Massimo returned that night with a catch that, while not as large as a full day's fishing might have been, still needed to be sorted and packet in ice for tomorrow. Maria had spent the afternoon washing and re-hemming her new clothes, and had allowed Helena to trim her hair, so she was looking far more civilized by the time her brother came upstairs for supper.
"It must have been a productive afternoon," said Helena. "You certainly smell like fish!" She went to kiss him, then winced and took a step back, a hand on her belly. "The little one's excited to see Papá!"
Massimo closed the distance between them and kissed his wife's cheek, then bent down to kiss her swollen abdomen. That done, he looked to his sister – and her son, curled up on the bench next to her, fast asleep. "Your shopping trip went well," he observed.
"Yes, it did," said Maria. She had just finished sewing a button one of the little shirts she'd bought for Alberto. She bit through the thread, then held it up to look at her handiwork. " He doesn't like his new clothes ery much, but he'll get used to them."
"He needs shoes," Massimo said.
"He does," Maria agreed. "He's never had any." Alberto would probably hate them, but Maria wouldn't have to worry about him stepping in puddles.
Helena checked on the fish stew she was making for supper, and seemed satisfied with what she found. She turned off the gas and started taking out bowls. "How many deliveries for tomorrow?" she asked.
"A dozen," Massimo said. "I'll have to get up early to finish them before I go out again."
"I can do them," Maria volunteered. "I need something to do besides sit around the house."
"What about Alberto?" asked Massimo.
"I can watch him in the shop," Helena suggested. Maria stiffened – but when she caught Helena's eye, the other woman was smiling at her kindly. It no longer mattered if Alberto got wet in front of his aunt, and the offer appeared to be sincere... but in the shop there was always the possibility of customers.
"No, I think I'll take him with me," Maria decided. "He'll enjoy seeing everything and meeting everybody, and it'll put him to sleep again by the end of the day." She looked down at Alberto, snoozing quietly with his head resting against her thigh, and couldn't help a smile.
"It's up to you," said Helena. She set the dishes on the table.
Massimo took his first spoonful of stew and blew on it to cool it. "I think it's time to hire somebody to mind the shop for at least part of the day," he said. "Then you won't need to be on your feet."
Helena nodded. "I've been thinking of that myself," she agreed, but took a wary look at Maria.
"I can do it," Maria said immediately. Another person in the building was somebody else who might find out, and she couldn't afford that. "And I can do the cooking on the nights Massimo can't, too. Especially once the baby is born."
"You don't need to earn your keep," said Massimo.
"I'm not trying to 'earn my keep'," Maria told him. "If I'm going to be a part of this household, then it's only fair I should contribute to it. You want to help me, and I want to help you."
She left Alberto sleeping peacefully on the bench, and went to eat her supper. Helena apologized, saying that she wasn't as much of a cook as her husband, but it tasted just fine to Maria. Maria considered herself a decent cook, but she'd never been able to do much with some of the things Giancarlo had used to bring her, the seaweed and shellfish and random things that lived in the mud. He'd cooked them himself sometimes, but had said he only half-remembered the recipes his mother had tried to teach him. Having real food again felt like a royal feast.
"Perhaps sometime I can take Alberto out on the boat with me," Massimo suggested.
Maria froze with her spoon halfway to her mouth. Alberto had, of course, been on boats before, but he always had at least one parent with him, and had been in and out of the water constantly. If Massimo took him out, he was likely to just hop right over the side. She looked at Helena for help.
Helena rolled her eyes slightly, but said, "he's a little young for that, isn't he?"
"I was on the boat with Papá when I was his age," said Massimo. "So was Maria." He nodded to his sister.
"I'd rather not," said Maria. "What if he fell in? You can't swim," she pointed out. Maria herself was a strong swimmer, but Massimo, with only one arm, couldn't do much more than tread water.
Massimo conceded. "I could take him fishing on the dock, then."
Maria could just imagine Alberto jumping off that for a swim, too. "With hooks and knives?" she asked. "He's not even two years old!"
Helena laughed softly. "You'll want to wait until he's at least four or five for that," she said. "Then he might listen when you tell him to be careful. Until then, you'll probably have to play with him indoors."
