For a few moments, Maria could only sit in the Aragosta women's kitchen with her mouth open and no words coming out. There were so many things she wanted to ask, she couldn't settle on one of them. Her brain went in several circles, but then settled on the question that had been bothering her since she'd first started to come up with her escape plan, weeks ago.
"Is it okay for Alberto to be out of the water for so long?" she asked. "We used to take him swimming every day." Maria was planning to give him regular baths, of course, but what if that wasn't enough?
"He'll be fine," Pinuccia said. "We go months sometimes."
"Which isn't to say swimming isn't good for him," Concetta added. "He needs to keep in practice, obviously, and the exercise will do him good, but he won't die if he goes without."
"He may complain, but only the way a child would cry over losing a toy," Pinuccia agreed. "If we weren't meant to come out of the water, we wouldn't be able to do it."
That was an enormous relief. "What about food?" Maria wanted to know. "I do still nurse him sometimes, but he's been eating solids since he was very small."
"Yes, they hatch out with teeth," said Concetta. She gave Maria a sideways look, but just continued talking. "Milk's not bad for him, but he should eat other things. He'll need his vitamins. Trout and sardines are particularly good – lots of good oils in those."
"We'll have no problem feeding him fish at the Pescheria," Maria said. "What about seaweeds and other things humans don't usually eat?"
"Those are good for him," Pinuccia said with an approving nod. "If you can't get them, though, dark green vegetables will be almost as good. Spinach and such things."
Maria had never tried to feed Alberto spinach, and wondered what he'd think of it. The only way to find out was to try. "I've been so worried," she admitted. "I didn't want to stay out there where he'd just be with me and his father. He needs to have other people around, especially friends his own age, but I didn't know if I could provide what he needed..."
"No, no, you're fine, dear," Pinuccia soothed. "You're fine."
"The most important thing for him to have right now is his Mamma," said Concetta.
"Although," Pinuccia began, "if you'd rather..." but her partner shushed her.
"Don't be foolish," said Concetta.
"Sorry," said Pinuccia, leaving Maria to wonder what it was the woman had been about to say.
She didn't bother to pry into it, though, because there were so many more questions. "How many sea monsters are there here? I mean..." Maria glanced at the window, but the water was not visible from here. "There's really a whole town of them out in the bay, and Giancarlo just never told me?"
"It's a bit further than the bay," said Pinuccia.
"Out past the Island you were living on," Concetta agreed. She poured a cup of tea and looked at Maria. "Sugar?"
"Yes, please. How many people?" Maria wanted to know.
"Oh, I don't know... a couple of dozen families," said Concetta. "A hundred, perhaps a hundred and fifty people."
Maria thought back to the mornings she'd stood in the tower looking out at the sun on the water, just as she'd done from her bedroom window that morning. She remembered how she and Alberto had always stayed near the shore, because she didn't want him getting out too deep where she wouldn't be able to find him. She thought of how Giancarlo would head off on his own and bring back food and items she always worried were stolen from the town... she'd always been happier when the supplies he brought appeared to have been scrounged from the sea floor.
"Why didn't he tell me?" she asked again, directing the question more to the universe in general than to her hostesses.
"Perhaps he figured you couldn't go there anyway," Pinuccia suggested, handing Maria her teacup.
"People from there could have come to see me ," Maria said. It had been very lonely on the Island sometimes. If she'd known that there were dozens of sea monsters right on her doorstep, she wouldn't have been able to stand it. They could have... " Oh ," she said, as she realized. "I suppose... I mean, if we'd lived in town, I wouldn't have wanted anyone knowing my husband was a sea monster. He probably didn't want anybody knowing his wife wasn't ." That made sense, but the thought still made something clench inside her chest. It was as if Giancarlo were ashamed of her. Had he felt like that when she'd lied to people in the towns they'd stopped in? Surely he must have known she was protecting him...
"Generally our people don't like humans much more than you do us," Pinuccia admitted. "And he didn't talk about you too terribly much. We more figured out who you are based on the gossip than we did from his mentions."
