Chapter 16 - Roman’s Mother Came to See the Nurse
Roman’s mother, Sofia Costa, requested tea.
Norah nearly refused.
Then curiosity won.
Sofia was sixty-eight, elegant, calm, and terrifying in a completely different way from her son.
She sat in Norah’s apartment and looked around.
“You live small.”
Norah stared.
“Excellent opening.”
Sofia smiled.
“I meant honestly.”
“Still bad.”
Roman had clearly inherited difficulty.
Sofia placed a photograph on the table.
Elena Hayes.
At a hospital picnic.
Holding a toddler.
Not Norah.
Roman.
Norah stared.
“What is this?”
“Your mother treated him after heart surgery when he was two.”
Norah looked up.
“Roman said sixteen was the first time.”
“He did not remember this.”
Sofia explained.
Roman had congenital heart surgery as a child.
Elena worked pediatric recovery briefly.
She cared for him three days.
Sofia never forgot her.
Years later, when Roman was shot at sixteen, Sofia recognized Elena’s name and sent him to the private clinic.
Norah laughed softly.
“My mother kept saving this family.”
Sofia nodded.
“Perhaps that is why my son cannot stop looking at you.”
Norah groaned.
“Please don’t.”
Sofia smiled.
“He likes difficult women.”
“Good. He should stay busy.”
Before leaving, Sofia became serious.
“Roman believes protection is love.”
Norah looked at her.
“I know.”
“I taught him some of that.”
“Also obvious.”
Sofia laughed.
Then sighed.
“Teach him the difference.”
Norah shook her head.
“No.”
Sofia raised an eyebrow.
“He has to learn it.”
That answer pleased her more.
Sofia stayed for tea longer than Norah expected.
After the photograph, she told stories Roman would have hated.
At age six, he cried when a stray dog disappeared from the alley behind their house.
At twelve, he broke a boy’s nose for insulting his mother and then lied badly about it.
At fourteen, he learned to wear silence like armor.
Norah listened.
“Why tell me this?”
Sofia stirred her tea.
“Because everyone in his world remembers the man he became. Very few remember he became him gradually.”
“That sounds like an excuse.”
“No.”
Sofia’s eyes sharpened.
“Explanation is not absolution.”
Norah smiled faintly.
“Now I know where he gets that sentence.”
Sofia looked toward the photograph of Elena.
“She once told me Roman would either become exactly like his father or spend his whole life fighting it.”
“Which?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Norah appreciated the answer.
Before leaving, Sofia touched the edge of Elena’s photograph.
“I owed her thanks I never gave.”
Norah looked at her.
“You can give it by not asking me to fix your son.”
Sofia laughed.
“Agreed.”
After the door closed, Norah texted Roman:
YOUR MOTHER HAS STORIES.
His reply came immediately:
BLOCK HER.
Norah laughed for a full minute.
Sofia returned a month later with no photograph and no agenda.
She brought bread.
Norah found that more suspicious.
“What?” Sofia asked.
“You never come casually.”
“I am trying.”
“That phrase is contagious.”
They ate in the kitchen.
Sofia admitted she disliked the idea of Roman dating someone outside their world.
Norah stared.
“Good conversation.”
“Let me finish.”
Norah waited.
“I disliked it because outsiders can leave.”
That answer surprised her.
“Family in our world does not leave easily,” Sofia continued. “Even when it should.”
Norah thought about Roman.
Elena.
Foster care.
“I leave if I need to.”
“I know.”
“And you understand that is not a threat.”
Sofia nodded.
“It may be why he is learning.”
Norah shook her head.
“He is learning because he chooses to.”
Sofia smiled.
“Yes.”
Better.
Sofia eventually invited Norah to dinner at the Costa house.
Norah agreed under one condition.
“No introductions as Roman’s anything.”
Sofia smiled.
“Then how shall I introduce you?”
“Norah.”
At dinner, three older relatives tried to ask indirect questions about marriage.
Norah answered every one literally.
Roman nearly choked on wine.
After dessert, Sofia walked Norah to the door.
“You make him uncomfortable.”
“Good.”
“You also make him calmer.”
Norah looked back at Roman arguing with an uncle.
“That part is his job.”
Sofia nodded.
“Yes.”
It was the first time Roman’s mother spoke about their relationship without placing responsibility for his growth on Norah.
Norah noticed.
Sofia’s dinner became unexpectedly useful when an uncle made a joke about Norah “domesticating” Roman.
The table laughed.
Roman did not.
“No,” he said.
The uncle shrugged. “Relax. I mean she’s good for you.”
Roman looked toward Norah, then back at him.
“She is not responsible for making me decent.”
The table went quiet.
Norah felt something shift in her chest.
Roman continued.
“If I change something ugly about myself, that is my work.”
Sofia hid a smile behind her wineglass.
Norah said nothing until they were outside.
Then: “That was annoyingly good.”
Roman smiled.
“I practice.”
“Clearly.”
May you like
For the first time, Norah understood that Roman was not only learning how to treat her differently.
He was learning how to describe her differently in rooms where power wanted to turn women into explanations for men.