"Yes, I understand," said Massimo, embarrassed. He looked at the little shape curled on the bench again, and his moustache twitched into a smile. "He's awake."
Maria turned and looked over her shoulder, and smiled. Alberto had sat up, blinking sleepily, and looking around the kitchen as if not sure where he was. Maria pushed away from the table and went to pick him up for a hug.
"Did you have a good nap?" she asked, kissing his temple. "You've had an exciting day. Let's have some dinner, how about?"
Alberto wriggled in her arms and made unhappy noises, until he realized he could smell food. When Maria returned to the table with him in her lap, she had to move quickly to keep him from dumping stew all over himself like he'd done with trenette al pesto the previous evening. She offered a spoonful, and he opened his mouth wide like a baby bird.
"You like your aunt and uncle's cooking, don't you?" asked Maria.
Alberto grinned, sauce dribbling out of the corners of his mouth and falling on his new overalls.
"At least, you do if the mess you make is anything to go by," Maria said, and offered him another. This time, he grabbed the spoon in both hands to pull it into his mouth faster, getting the contents all over his shirt and arms in the process.
"It's good to have a fan," laughed Helena.
Alberto ate a surprising amount for somebody so small, and managed to smear stew not only all over his clothing and face, but getting it in his hair as well. Maria hung onto him while she finished her own bowlful, so that he couldn't leave sticky hand- and footprints all over the kitchen. Helena was grinning as she collected the dishes.
"I can see I have lots to look forward to," she said.
Maria stood up. "Come on, Berto," she said fondly. "I think tonight you're going to need a proper bath." Alberto grinned brightly at her as she lifted him, and Maria beamed back at him. Seeing her little boy wearing proper clothes and with his tummy full of real food was a delight.
"I could help," Massimo offered, getting to his feet.
"No, that's fine!" said Maria, holding Alberto protectively. "I'm his mother. His messes are my messes!" She handed the extra spoon to Helena and gave her a pleading look.
Helena sighed. "If you're so determined to be useful, you can help me with the dishes," she told her husband.
As she climbed the stairs, Maria thought of that old saying about how one person could keep a secret, but once two knew it wasn't a secret anymore. Helena seemed willing to help keep this secret, but why was Massimo so determined to get Alberto near the water? Had Helena, after telling Maria that he needed to know, decided to drop a hint or two?
What about the Aragosta women? What did they know? They hadn't seemed surprised at all by Alberto's transformation in the fountain, and even before that, they'd promised they knew about unusual children . She was definitely going to have to talk to them.
Maria set Alberto on the mat and filled the bathtub. This caught his interest at once, and he was trying to climb in before she'd even turned the tap off. Maria chuckled and caught him, and hung on to him as she unbuttoned his overalls.
"We've got to take your clothes off first," she said. "We wash those separately – although I have to say, it's very tempting to just toss you in!"
She got him undressed and plopped him in the water, where he immediately rolled around to transform, only to discover to his dismay that it wasn't deep enough for swimming. This didn't bother him for long, though, as he discovered the joy of soap bubbles and splashing water all over his mother. Maria laughed along with him, even as she worried that the noise would attract Massimo or Helena. The bathroom door had a lock but it had been broken as long as Maria could remember... maybe it was time to do something about that.
Nobody interrupted, though – if anything Massimo heard made him want to check on them, it seemed Helena convinced him not to bother. Maria carried her son back to his room wrapped in a towel and looking fully human, and laid him down on the mattress on the floor. He yawned and wriggled a little, settling into this comfy surface.
"That was a very busy day," Maria said, with a yawn of her own. "You're going to have a really good sleep tonight. At least, I hope you are."
For her own part... she probably had too much to worry about, but she would try.
There was a bit of rain again overnight, but it was done by morning. Maria's third day at home dawned with cheerful morning sunlight glittering on puddles and wet leaves. She opened the window to breathe in the smells of damp soil and sea air, and smiled as she looked out at the calm ocean. On a day like this at the Island, she would have taken Alberto down to the water right after breakfast. The two of them could have collected shellfish and perhaps played a bit of hide-and-seek, as he darted into patches of seaweed and made her dive deeper to find him.