Maria nodded, telling herself firmly that Giancarlo had the same motivation to lie as she had. If other people wouldn't approve, it was best to keep it a secret.
She turned her head to check on Alberto – he was still playing with the cat. The animal was lying on its side now, with its legs stretched out. Alberto put a hand on top of one front paw. The cat withdrew the paw and then placed it on top of Alberto's knuckles. Alberto giggled, and put his hand on top again.
"No claws, Zucca," Concetta warned the cat.
Maria remembered the tea in her hands, and took a careful sip. "I guess it's not very common for us to have children together," she said. "Humans and sea monsters, I mean."
"It's not unheard of," said Pinuccia. "There was that fellow we met in the Greek Islands." She looked up at her partner. "What was his name?"
"Yanni, I think," Concetta replied. "Yes, Yanni Kalimaraki."
"He'd had a human wife," Pinuccia explained. "She'd left him some years earlier, and took their human children with her. She left the girl, who'd turned out like her father. She was still looking after Yanni when we met them. Delia, I think her name was... sweet girl. Never married."
So there'd been a chance Alberto would have been like her, Maria thought. She and Giancarlo had wondered about that while she'd been pregnant – would he take after his mother, his father, or would he be something else entirely? They'd agreed that a human child would be left with Massimo, but they hadn't known what they'd do with a sea monster one. They'd had to make it up as they went along.
That left another question, though. "Does that mean I should have left him with his father?" Maria asked, her heart sinking. "Would he be better off there?" Was he destined to live a lonely life regardless of her efforts, like this girl in Greece who had only her elderly father?
"Oh, no, I didn't mean that!" said Pinuccia. "I was just saying what happened."
Maria nodded, but she knew that thought was never going to go away.
She was very curious about the women's own history and what had led them to live on land instead of in the water, whether they had much contact with the relatives and whether anyone else in Portorosso was a sea monster in disguise, but Maria didn't dare ask. She'd only just met them, and she didn't want to get too personal yet. She also wanted to know how they kept themselves hidden – what did they do if it rained suddenly, or if they spilled something? That, too, could be saved for later. Making sure Maria knew how to raise her son was the most important thing, and all other questions could wait, forever in necessary.
The women offered her two cups of tea and gave Alberto a couple of cookies, which he mostly mushed into crumbs but did manage to eat at least a little of. While Concetta gave Maria advice, Pinuccia showed Alberto how to drag a piece of string so the cats would chase it, which he enjoyed every much. He was giggling madly as the clock in the kitchen chimed three times – and Maria realized she'd lost track of time entirely.
" Cavolo !" she exclaimed, standing up. "I'm so sorry, I promised my sister-in-law I'd be back by lunchtime, and now it's three . I really have to go." Would Helena be upset? Maria didn't know her well enough yet to be sure.
"Of course, my dear." Pinuccia collected her teacup and the plate of cookie crumbs Alberto had left behind. "You're welcome back any time, of course."
"Thank you," said Maria. "This was lovely. I'm sure I'll see you again." If nothing else, Maria was certain that the moment she stepped out the door she'd think of six more questions about raising baby sea monsters. "Alberto! Let's go."
Alberto made a sound of protest and pointed at a black and white cat, which was stalking a fly that had landed on the window. The fly was rubbing its legs together as if washing its hands, and did not yet seem to have noticed the approaching predator.
"You can play with the kitties again next time," Maria told her son, scooping him off his feet. "Say thank you to the Signore Aragosta."
Alberto babbled something incomprehensible.
" Prego, Bambino ," Pinuccia told him pleasantly.
Maria set off back down the hill with long strides, hoping not to be any later getting home than she absolutely had to be. On the way, they saw another cat, a grey one sitting on a low stone wall washing its face. Alberto squeaked and pointed at it happily.
