Deadly Embrace

stupor, hit his head on a shelf, and never recovered), Lani had taken over his business, the convenience store on the corner. She ran the place herself, ordering the stock, balancing the books, and taking care of everything else that needed doing. Most often she served customers in the shop, although she employed a man called Ernie, who was way into his sixties and whom Lani considered useless.
Shortly after Vinny returned to America with his bride, Lani put them both to work. After all, they were living with her, it was only fair. She arranged for Ernie to take care of the store in the mornings, Anna Maria was allotted afternoons, and Vinny got the late shift.
‘But, Ma,’ Vinny objected at first, ‘shouldn’t I be gettin’ into business for myself? I got a wife now, an’ a family on the way.’
‘This is your business,’ Lani pointed out. ‘When I’m gone, the store’ll be all yours, so you’d better take damn good care of it.’
Vinny loved his mom; however, he couldn’t wait for the day when it was all his. Not that he wished her any harm, she was the best, and the good thing was that she and Anna Maria had bonded in a way he could only have dreamed of.
Early February the weather was cold and stormy. Anna Maria was huge, the birth of their baby only weeks away. Still she insisted on working at the shop, trudging through the snow and rain, always making sure she was there on time, refusing to let her mother-in-law down. Things were tough all over, and Anna Maria knew she was a very lucky girl indeed. She didn’t take anything for granted. Besides, hard work was not foreign to her. Before meeting Vinny she’d worked as a maid in a hotel filled with Germans, and struggled to get enough to eat. She’d been raped twice, beaten up a few times, and in spite of her delicate appearance she’d learned to look out for herself. Then Vinny had come along and rescued her, and she would do anything for him. She adored her husband. To her he was the American dream personified. Tall, handsome, kind. What more could any girl ask for?
Weekends Ernie didn’t work, so on this particular Saturday morning in February, Anna Maria was on her own. She had trouble turning the key in the rusty padlock affixed to the back door. Her fingers were swollen and she felt a touch nauseous. She’d promised Vinny that this would be the last weekend she’d work before the baby came. Lani had already spoken to Ernie about taking over her hours and he’d agreed.
The shop smelt of stale beer mixed with the faint aroma of rancid cheese. There was a bar next door and the stale beer smell always seemed to hang in the air.
Anna Maria shivered. It was too cold to open the back window to get rid of the offending smell, so she rubbed her hands together for warmth, switched on the lights, set up the cash register, opened the front entrance, and waited for the first customers.
There were quite a few regulars, and Anna Maria had quickly learned their names. Mr Rustino, who always bought two loaves of bread and a dozen eggs. Mrs Bellimore, who requested three small bottles of club soda, then went down the block to the liquor store for a quart of gin–as if the liquor were an afterthought. The widow, Sylvana, who never purchased anything, but enjoyed gossiping.
The customers loved Anna Maria. They all asked after her health, patted her belly and inquired when the baby was coming. Even though the entire neighbourhood knew exactly when it was due, they asked anyway, happy to spend time with the sweet young Italian girl who reminded them of their roots.
As the day progressed, the sky grew dark and snow began to fall. Anna Maria busied herself cleaning up the back of the shop, making sure everything was in its place.
At a few minutes past two, a buxom blonde girl burst into the shop, accompanied by two unruly young men. None of them looked familiar, but Anna Maria smiled politely and asked if she could help them.
The blonde’s heavily mascaraed eyes raked Anna Maria from head to toe. ‘So you’re the foreign tramp who tricked my Vinny into marrying you,’ she sneered. ‘You’re not so pretty, an’ fat as a sow.’
‘Excuse me?’ Anna Maria ventured, sensing trouble. ‘My English–it is not so good.’
‘I bet it’s not,’ Mamie said derisively, tossing back her dyed hair.
Anna Maria turned her attention to the two young men, who were roaming round the shop acting suspiciously as they checked everything out. One of them was flicking through the magazines, bending the pages. The other was playing with a stack of cans, almost knocking them over.
‘Please. Can I help you?’ she asked, emerging from behind the counter.
‘Yeah, honey,’ Mamie drawled. ‘You can gimme back the boyfriend you stole from me. Although, on second thought, I wouldn’t take the jerk back if you wrapped the dumb creep in dollar bills an’ had him delivered to my door.’ She roared with laughter at her own humour. ‘C’mon, boys,’ she said, going towards the exit. ‘This place stinks of wops. I gotta smell me some clean air.’
The three of them departed, leaving Anna Maria with an uneasy feeling.
Later that day, when Vinny arrived to take over, she’d forgotten about the trio. Vinny kissed and hugged her, told her she was the prettiest girl in the world, and warned her to be careful on the short walk home because the sidewalks were slippery and a storm was on the way.
‘Maybe I should lock up an’ walk you home,’ he suggested. ‘There’s nobody out anyway.’
‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘I’ll be fine.’
‘You sure?’
‘Yes, Vinny.’
He hugged her again, nuzzling his chin against her cheek.
She loved the feel of his strong arms round her, especially when the baby was kicking in her belly and she knew that he could feel it