She couldn't do that here, though... at least, certainly not on the beach below the piazza. She would have to look for somewhere more isolated, where nobody was likely to see them. Off to the west there was a more isolated gravelly patch where some of the kids would go swimming. That might do, if she went while they would be in school.
It was hard to believe she'd only been back for two days. Already, looking around what had once been her bedroom, it felt like Maria had never left. At the same time – she'd only been here two days, and already there were three people who knew Alberto's terrible secret. She'd gotten a promise that Helena wouldn't tell. Today, she had probably better deal with the other two.
Maria turned away from the window and knelt down beside her son, still lying on the mattress. She put a hand on his back to feel it rise and fall with his breathing. "Look at you," she said softly. "Not a care in the world."
Alberto yawned and rolled over to blink up at her with big green eyes. After a moment he woke up enough to recognize his Mamma, and smiled at her.
" Buongiorno to you, too," Maria said, and picked him up to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Don't you worry about a thing, Berto. Worrying is Mamma's job, okay?"
She cleaned up, and then carried her son downstairs to breakfast. Massimo was already at the table reading the newspaper, with Helena across from him. Helena had her feet up on a third chair, but removed them so Maria would have somewhere to sit.
"How are you settling in?" Helena asked.
"Well enough, I suppose," said Maria, getting Alberto situated on her lap. "The coffee smells wonderful." They'd almost never had coffee on the Island, and it had made her very grumpy some mornings.
"It should be ready now." Helena heaved herself out of her chair to get the pot. "Would you like some, amore mio ?"
"Just one cup," said Massimo. "Then I need to head out." Helena poured it for him, and he kissed her cheek as she set it down on the table. Then he asked, "have you thought any more about the idea of hiring somebody to work in the shop?"
"I told you, I can do that," said Maria quickly. "I'm going to do the deliveries today, too."
"You've got a child to care for, too," Helena pointed out, and then turned to Massimo. "Actually, yes, I have. I think Matteo Dentone's been saying his son Dario is old enough to do some work. I thought of having him stop by to see if he knows his way around a cash register." She nodded to Maria. "It'll take a load off both of us while the children are small." She glanced at Maria. "If I can get a moment today, I'll go talk to them."
"I can give them a message," Maria offered. "I'll be heading up the hill today anyway. I've got some friends I want to catch up with." Then she could conveniently 'forget', and put off the idea a little.
"Wonderful," Helena said with a nod. "I can mind the shop in the morning while you're out, and then you can take over in the afternoon, and I'll watch Alberto."
"All right, it's a deal," said Maria. That was much better than leaving Alberto with Helena in the shop, where he could get wet. If something happened in the house, his aunt could dry him off and be pretty sure nobody else would see.
Massimo finished his focaccia and coffee, and went downstairs to get his boat ready. Maria ate a piece of the bread herself, and tore another into small pieces for Alberto. Helena warmed up a cup of milk for the baby to drink, while Maria sipped her coffee.
"Does he talk at all?" Helena asked.
"He knows a few words," Maria replied. "He can say ma for me, and he also uses it to mean sea – mare . He's called Giancarlo pa a couple of times, and he seems to understand most of what I say to him . Why do you ask?"
"Just curious," said Helena.
Maria watched Alberto for a few moments as he stuffed bits of bread into his mouth. She knew that there was no one time at which babies ought to learn to talk, but Helena seemed surprised that Alberto couldn't say more. Was that another thing she ought to be worrying about? Then again, Alberto hadn't been around people as much as most children his age... maybe it wasn't too odd if he couldn't talk much. Maybe if he spent more time in town, he'd catch up.
That was why she was here, wasn't it – so that Alberto could be around people. So that he could do the things normal children did. Hopefully it was okay that those other people weren't going to be fellow sea monsters.
"Um, Helena," Maria said, "did you say something to Massimo last night?"
"About what?" asked Helena. "About Alberto? No. I promised I wouldn't."
That was a relief, and yet... "He seemed very interested in taking Alberto to the water," Maria said. Did he have some other reason to suspect that something would happen?