That made Maria smile. "You like cats, do you?" she asked. "We'll have to visit them again. You know, we always had cats when your Uncle Massimo and I were little. They would hang around the Pescheria hoping for tidbits, and some of them we took in and gave them names. I don't think Uncle Massimo and Auntie Helena have adopted any of the local ones yet, but I doubt they'll need much encouragement."
She descended the steps next to the grocery store and then paused in the piazza. The sea was calm today, the water bright under the afternoon sun. To think... all this time, there'd been a whole community of sea monsters right there under their noses. Would knowing that do Alberto any good? Would there be sea monster children there he could play with? Or would their parents think he was some kind of freak because his mother was human, just as the people in Portorosso would if they found out his father was a sea monster?
It didn't matter anyway, Maria told herself, because she couldn't take him there. At least... not yet. She would have to wait until he was old enough to find his own way and understand why Mamma couldn't come with him, and that she could trust him to come back. God, what if this all had been just a terrible mistake?
As if to rub her face in it, she then heard a voice calling her name. Maria held Alberto a little tighter and turned to her left, and there she saw Dr. Calcagno, the town physician. He had just come out of the drogheria , and his arms were full of brown paper bags.
"It is Maria," he said cheerfully. "I heard you'd come back!"
"Yes, Doctor," she said. "Here I am."
"Lovely to see you again," the doctor said with a nod, "and to meet the little fellow." He chuckled as Alberto turned his huge green eyes on this new person. "Will I see him in my office soon?"
"I hope not!" Maria replied with a laugh. "He's into everything, but so far I've managed to keep him from hurting himself!"
"That's good," the Doctor said, "but I meant for a checkup. Just to make sure he's in good shape."
"Oh," said Maria. That was another thing she hadn't thought of... the doctor. Nobody else seemed to be able to tell Alberto was a sea monster just by looking at him, but what if there were something tiny, something most people didn't notice, that Dr. Calcagno would be able to pick out? Something invisible, that even Maria hadn't noticed, like perhaps the way his heart beat, or something deep inside his eyes or ears, that would reveal him as something other than human? "He seems to be, as far as I can tell."
"He looks healthy," the Doctor agreed, "but it would be a good idea to check his reflexes and his vision, things like that."
It probably would, but Maria knew she couldn't take the risk. "Well... not right now," she said. "I have to get back to the Pescheria. I'm already later than I said I'd be."
"Of course not right now," said Dr. Calcagno. "I'm very busy myself. But I'll see you soon, I hope."
"Yes, I'll put it on my list of things to do," Maria told him. Right under talking to the Dentones about work for their son.
The doctor waved goodbye and was delighted to see Alberto wave back at him, and then Maria was finally able to return to the Pescheria. She found it apparently empty, but when she opened the door the bell rang, and something moved behind the cash register. Helena had brought herself a stool to sit on, and she now rose from it to see who'd come in.
"Oof," she grunted, but smiled at Maria. "Welcome back."
"I'm so sorry," Maria said. "The deliveries took way longer than I expected, and then I got distracted..."
"It's fine," Helena assured her. "I figured you'd be late as soon as I saw how long you had to stop and talk to Signora Ottonello from next door. She stopped by about an hour ago and dropped these off, by the way." She took a brown paper bag from the shelf below the cash register, and opened it to pull out a pair of child's shoes, made in imitation of adult trainers.
"Those are adorable," Maria said. "Alberto, look – see what Signora Ottonello gave you?"
Alberto looked the shoes over with a puzzled frown. He'd never seen anything like them.
"Let's try them on," said Maria. She was pretty sure Alberto wasn't going to like them. He'd never enjoyed being tightly wrapped up in anything, and the shoes were going to be restrictive on toes that had always had space to wiggle. Helena brought out the stool she'd been sitting on, and Maria put Alberto on him and slipped one shoe on his foot.
Sure enough, Alberto objected. He squirmed and complained, and Maria only had the first shoe halfway on him when he kicked it off and it went flying over her shoulder to land in a bucket of ice. She retrieved it and shook the water off – fortunately, it hadn't gotten soaked. When she turned to Alberto again, he'd tucked his feet under himself and was scowling at her.
