La tripletta perduta

Prologue

April 11th 2005 ~ Italy

The Romano family waited patiently in the waiting room of the hospital, desperate to meet the 3 new additions to the family.

They were expecting triplets; 2 boys and 1 girls. The first girl born into the family since the 1800's.

All heads turned to the delivery room as cries were heard echoing from the room, quickly followed by another set of cries.

The room fell silent before a painful scream came from the room as the last baby was born.

That day should have been one of the happiest days for the family, but instead it turned into the worst.

Suddenly, nurses and doctors rushed into the room as the monitors began to go crazy. The door was slammed shut and all that could be heard was the frantic yells from inside, trying to save both the baby's life and the mothers.

After a few minutes, the door slowly opened and a doctor walked out. All eyes were now on him as he held a pitiful look on his face.

"I'm sorry. We couldn't save the mother or the baby.", the doctor said as he sadly looked to the floor.

"The oth-other two babies, um w-who made it?", Lucian asked, dreading the answer. Of course he wanted all 3 babies to be alive, but he was praying that his little principessa was okay.

"The two boys survived. There were some complications with the girl and the mother lost too much blood. Again I am so sorry for you loss.", the doctor said as he walked down the corridor and out of sight.

The Romano's sat there shocked.

Lucian had just lost his wife and daughter, and the boys had lost their mother and sister.

Heartbroken, Lucian stood up and left. He couldn't handle it. He felt like his whole world had just come crashing down.

The oldest two Romano boys, Alessandro and Alexander, sat rooted in their seats, unable to process what had just happened.

None of the younger boys understood what had happened. They didn't understand death yet. They didn't understand that they'll never get to see their mother again, or ever get to meet their sister.

Soon enough, the Romano's left the hospital, two babies in the arms of the father as two bodies were being prepared for a burial, or so they thought.

On the other side of the hospital, a mother was carrying her baby and placing her in a car, off to start a new life in a small town near Chicago, leaving the Romano's to mourn the loss of their beloved Mother and wife, and baby sister and daughter.

Within a few hours, the Romano family was torn apart and would not be reunited for a long and dreadful 15 years.