"He's a fisherman. His whole life is the sea," said Helena. She frowned, thinking about it. "He made it sound like you two were on the water constantly as kids. You helped your father on his boat, right?"
That was true, and Maria finally allowed herself to relax a little. She and Massimo had indeed been on boats and around fishhooks and knives ever since they were very small. Although Massimo had never learned to swim, they'd done plenty of wading and splashing. The things Massimo had suggested doing with Alberto were things their parents had done with them.
"If you want to know," said Helena, "I think he's worried about Alberto not having a father. He's said a couple of things about boys needing good influences. You said he didn't like Giancarlo very much?"
"Not at all," said Maria. Some of the things Massimo had said about Giancarlo had been dreadful, and she'd never been sure if he actually meant them, or if he were just trying to make Giancarlo angry in turn.
"He doesn't want Alberto to be like what he worries your husband was like," Helena explained. "So he wants to spend time with him and set a good example."
Maria looked at the child in her lap and swallowed a sudden lump in her throat. She'd been so worried about Alberto growing up without other sea monsters, she hadn't even stopped to wonder if he needed a father figure. She leaned down to kiss the top of Alberto's head. "I'm afraid he'll have to do it on dry land," she said.
"Unless you decide otherwise," Helena reminded her.
"Even then, he couldn't take Alberto to the water while there's other people around," Maria pointed out. "You say Massimo wouldn't hurt him, but I don't think you can say that for everybody." She reached for a napkin to wipe Alberto's face. "Speaking of which, after I do the deliveries I'm going to go see those two ladies who helped clean Alberto up yesterday. I've got some questions for them. I'll be back for lunch, and I'll take my turn minding the shop this afternoon."
"Of course," Helena nodded.
Maria loaded up the delivery wagon with fish and shellfish, and then sat Alberto in it so she could push him along with the rest as if in a wheelbarrow. He wasn't sure what to make of this new form of transportation at first, but quickly decided it was great fun, and twisted back and forth to see everything he was passing by.
"You like this?" Maria asked him. "We'll be doing it almost every day from now on. You'll get to see the whole town and meet lots of people."
Alberto giggled, and reached for one of the fish from the box next to him. Maria paused to pull his hand gently away.
"Those aren't for you. Those are for our customers," she said.
"If those are the herring, I think they're for me," a voice said.
Maria looked up. At the focacceria, just a few doors up the piazza, Signora Ottonello was outside wiping tables and keeping an eye on her own little son – Maria vaguely remembered this boy, who was now twice the size he'd been when she'd left. The speaker, however, was not Signora Ottonello but her friend Marietta, who was standing nearby with her left hand on the shoulder of another small boy and her right on her pregnant belly. She came closer with a smile.
"Ottavia Brugnole said you were back," Marietta said. "This must be your son."
Maria lifted her son protectively out of the cart, and let Marietta take the box of fish marked for her. "Yes, this is Alberto," she said. The boy twisted in her arms, trying to see the other children. He'd never seen anyone his own size before.
"Nice to meet you, Alberto," Marietta cooed. "This is Guido, and this one on the way is going to be either Niccolò or Niccola, after Enrico's late grandfather." She looked down at her son, who was around four. "Say hello to Signorina Marcovaldo," she said.
"It's Signora Scorfano," Maria said. Having decided to use the name, she would stick to it.
"And this is Francesco," said Giuseppina Ottonello, lifting her own little boy. "Although we call him Ciccio, because he's such a chubby little fellow. Aren't you Mamma's roly-poly boy?" She pinched her son's cheek.
Francesco didn't like his cheeks pinched. He squirmed, and then looked down at Alberto curiously.
"What do you think?" asked Signora Ottonello. "Won't it be lovely to have another friend so close?"
The boy in her arms looked up at Maria, and then turned away.
"He's shy around strangers," Signora Ottonello explained. "I'm sure he'll get used to you in no time. Are you staying in Portorosso?"
"I... haven't decided," said Maria.
The other child, Guido, had come closer, and now pointed at Alberto's toes. "He's got no shoes," he declared.
"No, we haven't found any that fit him yet," Maria agreed.
