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find out why Bruno had come.
    Anita was standing with him in the living room. The woman’s expression looked as if someone had died. “Senora Maria, madre de dios, something bad has happened.”
    Maria looked from Anita to Bruno who stood with his hands clasped like an undertaker in front of his suit. His eyes did not falter from her face. “Maria, I have come to tell you Alfonzo was shot but he will survive his wounds.”
    “Que?” Maria choked out . It took a second for the remainder of the sentence to form. “And …Selange…is she okay?”
    Bruno’s eyes were downcast at the mention of the young woman she considered a daughter. “She…is hurt but not dead.”
    “How badly?” Maria shouted, unable to tolerate the suspense.
    “She was in surgery when I left. I do not know any more.”
    Maria’s hand cupped her mouth to stifle the cry. Her eyes looked up at the stairs as she thought of the children.  At the top of the staircase Sal stood clad in pajamas, too tall for a boy his age, too smart for someone so young, but a child nonetheless, evident by the words he shouted to Bruno. “You’re a fucking liar. My dad would never let anything happen to my mom!”
    “Salvatore –oh Dios!” Maria wailed when he rushed downstairs.
    His attempt to attack Bruno in a fit of rage was foiled when his grandmother caught him in a bear hug as he screamed, “I’m calling Uncle Geo. He’ll tell me the truth!”
    Bruno did not respond. The boy was upset.
    Maria wrestled the boy, for a mature woman it was a herculean feat. He jerked and flailed in an apoplectic fit. His sorrow was strong and she bled for her grandson. “Sal stop it, ahora!”
    “Nana. I don’t believe him, he’s lying!”
    Maria’s breasts heaved excitedly. The boy was overly distraught. She had never seen her grandson like this. He made a dash for the door when her arms slackened. Bruno intervened, stopping him before he ran outside to the dark. “Calm yourself, giovani.”
    Maria’s loving embrace comforted a frightened boy and held him still. “Salvatore…sweet boy…your mama and papa taught you to be strong, no?”
    Sal’s blue eyes were running tears. His mouth was an angry line like his father as he tried to be brave but it trembled from the effort. “Nana, I need to see my mom and dad…they need me.”
    “Nana needs you, tambien.”
    A boy’s arms went about his grandmother and he cried like a heartbroken child. She soothed the boy, rubbing his hair, thinking of her son and praying for his wife.
    Bruno did not move. She saw his pain. It is the eyes which stared at her with love that gave her strength. “I will stay until morning, but I must return to Palermo,” he said softly.
    Maria nodded. Once Sal was asleep she would have Bruno tell her everything. There were n’t any words to describe her sorrow. Alfonzo and Selange went to Italy for a christening. They were due home tomorrow, that was the plan, and instead they were hospitalized because of bullets. She was strong, because in New York, many mothers undergo such sorrow as a way of life. But, this evil touching their lives was not the creators doing. It belonged to the ills of man. They warred and brought misery in times of love. She added a prayer for mankind. Lost they were…and vile.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
     
     
    Selange heard her name. The voice belonged to that of a long-time friend. The sound was nice to hear, especially when the company of guards and machines in a sterile environment for the infirmed is not where she wanted to be. On a plane, going home to her children is what she and Al were supposed to be doing, until gunfire altered their plan.
    “Hi,” Shanda said when her eyes opened and Selange focused.
    Shanda held Carlo, which Selange found strange under the circumstances, but she didn’t comment. Knowing Shanda, the woman was petrified of letting the baby out of her sight after the shooting. Carlo looked happy and