She pointed to her own feet. "Look, Alberto," she said. "Mamma wears shoes. Uncle Massimo wears shoes. Auntie Helena..." she paused and glanced at her sister-in-law. Helena was barefoot.
"Auntie Helena's feet are swollen because she's carrying your cousin around," Helena said "I'll be wearing shoes again as soon as they fit, because the floor is cold in here."
"So you should wear them, too," Maria told her son. "They'll keep your feet warm and cozy, and you won't step on anything wet or sharp. Can't you at least try them?"
Alberto pouted. When Maria brought the show near him again, he tried to push it away.
"Oh, feel that!" Helena said suddenly. "Alberto, come here. Your cousin is awake!" She held out her arms to the boy.
Maria lifted Alberto so Helena could sit down, and then she placed the boy on his aunt's knee and directed him to lean against her belly.
"Wait for it," said Helena. "there! Did you feel that?"
It was hard to tell if Alberto felt anything or not, but trying to had at least distracted him for a moment. Maria grabbed one foot and slipped a shoe on it, and tied the laces as quickly as she could.
Alberto squealed, but it wasn't because of the shoe. He turned to his mother and pointed at Helena's belly.
"Ma!" he exclaimed.
"Yes indeed," Maria said. "You used to do that in my tummy, you know. You would turn somersaults while I was trying to sleep. Your Papà would put a hand out to feel, and then he'd complain that you'd kicked him. I would tell him he must have done something to deserve it." She stroked Alberto's curls.
Alberto jumped a little as the baby moved again, and turned to stare as if he could see right through Helena's dress and the flesh underneath to whatever was moving. Maria seized the opportunity and put the second shoe on him.
"There we go! Was that so bad?" she asked.
Alberto suddenly realized something had happened to his feet while he was concentrating on the baby. He looked down at the shoes with a frown, then grabbed one in each hand and yanked. The left one came right away. The right took a second pull, and then he threw them both on the floor.
"Oh, you silly boy!" laughed Maria. "We'll try again tomorrow."
She picked up the shoes, while Helena put Alberto on the floor and then heaved herself to her feet again, collecting the stool to take back upstairs. "I imagine you talked to the Aragostas, then," she observed.
"Yes, I did," Maria said. "They're safe, it seems. They... um... well, don't tell anybody," she said quickly, "especially not Massimo, but the two of them are sea monsters, themselves."
"Really?" Helena was astonished. "How many of them are there?"
"I don't know," Maria said, "but they did have plenty to tell me about what sort of things Alberto might need. Lots of fish in his diet, exercise at swimming, that kind of thing." She bit her lip. "I wonder if it might be better for him... you know, if he had a sea monster family to bring him up. I don't know how I'd find one, though." The Aragosta women clearly got visitors from the sea now and then. Maybe one of them would know somebody who could take Alberto... although the idea made Maria's heart hurt.
"Don't be silly," said Helena. "He needs his Mamma. Once you've told Massimo, we can all help protect him."
Maria shook her head. No matter what Helena said, she was not going to tell Massimo. Not today. Not ever.
Helena didn't say any more about it. She just offered Alberto a hand. "Come on, little fellow. Let's get supper started while your Mamma minds the shop."
When Massimo returned that evening, he had his hand behind his back. Maria's first thought, based on experience from their childhood, was that he'd injured himself again and was trying to hide it. But instead, he came up and presented an object to her – a little wooden toy boat that he must have purchased from Signor Fragorzi's toy shop.
"For Alberto," he said.
It was not a toy meant for the water. The boat was on wheels, with a string to pull it around, and a hidden mechanism that would make it rock forward and backward as it rolled. It was probably intended for a child a little older than Alberto, but the fact that Massimo had gone out of his way to choose something that he hoped would meet her approval was touching.
"I'm sure he'll love it," she told him. "Let me close up."
"I'll help," Massimo said.
