Chapter 8 - The Birthday He Never Knew
“Margaret told the driver to leave?”
Luca looked at his father as though he hadn't heard correctly.
Salvatore nodded.
“She thought it would be too much for Elena.”
“What did you say to Margaret before she made that decision?”
His father looked away.
Luca waited.
“Dad.”
“I told her your mother wasn't ready.”
“That wasn't your decision.”
Salvatore said nothing.
Luca picked up the photograph.
“I'm going to ask Margaret myself.”
He turned toward the door.
His father called after him.
“Son, there are things about that time you don't understand.”
Luca stopped.
“Then you should have told me twenty years ago.”
We drove directly back to Willow Street.
Margaret was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee.
She looked relieved when she saw Luca.
Then she saw the photograph in his hand.
Her smile disappeared.
“Your father told you.”
“Yes.”
He placed the picture in front of her.
“Why did you turn the car around?”
Margaret covered her face.
“I thought I was protecting you.”
“From seeing my own mother?”
She began crying.
“Your father said there were dangerous people watching your birthday celebration. He told me that if your mother appeared, they'd use her to hurt you.”
Luca shook his head.
“And you believed him?”
“I'd seen what happened when people crossed your father. I was afraid.”
“Did you ask Mom what she wanted?”
Margaret looked down.
“No.”
“Did you ask me?”
“No.”
Luca pulled out the chair opposite her.
“Then you made a decision for both of us.”
Margaret nodded.
“Yes.”
“I loved you like a second mother.”
Her face crumpled.
“I know.”
“You taught me to tell the truth, even when it hurt.”
“I know.”
“Why couldn't you do that for me?”
Margaret cried silently.
I wanted to comfort her.
But Luca deserved an answer.
Finally, she whispered, “Because I was a coward that day.”
Nobody spoke.
Then she continued.
“I told myself I was keeping you safe. But after that birthday, I kept telling myself the same thing because admitting I'd been wrong would mean facing what I'd done.”
Luca looked toward his mother's bedroom.
“Did she think I didn't want her?”
Margaret hesitated.
“Your father told her you were happier not knowing.”
Luca stood.
He walked into the hallway without another word.
I followed him.
He stopped beside the little wooden table beneath Elena's bedroom window.
“Claire.”
His voice broke.
“I spent every birthday wishing she'd been there.”
I touched his arm.
“Then tell her.”
He shook his head.
“I can't give her those years back.”
“No. But you can stop letting somebody else decide what happens next.”
He looked at me.
Then he nodded.
Inside the bedroom, Elena was sitting beside Miriam.
Bianca stood near the window.
She'd removed the extra lock from the door and placed it on a folded towel.
Luca stopped.
“Who did that?”
Bianca looked at him.
“I asked Miriam to help me. Elena said she wanted it gone.”
Miriam nodded.
“The old lock was never appropriate. I've also documented her refusal of the transfer.”
Bianca looked toward Luca.
“I've withdrawn my approval. My father has been informed that she isn't going anywhere without independent medical review and her consent.”
Luca studied her.
“Thank you for doing that.”
She nodded.
“It's something I should have done before.”
Elena reached toward her son.
He knelt beside her chair.
“Mom, Margaret told me about my birthday.”
Elena looked down.
“I came,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“Wanted... see you.”
“I wanted to see you too.”
She began crying.
Luca held her hand.
“You didn't disappoint me. Not once.”
Elena seemed to struggle with something she needed to say.
Miriam brought her a pencil and a small pad.
Writing was difficult for Elena, but she managed several words.
I HAD A PLAN.
Luca looked up.
“What plan?”
Margaret entered carrying the little wooden box she'd tried to collect the previous afternoon.
She placed it on the bed.
“Your mother asked me to keep this safe.”
Inside lay a worn silver pocket watch.
An old photograph of Luca at sixteen.
And two faded train tickets.
Luca picked up the watch first.
He recognized it immediately.
“Grandpa's watch.”
Elena nodded.
Her father had carried it every day while working at his bakery.
When he died, he'd left it to her.
She had planned to give it to Luca on his twenty-first birthday.
Luca opened the watch.
It had stopped at 4:17.
He held it against his chest.
Then he picked up the tickets.
They were dated August 9, 2006.
One day before Elena was rushed to the hospital.
The destination was Cleveland, Ohio.
Luca stared at the names.
Elena Moretti.
Luca Moretti.
Two one-way tickets.
No return date.
No ticket for Salvatore.
Margaret sat beside the bed.
“Your mother had a sister in Cleveland. She was going to take you there.”
Luca looked at Elena.
“You were leaving Dad?”
She nodded.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Margaret answered.
“She wanted to wait until you finished your summer classes. She'd found a small apartment near your aunt.”
Elena took the pencil again.
Slowly, painfully, she wrote:
I WANTED YOU SAFE.
Luca stared at the words.
Then he looked at Margaret.
“My mother wasn't planning to abandon me.”
“No.”
“She was trying to take me with her.”
“Yes.”
Elena reached for his face.
Her tears were falling freely now.
Luca kissed her forehead.
“I would have gone, Mom.”
She shook her head urgently.
“Dad... said...”
“What did he say?”
She gripped his hand.
For several seconds, she struggled to speak.
Then the words came.
“He told me you knew.”
Luca went still.
May you like
Elena began crying harder.
“He said you saw me at your birthday... and turned away.”