"Oh, I've got an old pair of Francesco's that might do!" Giuseppina said. "Vito would have thrown them away but the tiny shoes were so cute I couldn't bear it. I'll bring them by later."
"Thank you," said Maria.
"We'll let you move along, then," Marietta added. "Those fish won't get any fresher."
"We were thinking," Giuseppina added, "that we'd take the boys down to that little beach west of town, the one where some of the older fellows go fishing on their days off, and let them splash a bit this afternoon. Would you like to bring Alberto?"
It was enough to make Maria wonder if some higher power were making fun of her. "I'm afraid we're going to be very busy for a while," she said. "Massimo and Helena said I showed up just in time, what with their child arriving soon."
"Of course," said Marietta. "Give our best to Helena, would you?"
"I will," Maria promised. She set Alberto back in the wagon, waved goodbye to the two women and their sons, and moved on. Once she was around the corner out of sight of them, she breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't know what to think of the encounter. The two women had been very friendly and were pleased by the thought of a friend for their sons... Francesco and Guido were both older than Alberto but not so much that they couldn't all play together. She wanted her son to have friends like a normal child. And yet... it was the same as with Massimo. The town was at the seaside and everything everybody did involved water.
In the cart, Alberto was leaning to the side, trying to see past her into the piazza. The sight of other children had clearly intrigued him . He pointed and looked up at her pleadingly.
"Maybe we can see them again later," Maria said to him. "When their mammas don't want to take them somewhere wet."
She completed her deliveries, going from address to address just as she'd used to do years ago, when it was Papà running the Pescheria. Many of the people who answered the doors were familiar to her, and she had to stop and introduce both herself – as Signora Scorfano – and Alberto over and over. People asked about her husband and she had to tell them her lie and then accept their condolences, and she couldn't even tell if the repetition were making it easier or harder. Worse, all these conversations meant the deliveries took twice as long as she'd expected, leaving Maria very little time to talk to the Aragosta women if she wanted to be back in time as she'd promised.
It was close enough to lunchtime that Maria was getting hungry as she parked the wagon in the yard beside the Pescheria and lifted Alberto out of it. There was probably still time for at least a short chat. If she didn't, she would have to wait until tomorrow. The two women hadn't seemed like they were likely to tell anyone, but she needed to be sure .
When she stepped back out into the piazza, Alberto immediately started to squirm. He pointed to the harbour, where boats were coming and going, and whined.
"No swimming today, Berto," said Maria.
He pouted.
"I know," Maria assured him, "but it can't be like it was on the Island. Here, we have to hide you a little. I know that's not nice. We'll figure something out eventually, okay?" When he was a little older, Maria would have to explain to him what would happen if people found out. That wasn't going to be fun. How did you tell a small child that his mother's brother was likely to mount him on the wall in the Pescheria if he ever found out what he was? That might well give Alberto nightmares.
A few more people called out and waved to Maria as she passed. The town gossip machine, set into motion by Signora Brugnole and doubtless well-lubricated by her conversation with Giuseppina and Marietta that morning, was in full motion. Everybody sounded friendly, but Maria had to wonder what sorts of theories they might be coming up with about where she'd been and why she was back. Did they believe her story that her husband had died?
As long as they weren't saying her husband and son were sea monsters, Maria decided she didn't care.
High on the hill, not far from the ancient tower at its peak, was the house where the two Aragosta women lived. They'd been there for as long as Maria could remember. As a child she'd assumed they were sisters, though she was old enough now to realize that was probably not the case. They kept several cats and had a little garden where they grew herbs and vegetables, and a dovecote full of pigeons behind their house. Maria didn't know what they did for money – she had never heard anyone mention it.
When she arrived the short one, Pinuccia, was in the garden pulling weeds, while the tall one, Concetta, was sweeping the stone path from the porch to the garden wall. They both looked up as Maria approached, and smiled.
" Buongiorno , Maria!" said Pinuccia. "Nice to see you again."
"You as well, ladies," Maria replied politely.
"And this little one," Concetta agreed, coming to tweak Alberto's chin. "Lovely to see you again, young man. What a handsome fellow he is. He'll be breaking hearts one day, for certain." She opened the gate. "Won't you come in?"
