Chapter 8 - Spring on Federal Hill
The snow on Federal Hill melted away by late March, replaced by the pale, watery green of early spring shoots pushing up through the damp earth of the Santangelo gardens.
The wrought-iron gates on Atwells Avenue no longer looked like an executioner’s portcullis; someone—probably Emilio, though he would never admit it—had hired a crew to repaint them in a soft, elegant matte black, and the wild ivy that climbed the brick pillars had been neatly trimmed back.
Inside the mansion, the heavy velvet drapes in the east wing had been pulled back to let the morning sun flood across the polished oak floors.
In the schoolroom, Sabina sat at the low oak table, her dark hair braided neatly down her back, bent over a lined notebook with a red pencil in her hand.
Delia stood by the skylight, watching her write.
“Is it spelled right?” Sabina asked. Her voice was still a little raspy from two years of disuse, like a rusty gate swinging open for the first time in a season, but the words were clear, crisp, and steady.
Delia walked over, looked down at the notebook, and smiled.
“The river runs down to the sea,” Sabina had written in her neat, precise copperplate hand.
“It’s spelled perfectly,” Delia said, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of the child’s head. “You’re getting better at this than your teacher.”
Sabina looked up, a bright, gap-toothed grin flashing across her face—the exact smile from the photograph Father Bruno had shown Delia months ago, restored to the world at last.
“Papa is coming home early today,” Sabina announced, closing her notebook with a sharp snap. “He said we’re going to the park on the North End to get gelato.”
“Did he?” Delia raised an eyebrow. “And when did he clear this with my lesson plan?”
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“He told me at breakfast,” Sabina said with a mischievous twinkle in her dark eyes that looked entirely too much like her father’s. “And in this house, Papa says the rules can bend for gelato.”
Delia laughed, a bright, clear sound that echoed off the high vaulted ceiling of the schoolroom.
