Chapter 27: Young Love

Neither Joe nor I was inexperienced with women. We were both raised Catholic, but I figured what the priest didn’t hear, God didn’t know. I kept confession to how many men I’d killed and when I got drunk. I was sure that made too much noise for God to miss compared to a whore whimpering out His name. Four years in the army, living with men and crawling through jungle swamps, left me with a distorted view of women and no opinion at all when it came to love. I didn’t have time.

Unfortunately, all I had was time when I got back to Chicago. I didn’t even have a job. All I had was a friend.

“Sylvester! You brought my son home safely to me. My faith was well placed.”

“Your son was just as important in getting me home safely, Don Joseph.”

“My grandfather learned in the old country and passed on to me, ‘A Spaniard makes a steadfast friend or a formidable foe. Choose wisely.’”

“May I present my mother, Donna Maria de Torelló Cortales.”

“Donna Maria, welcome to my home and this celebration of our sons’ safe return.”

“Thank you for your kindness, Joseph. And it is nice to see you, Sofia. I hope you are well.”

“I am now that our sons are home,” Joe’s mother responded. “Is this lovely creature with you Gabriella?”

“Oh, Gabriella married and moved to Milwaukee. I’m afraid she won’t be joining us. This is my youngest, Isabella.”

“My, how time flies. Memory paints you as a rambunctious adolescent. What a lovely woman you have become.” It was hard not to notice Little Joe hadn’t taken his eyes off my sister since we came through the door. Hmm.

“Thank you, Donna.” That was demure for my sister. She seemed to blush each time she looked up. Certainly, she’d seen Little Joe before.

“Let me introduce you to my cousin, Liliana. She is getting a taste of America before we find her a husband.”

My heart stopped. A total dish stepped out from behind Joe’s mother and curtsied. I was in love.

Dinner was pleasant. I let Joe handle talking about Nam. To me it was all very simple. I went there. I killed people. I came home. Mission accomplished.

“Sly, I’ve got a problem,” Joe whispered to me. We’d taken a glass of whiskey and a cigar into his father’s study.

“I’m with you,” I said. “What do you need.”

“I need your permission to court your sister,” he said.

“That little brat?” I laughed. “God, can’t you do better than that.”

“You remember her as a fourteen-year-old. We’ve changed in four years. So has she. Sly, I think Isabella would be approachable if I had your permission.”

“Joe...” I looked into my friend’s eyes. He was always the one to take charge. It was unusual to find him looking so anxious. Not since he killed his first gook. “I don’t know much about what she’s been up to in high school. You know things are different now than when we went to school. Just ... uh ... you know ... treat her right. If you’re looking for something permanent, you’ve got my permission. If you just want to fuck her, go find a whore.”

“Sly, you have my word. I will treat her honorably.” I grinned and we shook hands. “There’s one other thing,” he said as we blew deep blue smoke into the air.

“What’s that? You want me to ask her out for you?”

“Not exactly. My mother ... She brought her cousin over from Italy to see if we could make a match.”

“Liliana?” My mouth got dry in a hurry. I gulped a bit of my whiskey.

“Yes. It’s not going to work. Lily and I figured that out the first night I got home. She’s a fine woman but we don’t have a spark. At all. Still, Mother is trying to get us to go places together all the time. Would you mind ... uh ... sort of doing doubles with us? For a while? Until we can make sure Isabella and I get along?”

So, Mama Cortelli was going to send Little Joe and Liliana out together and I was supposed to bring my sister along to join them. Then ... Well, then I could spend time with Liliana. If she was willing. And if my sister was willing. And if our mothers didn’t send a hitman out to do what Charlie couldn’t. Yeah. Sure.

“They are cute together,” Liliana said as we walked a good ten yards behind Joe and Isabella. I’d noticed that once she was out of the presence of other Italians, her accent all but disappeared. I could get used to listening to her. It had been three weeks since the dinner and this was our fifth outing.

At first my sister had been furious that I gave Little Joe my permission to date her. Who did I think I was, anyway? Mama came to my rescue and patiently screamed at Isabella about proper behavior and that she should pull her head out of fashion magazines and pay attention to what a good thing I had done for her. When Joe called to talk to her, though, she was all sweetness and floated around on a cloud for two days before our first group date.

“You are not upset that Little Joe didn’t want to court you?” I asked.

“I made sure that Donna Sofia understood that my trip to America was exploratory and that I would make no commitments to her son unless we both fell in love. The first evening Joe was home it was obvious to both of us that we would not fall in love,” she laughed.

“Why was that?”

“As nice a man as he is, Joe is a manager. He will be a big boss like his father. He was even your manager, wasn’t he? I don’t want to be managed. If I fall in love, it will be with a partner who wants what I want.” She slipped her hand through my arm as we walked as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do.

“And what is it that you want?” I asked.

“Why, Sylvester, are you applying for the position?”

“I might have the necessary qualifications if I thought it was a career position.”

“Hmm. That is the first qualification of a partner for me. As long as we both shall live. If my partner were unfaithful to me, he would not live to see the next day.”

“I see. I assume you acknowledge the reverse would also be a condition of the partnership.”

She stopped and pulled me abruptly around to face her.

“Sylvester, I am not an American girl. I will not burn my undergarments and practice free love. When I swear my vows, no other man will have touched me and none ever will. My partner will find everything he needs and everything he desires in my arms. A failure in that would be a failure of the partnership and I will not fail.”

I saw such passion in her eyes when she delivered that statement that I could not help but believe her. What this beautiful young woman was offering was what men like me dream of. And I was lost in her eyes.

“Liliana, I would be honored if you would accept me as a suitor for your hand and not simply as someone to occupy your time as your cousin and my sister court. What you speak of is also my desire.” I lifted her fingers to my lips and brushed them softly. She smiled.

“Why, Sly, I believe you have just become what you Americans refer to as ‘my boyfriend’.”

Courtship is a rather Old World concept. In America we date. We go to movies and make out in the back row of the theater. In fact, I was fairly sure that was what Joe and Isabella were doing as soon as we were out of sight. We weren’t very good at being chaperones. I could see sparks flying whenever the two walked into the same room. Their relationship was electric and they were engaged in two months’ time.

Donna Sofia was disappointed that the union with her distant relative did not come to fruition but as soon as it was clear that Joe and Isabella were to be married—as soon as possible—she set her focus on Liliana and me. We were far more tightly chaperoned than we had managed with the other couple. And for our part, we enjoyed it. There is something about being on the receiving end of that much attention. Many of our ‘dates’ were spent in the sitting room at the Cortellis’ home playing cards and talking. Liliana proved to be a devastating gin player. It seemed I was constantly distracted by our conversation—or by Lily’s beauty—and missed completing my sets. Eventually, Donna Sofia became bored with our staid behavior and found she had nothing to chaperone. Lily smiled at me when our chaperone left the room as if it had been her plan all along.

We’d held hands and had chaste kisses at the end of the evening. We’d even put on some popular love songs and danced together in the sitting room. It was intoxicating to hold her in my arms.