"Thank you," said Maria, still puzzled. "It seems like you've been expecting me."
"We were hoping you'd stop by," Pinuccia said. She got stiffly to her feet and brushed soil off her skirt before picking up her basket of weeds to throw away. "We did want to meet the little one. Giancarlo mentioned him, and you, but we never got to see you." She started up the path towards the house.
Maria, however, stopped short. "You know Giancarlo?" she asked.
"I think everybody knows Giancarlo Scorfano," said Concetta, not sounding entirely happy about that. "He's always here and there, doing odd jobs and returning things he never told you he borrowed."
"What, here in town?" Maria couldn't believe it. Giancarlo had always talked like he believed coming back here would be suicide. He was afraid Massimo would skewer him on sight. And the whole time, he'd just been strolling up on shore to pick up work?
"Oh, not here," said Concetta. "Underwater. The whole community knows him. He does a lot of work for the Branzinos, but the Comoranos won't have him back since Azzurra's best knife went missing and..."
"A community underwater?" Maria interrupted. "You mean... there are other sea monsters here?"
"Of course there are," said Concetta. Pinuccia had vanished inside, but her partner remained standing on the doorstep, looking at Maria in open confusion. "Where did you think we came from?"
Maria was pretty puzzled herself, as she stared back at her elderly neighbour. "I... you've lived here ever since I was a girl," she said.
For a few moments neither of them spoke, and Maria felt like she could see the wheels turning in the old woman's head. Clearly Maria was supposed to know about the other sea monsters... was Concetta thinking they'd made a mistake by telling her? Were they going to throw her out now? Or tell the whole town she'd run off and married a sea monster, and was now raising a sea monster child? Had she offended them? Had they expected something of her that she couldn't provide? She didn't know what to do.
"I think you'd better come inside," said Concetta.
She ushered Maria indoors, and shooed one of their cats out of a chair so she'd have a place to sit. Pinuccia was already putting tea on. Maria set Alberto on the floor, and he immediately toddled over to a second cat, a very fat orange tom sleeping in a sunbeam, to investigate this unknown creature.
"Be careful, Berto!" Maria said. "That's a living thing. You know you have to be gentle with the fish and otters."
"He's fine. If he does something Zucca doesn't like, he'll just leave," Pinuccia assured her.
Concetta sat down across the table from Maria. "So your young man never told you about us?" she asked.
"No," said Maria. "He never... he said he wasn't from around here. He said his family lived down in the Gulf of Napoli."
"That's true," Pinuccia said, "at least from what my niece told me... he hasn't got family in the area. He says he came up this way looking for adventure. I suppose he found some, but not the type he was expecting."
"But there's more sea monsters around here?" Maria was still puzzled. "Why didn't he tell me that ? How do you two know about sea monsters?" Was there a subset of the population who'd known the whole time and just didn't tell because they were worried the other half of the people here would do something awful? Or worse... was in only the Marcovaldos who hadn't heard about it? The family had lived here for generations! How could...
The two old women looked at each other, and both nodded.
"Well, we know because we are sea monsters, dear," said Concetta.
For a moment Maria couldn't react to that at all, and then such a wave of relief washed over her that she nearly melted. If these two women could lie in Portorosso for over twenty years and never be found out, then it would be possible for Maria to keep Alberto safe – and, as they'd hinted yesterday, they would have advice for her about how to raise him. She leaned forward and covered her face with her hands.
"Oh, dear," said Pinuccia. She came and put a hand on Maria's back. "Are you all right?"
"Yes," said Maria. "It's only... I was so worried yesterday when it turned out you knew."
"We assumed Giancarlo had told you about us," said Concetta. "If he didn't... I suppose we must have come across very odd."
"You did, yes..." said Maria. She took a deep breath and sat up straight, trying to regain her composure. "I... may I ask you some questions?"
"Of course, dear!" said Pinuccia. "That's what we were trying to offer you – our advice! Neither of us have raised any children, I'm afraid, but we know plenty of folks who have, and we know how to keep secrets. Ask away!"
"Oh, thank you!" said Maria, and took a deep breath. She had so many things she wanted to know... they might be here all day.