First Born
MARIALENA
May 2009
LUCI’S NAME FLASHES ACROSS my phone’s screen. “Hi, Luce.”
It’s Saturday afternoon, and I take a break from studying to make myself a sandwich. I check the clock, 1:15 p.m. I have to be at work at 4:30 p.m. I can get a couple more hours of studying in before I have to leave.
My last final exam is next Tuesday, and then I’ll have a week off before summer classes start. I still bartend at The Last Drop but now I only pick up shifts on weekends or to cover for someone when Hank needs the help. The extra cash is always welcome.
Last summer, I started working at an immigration firm as a law clerk for the attorney who works the criminal immigration cases. When summer ended, the attorney offered me a part-time position to stay on with the firm. Since I was a part-time student, I accepted. The pay cut from bartending hurt, but the experience was necessary for me to be ready to practice law after taking the bar exam. To help me out, I took out additional loans to help me with my living expenses. As long as I continued taking the number of classes I was, I would finish law school this December, one semester early. I took extra summer classes each summer to pull it off. I was ready to be done with school.
Law school was as intense as I expected it to be, which turned out to be a good thing. An occupied mind doesn’t have time to think about anything other than the task at hand. The constant schoolwork kept the thoughts of Massimo at a minimum. Between classes, studying, and work, I had little time for anything else. Stevie and I moved our Monday date nights to Sunday brunch. It was my one constant that I looked forward to every week.
“Hi. What are you doing? Have a few minutes?” Luci asks.
“What’s up?”
“I saw Dom last night. He came into my bar with a girl he was on a date with.”
“Oh, how is he?”
“He’s good. Looks great, as usual. I asked him about Massimo.”
“Why would you do that?”
“What do you mean? Why wouldn’t I do that? I haven’t seen or heard from him in years, and I want to know what he’s up to.”
“And?”
“Are you sitting down?”
“Just tell me already!”
“He has a son, six months old—born last December.”
Luci’s words are a slap in the face. It’s what I least expected to hear from her. My appetite is suddenly gone. I slide a chair out from under the kitchen table and sit.
“Lena, did you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“Well, are you gonna say anything?
“What do you want me to say? I mean, I knew this day would come, but it doesn’t lessen the sting.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. You didn’t tell Dom anything about me, did you?”
“No, of course not.”
“Good, keep it that way.”
“I called your mom the other day. I want to start planning our trip for your graduation later this year.”
“She told me. I’ll have the exact graduation date in a few weeks and will text you. This way, you can purchase the flights.”
“Marcus is waiting for the dates too, so the sooner, the better.” I’m glad Marcus is coming to my graduation as well. We went from working together several nights a week to talking on the phone a few times a month. I miss him a lot!
Luci and I stay on the phone a few minutes longer before I hang up. I should get back to the books, but I can’t focus on Business Entities right now. All I can think of is what Luci told me. Massimo has a son.
Eight Years Ago
“Maria is having a Fourth of July barbeque. We can drive there on the third and spend a few nights down the Cape,” Massimo tells me as we’re changing the sheets.
Maria is Massimo’s cousin, and they have a house in Yarmouth just two blocks from the beach. It’s the first summer we’re together as a couple, and although I had met Maria several times at Massimo’s family events, it would be the first time I would spend a few days with his family.
“Okay, but we gotta leave early on the third to avoid all of the traffic. Otherwise, we’ll be stuck in it for hours.”
“Zio Massimo, will you take us in the water?” Emilia asks.
Emilia is his cousin’s daughter, but she and her brother Nico call him Zio. Emilia is seven, and Nico is five, and Massimo loves when they’re around. He hangs out with them, plays games, and runs around the yard. He does all the fun things the kids want to engage in. We’re at the beach for the Fourth of July holiday, and it’s packed. Our umbrella and our chairs are spread out not too far from the shoreline.
Massimo stands from where he’s sitting. “You bet, Bella. Let’s go.”
The kids jump up and down. “Yay!” Each of them grabs one of his hands, and they head toward the shoreline. No doubt the water will be cold. No matter how hot it is outside, the water is frigid.
“The kids love him. When I told them you guys were coming for a few days, they started screaming in excitement,” Maria says. “Nico got his soccer ball and basketball ready because he knows Massimo will play with him for hours.”
“He’s really good with them,” I tell her. His face always lights up, and after he spends time with them, he tells me that he can’t wait to be a father.
“He’s excited for you guys to have kids. He said he hopes his firstborn is a boy and that you’ll start trying on the wedding night.”
“Wedding night? We’re not even engaged.” I shake my head.
“You know him. Always confident when talking about his future, as if it’s a given.”
Chuckling, I say, “So much truth!”
Graduation is being held inside the school’s auditorium since the December graduating class is small—there are only forty-seven of us. My parents, Luci, and Marcus flew in late yesterday. Luci and Marcus will fly home Tuesday morning, but my parents are staying here for Christmas since it’ll be the first one we spend together since I left Boston. Luci rented an SUV so that we could drive around all together while everyone is here.
After the ceremony ends, we pile into the SUV and drive to Jesse’s Embers, one of my favorite steakhouses, which is a five-minute drive across town. Stevie and her boyfriend are meeting us there.
Once at our table, we order drinks and food. After the waitress drops our drinks off, my father makes a toast.
“Nena, I’m so proud of you. I always knew you’d accomplish great things. You’ll be a great lawyer.”
“Gracias, Papi. Thank you all for being here. I’m so happy you guys came to support me. It really means a lot.” I look around to everyone sitting at the round table. My father is sitting to my right, then Mami, followed by Luci and Marcus. Stevie is to my left and her boyfriend Andrew is next to Marcus.
“So, what are your plans now?” Luci asks.
“I’m taking off until Christmas since my parents are staying until the day after. Once they leave, I’ll start studying for the bar exam, which is the last Tuesday and Wednesday in February. I won’t be working during my study time, so I took out a bar study loan to help me with living expenses for the next two months. I want to take one exam and be done with it.”