Two Girls On A Boat
Zorah stretched on the lounger on the deck of the yacht and basked in the sunshine.
“This is the best day of my life,” Sidonia whispered as she wriggled into her own lounger and stretched her fingers out to grip Zorah’s fingers, holding her hand in a squeeze. “Thank you for arranging this.”
“It was my pleasure. You deserve it after all the hell of the last couple of weeks.”
“Not all of it was terrible. We’ve had a couple of good days,” Sidonia gave a dramatic sigh. “Though I have to admit I am glad we’re off the farms. Eleanora was constantly asking me about babies and when she could expect grandchildren. I mean, I love her and both she and Calogero are the nicest people I’ve met, I swear. They treat me like I am their own flesh and blood, and I can feel the love, but she was talking about designing a nursery. I didn’t have heart to tell her how much Vodingo likes his condoms.”
“Really?” Zorah giggled, “I didn’t expect him to be focused on contraception.”
“He said he wants me to himself for awhile. He wants us to be deeply in love before we add a baby to it. He has a cousin who got pregnant with his bride on their wedding night and apparently his cousin can’t stop whining about how they’re both too tired for sex now. Vodingo wants me to be awake for his attentions.”
Zorah saw the smile on Sidonia’s face, “he does treasure you, doesn’t he? He’s good to you?”
“He is but he’s such a domineering asshole and he thinks the best form of communication is laying it all out there on the table and dealing with it as soon as it happens. I need time to process. I’m not good with putting my thoughts together. You,” Sidonia waved at her, “you can hold your own in an argument. You’ve always been very quick-witted and able to retort and think on the fly. I’m not generally able to do that. In high school with the mean girls, you were always the one who held her own. I need to plan my thoughts and feelings out and say the things I need to say after careful consideration.”
“I think what you’re saying Sidonia, is I often speak without thinking.”
“No. Not at all,” Sidonia shook her head vigorously in denial, “I wish I was able to argue the way you can. You can hold your own, but I get so twisted up and my tongue gets tied. I’m the girl who lays awake at two in the morning thinking, ‘oh I should have said’ and then it’s too late. Vodingo doesn’t give me time to prepare my thoughts and he’s right in my face when I’m angry.”
“Icaro mentioned he was over the other night because you were upset. What happened?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“No. I was half-asleep until he brought the food in. We did dinner in bed with movies, and I was exhausted. He mentioned Vodingo stopped in to get pizza from the chef because you were angry at him or something.”
“Vodingo wanted me to call my parents.”
“What the hell for?”
“The pressure from my parents on Father Giannone is what is causing many of the issues here in Sicily. They are allegedly laying it on thick. He wanted me to call them and tell them I was fine and happy to be where I am so they would leave us all alone.”
“You shouldn’t have to call them, Sidonia. They sold you. If anyone was trafficking their daughter, it was them. Your dad happily took half a million dollars from them.”
“Vod said my mom didn’t agree and expected I would refuse. I think she thought I held my childhood memories dearer than I do.”
“You don’t have to call them. I’m sorry it was even asked of you.”
“Vodingo said Icaro gave him hell and asked why the eff I should be forced to call my abusers.”
“Do you miss them at all?” Zorah asked. “Even a bit?”
“No. I was never good enough for them. Dad wanted a son, and I wasn’t born with a penis. Then because I was a pretty child, he felt he needed to do his job as a father to make sure I didn’t end up pregnant as a teenager. When Father Giannone was giving long speeches on the sins of today’s youth and how parents need to curtail the wicked and immoral behavior the internet was causing in their children, Dad was lapping it up. Father Giannone gave a speech about how American parents are too soft on their kids and Dad took it to mean to get a whip instead of using the paddle. Why the hell either of them thought I would do anything but accept the offer when a man approached me on my best friend’s wedding day and said he was immediately drawn to me, was richer than I ever could dream of, explained I’d be able to go with you and spend my life at your side living in the lap of luxury. Idiots.”
“We really are living the rich life,” Zorah waved around them on the boat. “I feel like my uncle would have an entire sermon on this.”
“Not your uncle,” Sidonia corrected. “You need to stop calling him your uncle. He’s not blood related Zorah. It makes the things he’s done this much worse because now he can’t even call it acting in a fatherly manner to his own flesh and blood. Do not give him the familial title. He doesn’t deserve it.”
“I know,” Zorah whispered. “It’s really weird. What do you think of mom sneaking around your aunt’s husband?”
“Honestly, I never liked him either but out of all of them, he’s the least creepy, mean, or rude of the bunch. He married my aunt because her father caught them having intercourse when they were teenagers.”
“Really? I didn’t know this story.”
“I remembered hearing it when I was really small when Mom and Dad were arguing, and Dad said something to Mom about how my aunt acted like she was damn righteous since she was the principal at the Catholic school but they all knew she was forced to marry because she’d been caught with her pants down. At the time I never thought much of it. Now, knowing he is banging your mom, and they even had a pregnancy scare, well, it’s hardly shocking to me.”
“Icaro is going to expose the whole lot of them,” Zorah said staring up at the sky.
“How do you feel about it?”
“I want it to happen. I found out there were millions of dollars allocate to my life, education and basic necessities and Father Giannone stole it all. He wears fancy underwear under his robes while I was wearing the hand-me-downs from the nuns and the things taken from the donation bins.”
“They need to pay, Zorah. Make them pay.”
“Icaro will. He’s already making great plans.”
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