They got the unsold fish put away in ice, counted the money, and locked the door, then headed upstairs. There, Massimo gave his wife a quick kiss before kneeling down to offer the toy to Alberto.
"Berto," Maria said, "look, Uncle Massimo has a present for you."
Alberto had been sitting on the bench, clapping the bottoms of his new shoes together as if they were a pair of cymbals, but now he looked up with interest. Massimo presented him with the boat.
"You're getting all kinds of gifts today, aren't you?" Maria asked.
Alberto dropped the shoes and reached for the boat. Massimo put it gently in his tiny hands, and Alberto examined it for a moment before putting it in his mouth to chew on the prow.
Massimo chuckled and tentatively patted Alberto on the head. "When you're older," he said, "I will take you and your cousin out fishing with me." He then stood up and turned to Maria, who was watching to make sure Alberto didn't immediately break his gift. "You didn't go see the Dentones today, did you?"
"Oh!" Maria dramatically put a hand on her forehead. "I'm so sorry! I completely forgot." She hoped that sounded sincere. Was it too much?
"Don't worry about it," Massimo assured her. "I saw Matteo down in the harbour. He's going to bring Dario by this evening, and we can have a talk with him."
"That'll be fine," Helena said. She looked at Maria sympathetically.
Massimo followed her gaze, and took in Maria's worried face. "It isn't that we don't think you're capable," he said.
"No, no, I know," Maria replied. "I just... it's weird going from it being just me and Giancarlo and the baby, to now having all of us here and another on the way, and now an employee in the house, too." Maybe if they thought they were overcrowding her, they would back off.
"He won't be living here," Helena pointed out. "He'll just be in the shop, and he'll go home at the end of the day."
"I know," Maria said. So much for that idea. Maybe it would turn out that Dario didn't want to work and was being forced into it by his father, or maybe he would come across as irresponsible and Massimo and Helena wouldn't want to hire him. Or if worst came to worst... she could always just leave again. But where would she go?
Alberto evidently enjoyed his supper, since he smeared it all over himself again, although after one preliminary attempt he had decided he did not like the mushrooms and took to throwing them on the floor. After cleaning those up, Maria carried him into the bathroom, and did her best to wash de-mushroomed potato cacciatore off his face and hands.
"I'm glad I'm not going to have too much trouble getting you to eat things that didn't come directly out of the ocean," Maria said, wiping his cheeks with a washcloth. "I just hope you're going to get better at finding your mouth!"
Alberto gave her a big grin, but then he asked, "Pa?"
Maria paused. "Do you miss Papà?" she asked.
Alberto was too young to giver her a coherent answer. He babbled something, and then grabbed his foot to pull out half a chickpea that was stuck between his toes. Maria took it away from him so he wouldn't eat it.
"I'll make sure you get some familiar food, too," Maria promised. "We can have sardine sandwiches for lunch tomorrow if you want. Maybe I can even put some spinach on, and we'll see how you like that."
She'd been able to hear the sounds of Helena and Massimo cleaning up after supper downstairs, but now those noises suddenly changed. There was a muffled conversation, and then Helena called up to her.
"Maria! The Dentones are here! Did you want to meet them?"
At first Maria didn't know how to answer. Then she decided she'd better do so – if this boy would be spending a lot of time here and she couldn't talk Massimo out of hiring him, then she needed to at least get an idea what he was like. "I'm coming!" she said.
She hurriedly finished cleaning the rest of Alberto's supper off his face, then took him with her downstairs. Matteo Dentone and his son were waiting in the yard behind the house. Matteo was a tall, gaunt fellow with a big, beaky nose and hair that was still dark but had gone very thin. His son Dario was a younger, pimplier version of him, already tall for his age with gawky long limbs and big feet that suggested he was destined to grow quite tall. He wore horn-rimmed glasses that made his eyes look huge, and a hopeful smile on his face.
"This is my son, Dario," said Signor Dentone gravely. He was known around town as somebody who rarely smiled. "Dario, these are the Marcovaldos. Signor and Signora Marcovaldo, and Signorina Marcovaldo and her son."
