Please, Blessed Mother, let her say no. Let me have this beautiful child to fill my days and my life.

The silence lasted an eternity. But then Lu looked at the child for a moment and at last shook her head. “No,” she said softly. “It wouldn't be fair to her.” She handed the child to Mifalda, who now had tears streaming down her cheeks as well.

Later that night, after Lu had gone to bed, Mifalda lifted the sleeping Rose out of her crib.

“I'm your nonna, sweetheart,” Mifalda whispered to the child. “And you're my little Rose.”

And as she looked down at the little round face, she thought, I'm older now. My wild blood has finally cooled down. This time I'll do it right. I'll give this little one so much attention, she won't have to go looking for it from strangers. I'll show her that a woman can be content in her own home. She will see that I am finally happy with my life. And she will have my whole heart.

When Rose was five years old her nonna took her to the New Haven Rink and signed her up for figure skating lessons.

Chapter 14 - New Haven 2008

CARRIE AND HER uncle had come full circle back to Seaview Manor. They stood on the terrace again. Behind them the sun had started to set; bands of pink and orange in the sky reflected like gleaming ribbons on the blue-gray surface of the ocean.

“This has to be one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen,” Carrie said.

“Yeah, the Gasparis always went for the best.”

“The Gasparis?”

Uncle Paulie chuckled. “I thought maybe you'd figure it out—this place used to be the Villa Veneto. The assisted living people added another floor to it and a wing on the side. But the lobby where you came in? That used to be the main dining room. That's where your grandmother and your grandfather met.”

It was the first time in the long afternoon of storytelling and listening that Carrie had thought of Lu's boyfriend as her grandfather. “What happened to Ricky Gaspari?” she asked. “Did he ever try to see Mother? She was his child …”

Uncle Paulie shook his head. “Ricky got through the war. But he didn't stay in New Haven; he went to California right away like he said he was going to. I always thought he left so fast because he didn't want to see the baby he gave up, but who knows?