Gino was watering the tomato plants they had placed in terracotta pots earlier that summer. He smiled at the fruits of their work together as the water gently trickled out of the watering can. Mary came out of the back door with a large bowl of pasta and a big smile, wearing an apron with a map of Sicily listing the sites of the island.
Gino looked over at her and his smile broadened greatly. His wife was beautiful, her dark flowing hair, alluring smile, her shapely body and her incredible skill at Italian cooking always made him smile.
“What a beautiful mountain of tagliatelle!”
Mary’s smile became serious, “I will have you know these are fresh tagliatelle made by me, just this afternoon!”
“Oh! Then it’s the most beautiful mountain of tagliatelle that I’ve ever seen! A gift from God!”
Mary giggled and placed the bowl in the middle of the table in the yard. Gino had made the table out of scrap wood he had gathered, but with Mary’s tablecloth covering it, it didn’t look as badly as it did without it.
“Come, leave those tomatoes alone and eat!”
Gino put the watering can down on the patio and saluted her, “Yes ma’am!”, then marched over to his usual chair at the table. He sat and rubbed his hands together in a melodramatic way as Mary used tongs to grab a swirl of pasta and put it in his dish. Gino lowered his head and smelled the aromas of the pasta and sauce. “Oh my goodness, this looks wonderful!”
Mary smiled at him as she reached her own plate to serve, “Thank you. I don’t need to tell you the sauce is also homemade.”
“I know, I was there making it with you last fall, remember?”
“Just making sure.”
Gino took a spiral of pasta on his fork and brought it to his mouth. He closed his eyes and made sounds of pleasure, moaning with delight.
Mary had noticed, “Not bad, huh?”
Gino opened his eyes and looked at his precious wife, “So good. I mean really. Did you put the basil from the garden? And it’s a bit spicy.”
“Yes, fresh basil and a little bit of hot peppers from the garden.”
“Perfect. The best pasta you’ve ever made.”
Mary giggled embarrassingly, “Stop it. You’ll give me an ego!”
Mary sat down and they both started eating. Gino and Mary had met through their families. Not an arranged marriage, but each family was quite happy their efforts had wrought the union. Gino finished chewing his mouthful of pasta and reached for his glass, raising it and looking at his adorable wife.
“To us, our love and our marriage. Eleven glorious years of teamwork, passion and pasta!” Gino broadly smiled, Mary giggled at his clumsy toast and raised her glass to him.
“To the day we are old and sitting together on our porch, retelling all the wonderful stories of our life together!”
Gino’s smile receded a bit, embarrassed, “That was so beautiful.” He paused a brief moment before continuing, “But a little dark too, no? Why do we have to get old? Let’s enjoy life now!”
Mary clinked his glass with hers, “Yes. Let us enjoy life as much as we can while we’re young!”
Gino’s full smile returned and he put his glass down. Mary did as well and her look became more serious, “How was work today?”
Gino’s expression changed as well as he looked down into his half empty plate of pasta. It didn’t look as appealing now. “Work is good. But still no raise.” He paused then looked up at Mary, “I spoke to him, I promise you. I did.”
“And?”
“He said the same thing. He can’t do anything right now.”
Mary bowed her head in disappointment, but Gino didn’t want the dinner spoiled, “But after Friday’s paycheck we will have enough for the rent and a little extra for you to get that pretty dress you wanted!”
This didn’t seem to bring Mary any joy. “Imagine if we had children.”
Gino felt ashamed, “I know… I know. I try my best.”
Mary didn’t want to spoil the dinner either, “I know you try. You have to have more courage. Trust yourself. Believe in yourself.” She grabbed his hand on the table, “You should consider there are plenty of other jobs around Brooklyn.”
Gino felt a little flush from her touching him, she always had that effect on him. It was always a strange sensation to him, her skin touching his. It made his mind wander and his eyes take in every curve and shadow of her beautiful face and body. “I will talk to Joey and see if he hears of anything I could look into.”
Mary was elated, “What a great idea! Joey would definitely have great suggestions.”
Mary’s improved mood gave Gino the courage to caress her arm and look into her eyes, “I would do anything for you.”
“I know you would.”
Gino leaned over and kissed her on the lips. Then a childish smile emerged, “Should we have dessert upstairs?”
Mary’s uplifted mood turned sour again. She looked down at her pasta, “You know the doctor’s news hit me hard and I can’t see myself… well, you know.”
Gino knew how innocent and sensitive his wife was. She was already uncomfortable with intimacy in general, but the doctor’s test results had made it even more difficult. Gino sat back in his chair, “I understand.” He paused a moment before continuing, “The doctor could be wrong you know.”
Mary sat back as well, “I don’t think there is much chance of that.”
Gino felt a small mixture of anger and embarrassment brewing inside of him, “What does he know?!” Gino did what he could not to get angry, “He does one test and all of a sudden I have all sorts of issues down there?”, gesturing to his lap with his hands. “And he decides we’ll never have children and that’s it? No one in my family has ever had problems with that.” Through his embarrassment and anger the nascent lust of earlier, peaked its head as he grabbed her hand offering a possible solution, “Maybe we should try more.”
Mary’s mind wandered and realized she did not want to upset her husband, “You’re right. The doctor could be wrong.” She looked up at him, “But the news is still fresh and I’m not comfortable doing… you know.”