"It's Signora Scorfano," Maria said quickly, "and this is Alberto."
"Hello!" said Dario. He stepped forward and offered his right hand for Massimo to shake. Massimo, having no right hand himself, reached for it with his left, and Dario stared for a moment before turning bright red and quickly switching hands. "Sorry," he murmured.
" Piacere ," said Massimo, as if nothing had happened.
Dario breathed out, relieved, and moved on to Helena. He was still holding out his left hand. Helena automatically extended her right, and Dario blinked a couple of times, then switched again.
"Sorry," he repeated.
"Nice to meet you, Dario," said Helena. "Have you ever worked in a shop before?"
"Yes, Ma'am!" said Dario eagerly. "I stayed with Aunt Monica in Genova last summer! She'd been ill and the doctor said she wasn't supposed to be working hard, so my parents sent me to help her. She's a draper and seamstress."
"I see," said Helena. "What did you do for her?"
Dario's keen smile turned distinctly uncomfortable. "Well... mostly I just fetched stuff for her and got things down off high shelves," he admitted. "Sometimes she would make me stand while she pinned stuff on me, when she was making things for boys that were about my size. I also made notes of measurements and kept track of how much cloth she'd used, and sometimes she'd let me organize stuff, but I wasn't allowed to touch the money. She'd shoo me away from the cash register and at night she put everything in the safe under her bed."
Maria glanced at Helena's face to see if that idea put her off, but it didn't seem to. Helena was nodding.
"Do you know how to clean a fish?" asked Massimo.
"Of course I do," said Dario, "and for the cash register stuff I'm sure I can learn. I learn things fast."
He let go of Helena's hand then and moved on to Maria. Being left-handed, she automatically offered him that one. Dario, having just used his right with Helena, grabbed it with that one, only to realize he'd done it and switch yet again. "Sorry," he said for the third time.
"Now you know this is only a temporary job, right?" Maria asked him. "It's not like an apprenticeship where you'll be living with us. You'll just work in the shop, and when the children are a little older so that Helena and I have free time, we won't need you anymore."
"Yes, Ma'am!" Dario repeated.
Maria forced a smile, and let go of the boy's hand.
Helena and Massimo exchanged a look, and Massimo gave a small nod. "We'll give you a try," he told Dario. "Can you be here for opening tomorrow morning?"
"Yes, Sir!" Dario said eagerly. "You won't be sorry! I'll be the best employee you've ever had!" He offered a hand again and this time he got it right, giving Massimo the left one.
"We'll see," said Massimo.
"Thank you for bringing him by, Signor Dentone," Helena added.
Matteo Dentone nodded. "Thank you , Signor Marcovaldo."
That done, the Marcovaldo family headed back upstairs. Dario grinned and waved at their backs as they went. Maria felt a little ill. Dario seemed very eager to please, which might mean if he were asked to stay in the store he would probably do so... or he might volunteer himself to help with things in the house and walk right in on Alberto, transformed after falling into the sink or something.
"Do we really want to hire him when his aunt didn't trust him around money?" she asked Massimo.
"Not his fault," Massimo said.
"Signora Dentone has complained that her sister-in-law doesn't trust anybody ," Helena added. "Especially with money."
"What if he tries to steal?" Maria insisted.
"Then we will tell his father, and I suspect he'll get a good hiding," Massimo said.
"You're worrying too much," Helena added. "It'll be all right, Maria." She was coming up the stairs behind Maria, and put a hand on her back for a moment to reassure her. "I'll make sure he stays in the shop, so the upstairs can still be private."
Maria glanced over her shoulder and saw Helena's gentle smile, and allowed herself to relax a little. She did have one person in the house who would help her. If she were to tell Massimo about Alberto, she wondered, would he change his mind about hiring Dario? Or... no, she still couldn't take that risk. She heaved a sigh, and rearranged her arms so she could hold her son a tiny bit tighter. She would just have to trust that she'd be able to handle whatever happened.