Domenico Tempesta—Concettina Tempesta

Domenico Tempesta’s relationship with Concettina Tempesta begins in doubt and emotional refusal, but develops through acts of provision, daily tenderness, and eventual public recognition. Her harelip and red hair become the focus of Domenico’s suspicion and distance; his conduct, however, increasingly contradicts his claim that he cannot love her. The relationship’s change is not announced as a single conversion. It gathers force through a savings account, a sturdy buggy, songs at bedtime, and, finally, Concettina’s joyful recognition of him as her father.

Doubt and refusal

When Concettina is a baby, Father Guglielmo urges Domenico to treat her as a child entrusted to him rather than as a problem to explain. He tells Domenico that her harelip does not diminish her perfection, and suggests her red hair may come from an ancestor on either side of the family. He also leaves room for the possibility that the child tests Domenico’s faith, but his practical appeal is direct: he should accept and love her as his daughter. The plea places the question of fatherhood in moral as well as biological terms.

Domenico does not accept that appeal at once. He tells Father Guglielmo, “I could never love that daughter who was not my daughter,” making his uncertainty about her parentage part of his stated refusal. He defends himself by listing the material support he provides: Concettina and her mother have food, winter heat, and indoor plumbing. Father Guglielmo answers that they live in a house where forgiveness is withheld. The exchange draws a sharp distinction between maintaining a household and welcoming a child into it emotionally. Domenico can name the former as proof of responsibility; the priest insists that it does not replace love.

Care in practical decisions

Even while he resists the language of fatherhood, Domenico takes concrete steps to secure Concettina’s well-being. He opens a savings account for her at the Dime Bank of Three Rivers with twenty-five dollars. When Ignazia asks which of two buggies to order from the Sears and Roebuck book, he chooses the sturdier, more expensive one, objecting to the thought of it breaking down with the child in it. His brusque instruction to use her head carries the force of his concern: he wants the girl protected from an avoidable harm.

These decisions do not erase his rejection, and the narrative does not treat financial provision as a substitute for affection. They show instead that the relationship is already divided between what Domenico says and what he does. He continues to doubt whether Concettina is his, yet he puts money aside for her and attends to the durability of the thing that will carry her through the street. Care appears first as responsibility expressed in household choices, before he can openly accept it as love.

Affection in the household

The change becomes more visible as Concettina grows. Domenico notices that she begins to smile and talk, sometimes stringing together enough words to nearly make a speech. He calls her pretty despite the features he once treated as evidence against accepting her: her harelip and orange hair. The description preserves his old prejudice even as his attention to her liveliness shows that he is no longer seeing her only through suspicion.

Some evenings, before going to work, Domenico rocks Concettina on his knee and sings the little songs his mother had sung to him and his brothers. While he sings, he sometimes sees a glimpse of his mother’s eyes in the girl’s. The recognition links his care for Concettina to the tenderness he remembers from his own childhood; the child he had kept at a distance comes to resemble someone beloved from his past. He also allows Father Guglielmo’s explanation of her red hair to seem possible. This is not a neat declaration that every doubt has vanished, but it marks a loosening of the certainty with which he had denied her.

Recognition and belonging

At the dedication ceremony, Domenico’s relationship with Concettina becomes visible to the gathered community as well as to the family. Ignazia has used the eight dollars he gave her for the occasion to buy fabric for a new dress for Concettina and a red velvet hat for herself. Domenico notices the two women together, and the coordinated red of Ignazia’s hat, the roses she holds, and the ribbon around his neck makes the family’s shared celebration tangible. His attention rests on Ignazia’s appearance, but it also registers the care she has taken for their daughter.

When Ignazia places the flowers on a table and takes Concettina’s hands, she helps the child clap along with the applause for Domenico. Concettina calls, “Papa! Papa!” and cheers for him. The scene answers, without supplying a formal explanation of paternity, the relationship that began with Domenico’s insistence that the girl was not his. His later actions have made room for an attachment that her unprompted name for him can now express. Their bond remains shaped by the earlier withholding, but its ending turns on recognition: Concettina claims him as her father, and Domenico’s growing care has given that claim a place in their shared life.