Broken Hearts On Boulevard Unirii novel Chapter 49

"Well it looks like you missed your train," I said.

"You already have children. You did your thing," she commented.

"What do you want from me, to have a child with you?" I asked.

"That's not such a bad idea. The problem is that I don't trust you. You could disappear on me tomorrow and I would be stuck with a baby, which I would be unable to care for. My salary is barely enough to sustain myself," she said.

"I don't know what to do, I'm very mixed up," I responded.

"Do you love your wife?" she inquired.

"No," I lied.

"So why don't you get divorced?" she asked.

"I cannot do that to her, and besides, I don't know if I'm ready to live in Romania," I answered.

"I'll go with you to Italy, anywhere you want," she said.

I looked at her. She was sexy, smart, and attractive, with sort of a doll's face. Deep down I knew I didn't love her and that our relationship would come to an end as soon as I sold my apartments and returned to Italy permanently. Still, it was great being with her as she rejuvenated me and I once again experienced flutters in my stomach, feelings which I had long forgotten.

On the other hand I loved my wife, my daughters Paola and Monica, my son Davide, my old father, my corner at my home, and the peace and quiet of Piazza San Francesco. I didn't want to lose all that: It wasn't worth it.

"Oana," I said. "Let's get back. Surely everybody is waiting for us to go for lunch." I grabbed her hand and we started running like two teenagers in love.

As evening approached, the tension and anxiety of waiting for Velcho grew. We didn't dare to leave the hotel, in case we missed him. We just sat around and waited. The more nervous among us walked around the parking lot. Claudio chain-smoked, cursing the moment we decided to go to Bulgaria. Angelo was deep in thought, while Elena tried to cheer him up. I tried to milk Sofia for information, as I had the feeling that she was hiding something from us, but to no avail.

That evening, we all gathered in Angelo's room and decided to return to Romania. We informed the owner, the sour-faced lady that we would be leaving the next morning.

Elena had compiled a list of taxi drivers from the local telephone book and began phoning them. After several calls, she found a driver who was willing to take us to the Romanian border for one hundred dollars.

Early the next morning the taxi driver arrived at the hotel. He helped us load our luggage into the trunk of the taxi. I asked him not to drive too fast, because the van had to follow.

Angelo, Elia and I entered the taxi and at the last minute Elena joined us, while Claudio drove the van with Gert, Fabrizio and the rest of the girls in it.

When Elena told the driver all that had happened to them, he was neither impressed nor surprised. From under his seat, he pulled out a gun and said, "Do you see this? This is my defense against highway robbers."He told us that he also pays certain thieves "protection money" to prevent any damage to his car.

As we got closer to the border the tension decreased. We were relieved when we finally saw signs announcing the Romanian border.

The taxi driver dropped us off at the border crossing. We took our luggage out of the taxi, paid the driver and he disappeared. We presented our passports to the border police who looked at us, took our passports and checked our name against some list they had. One of them went into a small booth and checked a list with all the cars that had entered the country on the day stamped in our passports.