is that?” Eveline inquired curiously.
“I’m not really sure either,” Adam shrugged his shoulders. “He makes all kinds of calculations, and he’s good with magic and underwater trips. Back home, they called him heretic.”
“How old are you, young man?” Tina asked him coldly.
“I just turned seven last November, ma’am. There was a big party at the castle.”
The woman flashed an icy glance at Philip.
“I think it’s time for you, ‘noblemen’, to leave. Mathew could be here any minute now.”
Without any trace of premeditation, Philip broke into a short, quizzical laughter. He just lost it, driven out of his mind by her glacial attitude.
“Mathew? Mathew Stevens? Did you marry that fat ass with pizza face? I bet that you do it with the Bible under your pillows – if you do it!”
“You have the nerve to show up at my door after eight years of absence and criticize my choice of a husband? When you left for that damned one-week trip to Italy, you and me were to get married, Philip, in only two months!” Tina burst forth all of a sudden.
In a hoarse voice, the man made another attempt to have a decent dialogue.
“Tina, I’m sorry. Believe me, I was… lost in time.”
“You were always lost in time and space, Philip.”
“Please, Tina, give me another chance! I can explain.”
“You can explain?” Tina whispered, fury smoldering inside her eyes. “Can you explain eight years of absence? Those clown-like clothes? Can you explain him?” she said pointing at Adam. “Hey, young man, don’t touch my baby!” she flew at the boy. “Don’t even think about getting close to her ever because I’m gonna kill you! I’m sure you’ll grow up to be a jackass, just like your father! A chip off the old block!”
The woman pulled her daughter inside and slammed the door in their faces. For a while, Eveline’s protests and whimpers reverberated from the house.
“You failed! We had a chance, and you blew it!” Adam spoke finally. “And now because of you, I can’t see Eveline again. I’m in love with this girl,” he confessed dreamily, looking at the chocolate bonbon in his hand. “I’m crazy about her! She’s an angel, a ray of sunshine. She’s the best thing I’ve ever laid my eyes on…”
“Shut up, Adam!” Philip snapped at him. “I hope we’ll be more successful at our next stop. Honestly, at that one we need to be, or we’ll sleep outside in the open. We’ll join the rabbits, the coyotes, and the rattlesnakes. This place is crawling with these creatures. They’re hidden in every bush.”
Adam walked taciturn beside his father for some time. Then out of the blue, he asked preoccupied:
“Girls, when they grow up, do they look like their mothers?”
“Most of the time,” Philip answered, sweet-tempered. “Why are you asking?”
“I was thinking about Tina’s legs.”
Me too, Philip made the confession only to himself.
“Well, to tell you the truth, I was thinking about Eveline and praying she’ll have her mother’s legs when she grows up,” the boy admitted. Then he added quickly with the air of a connoisseur: “That face plus those legs equals to die for, sir! The arithmetic of perfection. The perfect girl for me, I mean.”
“Adam, you are a little buffoon,” Philip said aloud, but with no authority.
Actually, he liked the fact that his son was a keen observer, and that he had good taste when it came to women. Indeed, Tina’s legs were superb, hard to divert your thoughts from them after you’ve seen them.
“I started to like it here… more and more,” Adam acknowledged with a lovely smile on his pensive little face.