The sun beat down heavily. Rose pulled the hat further over her face, shielding herself from the sun. Maria sat in just a knee-length skirt and three-quarter-sleeves top. Her olive skin was used to the heat and she tanned perfectly, whereas Rose simply turned red and peeled.
“Ham and pickle or cheese and tomato?” Maria offered.
They sat on a small blanket under a nice tree in the park. After seeing a movie, they had selected several sandwiches from the delicatessen and sat beneath the tree.
“Cheese. I cannot stand pickles.” Rose wrinkled her nose. She took the sandwich from Maria and had the sudden urge to smell it. She looked at Maria, who was unwrapping the foil from some fairy buns, and brought the bread to her nose to smell. When she did, her stomach churned heavily. “Oh, what is in this sandwich?”
Maria laughed. “Cheese and tomato, like I just said.”
Rose shook her head. All of a sudden, she didn’t feel hungry. She put the sandwich back inside the foil and screwed up her face.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m not so hungry anymore,” Rose told her. “I feel sick.”
Maria took a bite from her ham and pickle sandwich. Rose felt as though she couldn’t even watch her friend eating. “You were fine last night at dinner.”
“I was sick on the ship all the way here,” Rose confessed. “I spent the entirety of the journey with my head in the toilet.”
Maria stopped chewing her sandwich momentarily and looked at Rose, who took a small sip of the orange juice they had purchased. “Rose, forgive me for asking this, but…are you pregnant?”
Rose shook her head immediately. “No. Absolutely not. Jack and I haven’t planned another child.”
Maria looked at her skeptically.
“No, Maria. I am, in fact, still regular.”
“Have you had anymore symptoms?”
Rose shook her head. “No. Of what?”
Maria laughed. “Pregnancy, Rose. You have borne two children. You should know what it feels like.”
Rose looked at her stomach. It was flat. Since moving to Philadelphia and running around after the children, Rose had lost the weight she had gained during pregnancy and had grown to be somewhat thinner than she ever had been. During her teenage years, she had had a fuller figure, but now she was the smallest she had ever been.
“No, I haven’t. I would know if I was pregnant. My stomach growing is usually one of the first signs, and then the huge breasts.” She laughed, remembering how she had almost spilled from her dresses during her last pregnancy.
“I bet Jack never complained.” Maria burst out laughing. An older lady perched on a bench near to them turned to see what all the fuss was about and shook her head, disgusted.
“No, he didn’t. He never did. Even when I was huge and waddled when I walked. After giving birth, when I was sore and stitched, he fetched everything I needed as well as taking care of the children. When I still carried baby weight, he would just tell me I’d never been more beautiful, but I never believed him.”
“But it’s what he believes.” Maria turned serious. “He’s a good man, Rose.”
“Oh, I know that. After twelve years and two children, I still look at him like he’s that eighteen-year-old boy in Paris.”
Maria laughed. “I think we have all come such a long way since then.”
“Do you ever think of going back home to Paris?” Rose asked. She would love to go back there one day to visit where she and Jack had met. She wondered if the finishing school was still open and if any of the young girls who attended felt how she had.
“No. Never. I do what I have to do here, which is keep the children close to their father.” Maria took a sip from her juice. “We go to his grave every Sunday and take flowers.” Silence fell over them for a moment, the mood turning sad.
“He was a great father, Maria. He loved you so much. He still does.”
Maria looked at Rose, her large brown eyes full of tears. “I know that. That is why I have to stay here. When his mother died, I felt I had nothing yet again, but then I realized I have his children to love and raise. I live in the town that he was born in.”
Rose could understand Maria’s reasons for never returning to her home, but for some reason, Rose couldn’t see herself living in Chippewa Falls if Jack had died in the war. She would have returned home to her mother.
“That is why I sometimes feel you have all the luck, Rose.” Maria dried her eyes. “You have the perfect life, the lovely children and doting husband. I hope you are going to have another baby, Rose. I wish you to be happy.”
Rose leaned forward and touched Maria’s hand before pulling her into a hug.
*****
Jack felt as though he could sob his heart out. That morning, he had left the villa early to explore the parts of town that he hadn’t seen since 1909, when he had traveled there by tramp steamer from Spain. The town hadn’t changed much at all, but something was missing, and that something was Fabrizio. After stumbling upon a small church near Maria’s home, he had found his friend’s name on a small marble cross.
Fabrizio Di Rossi
15th February 1892 - 12th June 1918
A Dear Husband, Son, and Father
Jack touched the small cross, hoping it would help him feel closer to Fabrizio, but all he felt was the cold marble and the pain in his heart.
“I miss you, my brother,” he whispered to no one but himself. Falling to his knees, he allowed himself to cry openly in the small graveyard. Even after five years it still pained him. He had lost his brother to the damned war, but it was only now that he was coming to terms with his death.