Betrayal Down Memory Lane

Homesick (24)

Danny sat at the edge of the lake dock, admiring the lake and the shifting colors of the sky as the sun was setting. He thought of Nadia and glanced at his tattoo sleeve. He looked at Nadia's name and recalled the day he left the tattoo parlor with the newly inked text....

(Flashback)

Danny's POV

My older brother Christian and I were seated on the balcony of my cousin Matteo's house. The canal was right below us. It flowed throughout the city. It was cool outside and the breeze felt nice.

I noticed Matteo looking at my arm. "Nadia." He spoke aloud. "Chi è lei? (Who is she?) " he asked in Italian. Matteo knew English, he just spoke to Christian and I in Italian most of the time so we wouldn't 'forget the language in the States.'

"Nessuno. (No one.) " I shook my head as I mumbled, brushing off his question.

Christian smirked at me and placed his arm around my shoulder. I knew he was gonna say something. "Lei era il suo primo amore. (She was his first love.) " Christian teased, annoyingly ruffling my hair.

I chuckled, pushing him away from me. "Stop it."

Matteo looked confused. "Well, what happened?" He switched back to English, with his prominent accent. I sighed. "I left her, to come here. I just needed to get away from everything. I needed to breathe."

I knew I was being vague but I couldn't tell them the truth. My mind was in disarray, I didn't know what I wanted in life anymore.

"Really I think you just wanted to see Mamma and Papà again. And you just had to tag me along." Christian playfully grinned.

I rolled my eyes. "Christian, you agreed to come with me. I know you wanted to see them too."

Honestly, I was glad Christian decided to come with me. He was the only person I really wanted to be around. Christian has always been there for me.

"Everyone is sad since you are leaving soon." Christian and I looked at Matteo. We could see the sadness in his eyes as he tried to mask it with a light smile. "Matteo, ci mancherai anche tu. (Matteo, we'll miss you too.)" Christian spoke softly. I nodded in agreement.

Christian looked at me. "Mamma's going to miss you the most. Sei sempre stata la sua preferita. (You were always her favorite.)"

"That's not true. She loves you just as much." I tried to reassure him.

Christian lightly shook his head. "No Danny. You know Mamma is more fond of you than me." He chuckled. "I bet she loves you more than she loves Papà."

Matteo and I laughed. Christian was right. I knew I was Mamma's favorite. She was always so nice to me, letting me get away with things more than Christian when we were little. Whenever I asked her for anything she would say yes most of the time. It wasn't the same way for Christian, but he had Papà on his side, we both did. He wasn't into favoritism like Mamma...

...

Danny missed her.

His mother wasn't dead or anything like that, he just missed her presence. Other than pictures and videos, the only thing Danny had to remember her was the lilacs on his arm.

Lilacs were his mother's favorite and he remembered how happy she had been when he showed her the tattoo. Her favorite flowers on her favorite son. Guess that justified everything.

He wondered if Christian loathed what their mother did. Danny never asked him if he hated their mother, but there were moments in their lives when her neglect effected Christian negatively. There was a time in Danny's life when he actually disliked his mother for how she treated Christian.