Then his rage turned toward his enemy. He wanted to know more about Ross Story. Still on the Internet, he went to the Minneapolis phone book and found nothing. Then he went to the Minneapolis public records and input Ross’s name. To his surprise not one entry, but hundreds, came up. He read a dozen or more of the entries, read them until he understood, and then he printed some of them. The more he read, the more his sense of power grew. He had discovered what Eliana had failed to—he knew why Ross Story had left America and what role his fiancée had played in his leaving. He alone knew why Ross Story had come to Italy.

CHAPTER 25

“Meglio il marito senz’amore, che con gelosia.” Better a husband without love than with jealousy.

—Italian Proverb

“Sorry I’m late,” Eliana said, walking into the house, her arms full of boxes. “I had to see Anna off at the train station and the traffic downtown was brutto.”

Maurizio looked over at her from the living room couch, his expression cold and hard.

“I’ll get dinner right on, honey. Alessio, go get into your pajamas.”

Avoiding Maurizio’s glare, she set the packages down near her laundry room then retrieved the rest of the packages from the car. Then she went to the kitchen and heated everything up. She guessed that Maurizio was angry at her because he had to wait for his supper. It was a pet peeve of his that particularly annoyed Eliana since he never gave a second thought to being late for dinner himself.

Within fifteen minutes Eliana called everyone to dinner. She brought out a steaming dish of tortellini with basil and cooked ham, a second plate of chicken cacciatore, and an arugula salad with pears and pine nuts. Alessio came down first, then Maurizio. Peculiarly he brought his briefcase to the table.

They ate mostly in silence. Maurizio would not look at her, his anger simmering beneath a thin veneer of control.

The tension at the table was thick and nobody spoke until Maurizio asked Alessio gruffly, “Come va la scuola?” How is school?

Alessio looked at his father blankly. “I don’t have school.”

“School doesn’t start for another two weeks,” Eliana said.

Maurizio said nothing but went back to eating.

Alessio asked, “May I be excused?”

“Yes,” Maurizio said.

“It’s time for bed,” Eliana said. “And don’t forget to brush your teeth.”

“Can I read in bed?”

“Yes you may. For a little while.”

Alessio left the table, leaving the two of them alone. After a few minutes Eliana tried to make peace. “I’m sorry I was late with dinner. I didn’t mean to be. I thought I would be back earlier.”

“Where were you?”

“I told you. I was shopping for school clothes with Alessio. And I had to drop Anna off at the station.”

His gaze darkened. “Really?”

“What does that mean?”

Maurizio pushed back a little in his chair. “You were right, I know too little about how you spend your time. Or with whom.” There was a bend in his last sentence that disturbed her. “Tell me about that portrait you are working on. The one of the man.”