Rose wrapped the shawl tighter around her body as the dusk chill grew. She could see her husband’s figure hunched over the grave. Rose knew why he was there. He had gone for a walk that morning and hadn’t returned, even for dinner. Maria had told Rose he would be there. Her heels clacked on the pavement and she broke into a fast walk, sensing that her husband needed her there. She could feel his pain and his tears and she couldn’t even see his face yet.
His head hung, looking downward, and his hair fell into his face. Rose knelt beside him in the grass. She touched his face gently. He looked up to see the tears in her eyes. Her tears threatened to fall seeing her husband so heartbroken. He pulled her to him and hugged her for dear life.
“Oh, Rose…” he began, but couldn’t finish his sentence.
She rubbed his back, attempting to bring some sort of comfort to him. “Jack, it’s cold out here,” she whispered to him. She could feel his body shaking, but didn’t know if it was from the cold or because he was so emotional. Pulling away from Jack, she shakily traced Fabrizio’s name on the marble cross. “He shouldn’t be buried out here alone.”
“He should be alive, Rose,” Jack managed. The lump in his throat was agony.
Rose touched Jack’s face and smiled a weak smile. “I just feel so lucky that you are here with me.”
Again, Jack pulled Rose to him and kissed her hair. “Rose, I won’t ever leave you, not even in death. I’ll love you forever, Rose.”
Tears ran down her face. Jack brushed them away gently. “I cannot even imagine how Maria feels. How she dealt with his death.”
Jack shook his head. He couldn’t even think about losing Rose or any of his children. “A part of her died with him, and that part won’t ever return.”
Silence fell for what felt like a long while. Rose began to shake from the cold and Jack rubbed her arms. Darkness fell and the whole churchyard was pitch black. The gravestones could be seen standing upright as far as the eye could see. There were so many people nearby who had once lived.
Rose shivered, but not from the cold. “Shall we go, Jack?”
He got to his feet and helped Rose to hers. She wrapped her shawl tighter around her body. Jack put his arm around her. “I hate it here.” He looked into the distance. “Somewhere in this graveyard there are people’s husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, even children.”
Rose felt her stomach churn. She didn’t want to think about such things. She tugged on Jack’s hand to go. He touched Fabrizio’s grave one last time. It could be the last time they ever visited there.
Jack turned, silently, and Rose could see the tears shining in his eyes, even in the darkness. “It’s not right, Maria being here alone. She should come back home with us.”
Rose shook her head, knowing that Maria would never return, nor even leave Italy. “No, Jack. It’s no use. She will never leave here.”
“But she seems so unhappy here.”
“She’s not unhappy, Jack. Today we had a wonderful time,” Rose told him. “Although she did insist I visit her doctor.”
Jack was silent for a moment. He squeezed her hand. “Whatever for, Rose? Are you ill?”
Rose shook her head once. She felt a single tear roll down her cheek as she took a deep breath. She could smell the soft scent of the flowers in the fields that surrounded the churchyard.
“No, Jack. I’m pregnant.”
*****
Emily Jade Dawson was born in March of 1923 in Philadelphia. She was the last born child of Jack and Rose Dawson. As the only girl, she was the apple of her father’s eye.
The End.