Return to Bella Terra (NOVEL) (E-BOOK)

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Excerpt from CHAPTER ONE

Brooklyn, New York, January 5, 1905

“Dear Maria, you must come quickly! Mama is dying!”

Maria Landro Tonetta’s heart lurched. She grabbed the edge of the kitchen table as she read the telegram from her younger sister Cristina. It was dated two days before. What if Mama had already died?

With trembling hand and tear-filled eyes, Maria continued reading. “Mama wants very much to see you again before she dies. Can you come right away?”

Of course, she could. Not only could she, but she must. Her heart raced. She would book passage on the next ship that sailed to Sicily, provided there was still room. Ships sailed from New York to Palermo approximately every two weeks, and manifests filled up quickly.

Outside the balcony door window, the only window in the tiny tenement house flat, a steady snow fell thick and fast. January had begun with a fury.

And so had Maria’s day.

Her throat tightened. Would she ever see Mama again?

Guilt washed over her. When she’d left Sicily eight years earlier, she’d promised Mama she would come back for a visit. A promise never kept. Not for lack of desire, but for lack of money.

A lump formed in Maria’s throat. No one had told her and Luca that life in America would be difficult. Discouraging. At times, deeply depressing. The claims of streets of gold had proven false. Instead, they’d discovered streets of tin. The claims of beautiful homes had turned into crowded, roach-infested tenement houses that often bred violence as well as disease.

And the claims of well-paying jobs had turned into long hours of hard labor that barely allowed them to make ends meet.

Worst of all, no one had warned them of the deeply felt hatred and prejudice against Italians, particularly Italians from Sicily. No one had warned them of the condescending ethnic slurs, the continual threats on their lives, the horrendous assaults, and the vicious discrimination in the workplace, particularly against Italian women. No one had warned them of a brutal life that, so often, had made her want to return to Sicily and to Bella Terra, the beautiful hillside farm where she'd grown up.

And the home where Mama now lay dying.

Hot tears spilled from Maria’s eyes onto the telegram, blurring the words. She must leave immediately. It would take more than two weeks, if not longer, to cross the Atlantic Ocean back to Sicily, especially in winter. She had no time to spare.

But what to do first? Her husband, Luca, would not be home from his job on the railroad for one more day. He’d been forced to take the position laying rail for a new stretch of the Pennsylvania Railroad shortly after his release from prison. Should she wait for him to return before booking passage on the next ship? If she did, she would run the risk of delaying their arrival in Sicily by an additional two weeks.

And what if Luca wanted to go with her? She shook her head and sighed. That was out of the question. Their finances barely permitted one round-trip ticket—let alone two. Besides, who would care for Anna and Valeria? She could ask Enza Addevico, her good friend and neighbor who lived in the apartment down the hall. But leaving her children with Enza for an extended period of time would be a terrible imposition, not to mention Maria would miss them terribly.

But miss them she must. She took a deep breath. No. She would have to go to Sicily alone. There was no other way. Her greatest regret was that Mama would not see her grandchildren one last time before she died.

The thought of traveling across the Atlantic Ocean alone filled Maria with dread. The voyage from Sicily to America eight years earlier had been a nightmare. But at least she’d traveled with her husband and children. Traveling alone would mean she’d have no protection.

Except Mine.

The Lord’s gentle reminder triggered a twinge of guilt. “Of course, Lord. Please forgive me.” She whispered the confession under her breath and received His forgiveness.

She folded the telegram and placed it in her apron pocket. If only a thought could transport her to Mama’s side! How Maria missed her! How she regretted not once visiting her since leaving Sicily!

Her heart clenched. God, please keep Mama alive until I get there.

“The door of their flat creaked open. “Ciao, Mama!” Twelve-year-old Valeria walked in, followed by ten-year-old Anna, their book bags hanging from their shoulders. They dropped them to the floor and ran to embrace Maria.

Anna, always the perceptive one, gazed at Maria’s face. “Mama, you’ve been crying!”

Maria had hoped to keep the bad news from her children, at least until she’d discussed it with Luca. “I received a telegram from Zia Cristina. She said that Nonna is very sick.”

Valeria pulled up a chair and sat down next to Maria. “What’s happening, Mama?”

Should she tell the children of her plans? “I must go back to Sicily for a little while. To be with Nonna. I want to see her before she dies.” The words caught in Maria’s throat.

Anna took Maria’s hand. “Oh, Mama. I will go with you.”

“And I will, too.” Valeria brushed away a tear from Maria’s face.

“I wish you could, dear ones. But there isn’t enough money to pay for your tickets. Even paying for mine will be a sacrifice.”

“Can we work on the ship to pay our passage?”

“I don’t think that is permitted. Besides, I wouldn’t want you working in that kind of environment.”

Valeria stroked Maria’s hand. “Maybe Nico can go with you.”

At Valeria’s suggestion, Maria’s heart filled with hope. Having her grown son’s company would be the next best thing to having Luca go with her. Result of the greatest tragedy of her life, Nico had become her focal point. On him she’d pinned every hope, every dream, every consolation for her immense suffering. Although he was the fruit of a rape, she’d vowed to show him he was a person of great worth in God’s eyes, a young man with a destiny. Not the illegitimate outcast her Sicilian village of Pisano had viciously declared him to be.

She cringed at the memory.

Often, Luca would half-teasingly tell her that Nico had become a god to her. An icon of worship in human form. She’d shuddered at the thought but could not deny there was some truth to what Luca said. Over the years, she’d found herself intervening more and more in Nico’s life, almost as if she owned him.

Luca had accused her of possessiveness. A possessiveness spawned in the years shortly after Nico’s birth, years during which she’d been alone with her son, sequestered on Bella Terra for fear of their being harmed by the villagers.

This precious son, whose nineteenth birthday was only a few days away, had become a grown man, with a steady job in the garment industry. A responsible young adult whose life was separate from hers, as much as Maria struggled to accept that truth.

She considered Valeria’s suggestion with measured breath. Dare she ask Nico to buy a ticket to accompany her? He’d been saving most of his earnings toward the purchase of a house for the day when he would marry. A distant goal, but one he hoped to achieve one day. She could not ask him to jeopardize his dream.
Unless she offered to pay him back every penny.

“And don’t worry, Mama. We will take good care of Papa while you’re gone.”

“I’m sure you will.” The thought of leaving Luca and the girls behind wrenched her heart. She’d never been away from them for more than a day. To be separated from them for several weeks would be unbearable.

“I know how to cook pasta e fagioli,” Valeria offered.

“And I know how to set the table,” Anna chimed in.

Maria laughed in spite of herself. “I am so blessed to have the two most wonderful daughters in the whole world.” She hugged them close.

“And we’re blessed to have the best mama in the whole world.”

A longing tugged at Maria’s heart. That’s exactly how she felt about her own mama.

A mama she might never see again.
_____________

Excerpt From
Return to Bella Terra
MaryAnn Diorio
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