The Brambilla's, The Beginning

Morning arrived and opening her eyes a tear rolled slowly down her cheek. Turning her head she saw Leone with his head on the bed, his hand still holding hers. If it wasn't for the man she loved so much she would have wanted to die after losing her baby. She knew how much he loved her and what he was also going through, and what it would do to him if he lost her too. So she had to be strong for him.

When he felt her thumb caressing his hand he opened his eyes to look at her. He wiped her tears away. "Eleonora, I love you so much."

"I love you too. I can't stand being here, I want to go home."

"I'll take you as soon as the doctor says it's okay. You will have to stay in bed for a few days to give your body time to heal."

Just then someone came in with a tray of food for her, the woman looked at Leone. She knew what had happened to them and felt sad. "Sir, I can get you a plate of food too. It's no trouble at all."

He shook his head. "No thanks, I don't want anything."

"You can take this away," Eleonora said, waving at the tray.

"You have to eat something," he said, looking at her.

"I'm not hungry."

The woman sat the tray down. "I'll just leave it here in case you change your mind." She left the room quietly.

She laid back down and closed her eyes when he started in again how she needed to eat and get her strength up. When he kept going on she blew up, opening her eyes to look at him. "What I need is for you to stop telling me what to do." When she saw the hurt look on his face she reached over and placed her hand over his. "I'm sorry, but right now I can't eat anything."

"No, I'm the one who is sorry. I just don't know what else to do or say to help you through this. For the first time in my life, I feel helpless."

"All I need from you is to be with me, to hold me in your arms and give me time."

He nodded and got on the bed next to her, putting his arms around her. They sat there holding each other until the doctor came in. He let them know everything was alright but he wanted to keep her in another day.

"I want to go home now," she said, looking from the doctor to Leone.

"Can't I take her home today? I give you my word that she will stay in bed and be well taken care of."

After mulling it over the doctor agreed, and said if there were any problems he was to bring her right back. Before leaving he gave them a prescription for something to help dry up the milk in her breasts.

A while later William drove them home, he made sure they got inside and left them to get settled in.

Leone was so concerned, and when he noticed how weak she was he lifted her up into his arms and carried her upstairs to bed. There he sat her down and went over to the dresser drawer and pulled out one of her nightgowns. She hadn't spoken a word the whole drive, she didn't even cry.

"Let me help you get undressed."

She sat there quietly, letting him undress her and slipping it down over her head. When she laid down he pulled the covers over her.

"I'll go down and make you something to eat. It'll probably just be toast since I don't know how to make anything else."

"I don't want anything to eat, all I want to do is sleep."

He didn't want to force her and she did look so tired. "Okay, later then. Is there anything I can get you or do for you?"

"I just want to be alone."

"You don't want me to stay with you?"

"I'll just be sleeping, so why don't you go downstairs and do whatever you have to do."

"I'll be back in a while to check up on you." He sat down on the bed and stroked the side of her cheek in a tender and loving way. "I love you."

"I love you too," she replied and then closed her eyes. All she wanted to do was to sleep and try and forget what had happened.

He went downstairs just as there was a knock at the door, opening it he let Eddie in.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there when you brought her home. How is she doing?"

"Not good, she won't eat and all she wants to do is sleep. When I look into her eyes, they're blank. It's like she's disappearing, and I don't know what to do to help her."

"Give her time and all you can do is be there for her. As far as her not eating, she will in time. It's devastating for a woman to have a miscarriage and so much worse when they've carried the baby for as long as she did."

"You're right, it's just so hard seeing her in so much pain. I've already made a call and got a plot and a headstone for the baby. I want to wait until she's feeling better before we do anything."

"Leone, I want you to know I'm here for you. If you want to be with her until she's better I will take care of your business and make sure everything is running smoothly."

"I would appreciate that very much. There's no way I can leave her alone right now. I got in touch with Molly and she's going to come back and cook our breakfast and dinner along with her housekeeping chores. Hopefully, Eleonora will eat her cooking."

"It looks to me like you could use some sleep too. I hate to say it but you look like hell man. Why don't you go on up and I'll stick around for a while. I'll go into the kitchen and make something for you both."

He was exhausted so he took Eddie up on his offer and went upstairs. Removing his clothes he got into bed beside her, she was asleep but he could tell it wasn't a peaceful one. They were both mentally and physically exhausted. He had only gotten a couple of hours of sleep and when he woke up she was curled up beside him with her head on his chest and her arm over his stomach.

She was awake and when she heard him stirring she opened her eyes to look at him. "I'm glad you decided to get some sleep."

"I know you said you wanted to be alone but I just had to be near you. Please don't kick me out of the bed."

"I'm glad you're here, just hold me."

He laid there holding her for a good two hours before she drifted back off to sleep. Slipping quietly out of bed he got dressed and went downstairs.