Gino knew and his shoulders dropped. “Yes, of course. I know.” Gino had been raised to respect women and never ever to force anything on them or make them uncomfortable. Whether concerning decisions or intimacy or invitations, it didn’t matter. They were a couple, a team. “We do everything together and we only do it if we’re both on board.” Gino hated when he made Mary feel uncomfortable.
“Thank you, Gino.” She sat back again as thoughts crossed her mind. “Maybe we should pray about it.” She sat up a little surprised, “Oh! I almost forgot, tonight is the Rosary meeting.”
Gino loved that about Mary. She was not just beautiful, a great cook and devoted, but she was about family and church and all the good things he had always dreamed of in a wife. “Of course! Is it too late?”
“No, no. I have a few minutes. I’ll clean up and get ready.”
“No it’s ok. I’ll clean up.”
“But what will you do while I’m there?”
Gino thought for a moment, “Maybe I’ll watch a little bit of the game and then I’ll do the rosary myself!”
Mary giggled, “That would be perfect. We could be doing it at the same time!”
Gino smiled, “Yes. I love that. Us doing the Rosary at the same time.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek as he grabbed her arm gently.
Mary pulled away and smiled, “Well, I better go get ready.” and off she went into the house.
Gino watched as she walked away. He couldn’t help to admire how his gorgeous wife gently bounced as she headed inside, her shapely figure stirring up those emotions again. Gino quickly reined them in and turned to the plates on the table.
Gino was watching his favorite underdogs, the Mets, on the black and white TV when Mary entered the room. Gino’s reined in emotion popped back up as he looked at his wife, “Wow. You sure want to impress those Rosary ladies!” Mary was wearing her blue dress, the one Gino thought she looked beautiful in, black stockings and heels.
Mary spun around for Gino, “I look good?”
“I’ll say!”
“Thank you. That’s sweet.
Mary walked over to him and kissed him on the forehead. Gino couldn’t help his mind wandering again from having seen how beautiful his wife looked and made the mistake again, “Do you think when you get home… we could talk about… trying to…”
Mary was slightly annoyed, “We’ll see how I feel. Please.”
Gino was instantly filled with guilt. He had caused Mary to be uncomfortable and hated himself for doing that, “I’m sorry. Sorry. Forget it.”
Mary stood up looking down at him with pity, “Just do the Rosary later and we’ll see what happens.”
Gino smiled at her and she turned and walked out the door.
The game was disappointing as usual, the Mets had given it a good try but they were down 5 in the top of the eighth and Gino couldn’t muster the hope to stick around to the end. He shut the TV and went outside in the yard. Looking at the table, thinking of their dinner and smiling at how lucky he was. He had always wanted just a few things in life and he had gotten most of them. A cute little house, a beautiful devoted wife and hopefully, children. No matter what the doctor said, he felt confident they would have a family. A family of their very own. Not to prove the doctor and Mary wrong, but because he knew what joy it would bring to not just him, but the wife that he adored so much. He would do anything for her.
Gino went back inside and shut the door. He cleaned up a few remaining things in the kitchen, washed the dishes in the sink and wiped down the counter. Walking over to his chair, he opened the wooden box in which both his and Mary’s Rosary beads were kept. He saw that in her hurry she had forgotten hers, but assured himself that one of the other ladies always had a spare just in case.
He sat down in his chair, holding the cross between his thumb and index finger. Closing his eyes he tried to clear his mind of wandering thoughts. When he felt it was right he began and did the sign of the cross. Then holding the cross he said the Apostles Creed.
“I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered…” Gino mumbled the rest softly.
He shifted his fingers to the first bead and said the Our Father, “Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses…” Again, he mumbled the rest softly.
Gino’s fingers froze for a moment on the bead. A small dread filled his heart. His face was suddenly flush and hot. He felt as if he had done something wrong, but he could not think of what. He no longer felt calm or safe. His fingers moved and shifted to the next bead, the first Hail Mary. He paused, waiting for the ill feelings to somewhat pass, then proceeded.
“Hail Mary…”
Mary had arrived a little later than she had planned but it didn’t seem to matter at all as she slowly entered the dark room.
“Full of Grace…”
He grabbed her waist and pulled her towards him tightly, their lips meeting and kissing passionately.
“The Lord is with thee…”
Grabbing her head with both hands, he ran his wet tongue across her face from jaw to forehead, flicking his tongue like a serpent at the end. One hand on the silk covering her thighs and the other reaching behind to find the zipper to her dress.
Blessed art thou amongst women…”
Mary felt herself flush and excited as the zipper slowly opened. Their heavy breaths and her soft moans, the only sounds in the room.
“And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus”
Her dress had fallen to the ground. Hands wandered. She reached down and began to undo the belt and undress him.
“Holy Mary, Mother of God…”
They embraced tightly and kissed. The warmth of their naked bodies against each other. Dark shadow shapes and figures slowly moving about the room.
“Pray for us sinners…”
As Joey’s hands continued to roam all over Mary’s body, she reminded herself to clean off the smell of sex before going home to her husband, who would never suspect anything.
“Now and at the hour of our death…”
Gino’s thoughts had returned to the blissful state they had been in with Mary this evening. He could see her beautiful face in his mind, her gently cute giggle in his ears. Her innocent bubbly nature only adding to her beauty. He was determined to do whatever it took to get her that dress she wanted. Breathing deeply, he took the opportunity to thank God for blessing him with a wife like Mary. Gino smiled and clutched the beads tightly before continuing.
“Amen.”
Renato Passalacqua 