Eddie was on the sofa and looked up from his phone when he saw Leone. He told the person on the other end that he would call them later and hung up. "I'm glad you got some sleep finally. I put a chicken in the oven for your dinner. There's a salad in the fridge, just take the chicken out in about an hour."

"You not staying to eat with us?"

"No, I've got to go down to your casino and deal with something. Don't look at me like that, it's nothing serious and I can handle it."

"Okay, but if there's anything important that I need to know I expect you to tell me and not keep it from me."

"I give you my word, I'll go now but I'll check on you both later."

Leone sliced up some of the chicken and placed it on a plate along with some of the salad. Pouring some juice into a glass he placed them all on the tray and carried it upstairs. It had been many hours since she had eaten anything and knew she had to be hungry.

"Wake up my love, it's time for you to have something to eat."

She opened her eyes and say up. "I'm not hungry so please take it away."

He went and sat down on the bed with the tray in his hand. "Please try and eat just a little bit. If you don't want to do it for yourself then do it for me. I will feel so much better if I know you've got some food in your stomach."

Her eyes felt so swollen and her heart was still aching. "I'll try," she said when he placed the tray over her lap. "Are you not going to eat?"

"I already did." He was so disappointed when all she had was two bites of the chicken and one fork full of salad.

Putting the fork down she shook her head. "I'm so sorry, I just can't eat anymore."

"It's okay, it's a start and I'll bring more up to you later. Can I get you a book to read or some magazines? I could even get you a TV for you to watch."

"I don't feel like reading, but maybe you could bring me my sketch pad and pencils. I might try to do something later on."

Over the next few days, she still hadn't eaten much, not even the meals that Molly had prepared. On the 4th day, he got a call from Eddie and had to go out to one of his warehouses to deal with a problem. It didn't take long and when he got back he saw Molly coming down the stairs with the tray of food. He looked at it and noticed it hadn't been touched.

"Don't tell me she didn't eat any of it?"

"I'm sorry sir, I tried to get her to eat but she refused. She would only drink her tea, and I'm getting worried about her. She's losing weight and has dark circles under her eyes."

"Give me that," he said, taking the tray from her. "I'll see if I can convince her to eat." He walked up the stairs and into the bedroom.

She looked over at him and shook her head. "I told Molly I didn't want it, so take it away."

"No, you are going to eat some of it."

"Damn it, Leone, I said I don't want it," she practically screamed at him.

Slamming the tray down on the table he walked over to the window and stuck his hands inside his pocket. He couldn't stop the anger from coming out when he spoke.

"Goddammit, Eleonora, what the hell are you trying to do? It's like you are trying to kill yourself by starving yourself to death." He turned around to look at her. "Is that what you're doing, are you trying to kill yourself? I know how much you are hurting but I'm hurting too. Angel wasn't just your daughter, she was mine too. If you don't eat you will get sick and I've already lost someone. I don't want to lose you too." He turned back around to look out the window.

"Leone."

When she spoke his name he once again turned back to look at her. Seeing the tears roll down her face he rushed over to her side. Sitting on the bed he pulled her into his arms and held her.

"I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have yelled or said the things I did. It's just that I love you so much and the thought of losing you is killing me."

She lifted her head up, reached up with her hand and touch the side of his face. "You're not going to lose me."

"I feel like I'm already losing you."

"No, no you're not. I'm just been so wrapped up in my own pain I forgot about yours. I know you're hurting as much as I am and I'm so sorry that I worried you. You will never lose me."

Placing the palms of his hands on the side of her cheeks he stared into her eyes. "I just want you to know that if I ever lost you I would not be able to go on living."

"Hand me the tray."

Letting her go he reached for the tray and placed it over her lap. "I don't expect you to eat all of it, just more than you have been."

"There's quite a bit on this plate, maybe we could share it." When he nodded she took the first bite and then gave him the second one.

It did him good to see her eating but after a few bites, he could tell she was uncomfortable. "You don't have to eat any more right now. It will only hurt your stomach to do so. We just need to start you off with small amounts until you get back to normal."

"I'm really sorry I had you so worried."

"Don't be sorry my love. I know that we will never get over losing our baby, But as time goes by it will become less painful. There is one thing I need to discuss with you."

"What is it?"

"We have to pick a day to bury Angel. I have already arranged the plot and had a statue made up."

"I-I don't want to think about it." She closed her eyes for a second. "But I know I have to. So whatever day you decide on is okay with me."

"You still need to rest for a while, I will arrange it for next week. You lay down and get some more rest." He leaned over and gave her a tender kiss on the lips. "I love you. If there is anything I can do to help you get through this, just let me know."

She grabbed his hand before he could get off the bed. "We'll help each other."

He took the dirty dishes downstairs and placed them in the kitchen sink. Leaning over he rested his elbows on the counter and buried his head in his hands. He couldn't believe he yelled at her, making her feel worse than she already did. He vowed to himself that he would never raise his voice to her again.