Chapter 8 - The Ring She Could Not Keep
“You came looking for the house?”
Luca stared at Vanessa.
She nodded.
“I wanted to ask whether you'd let Rosie live there.”
“Then why didn't you ask?”
“Because I didn't know how to tell you who she was.”
He looked at her engagement ring.
“You knew how to tell me you loved me.”
Vanessa began crying.
“I did love you.”
“Maybe you did.”
His voice was quiet.
“But you built our relationship on something you knew I didn't understand.”
She looked toward the wooden bird.
“I thought once we were married, I'd have enough security to tell you the rest.”
“Security for whom?”
“For Rosie.”
Luca shook his head.
“You brought her here tonight and left her hungry in a coatroom. Don't tell me everything you did was for her.”
Vanessa covered her face.
I looked away.
It was painful to watch.
But it was also the first time I'd seen her unable to escape the consequences of her decisions.
Luca removed his engagement ring.
He placed it on the table.
“We're not getting married.”
Vanessa stared at the ring.
“Luca—”
“No.”
His voice broke.
“I wanted a wife I could build a family with. Not somebody who thought she had to hide her own daughter to deserve a place beside me.”
Vanessa began crying harder.
“I don't want to lose you.”
“You've already lost my trust.”
He looked toward me.
“And you treated Hannah like she was worthless because she fed the child you were hiding.”
Vanessa wiped her eyes.
“I know.”
“Then you need to apologize to her.”
She looked at me.
For a moment, I remembered the pasta scattered across the marble floor.
The sting of the broken ceramic.
Thirty people watching while she called me a thief.
Vanessa stood slowly.
“Hannah, I'm sorry.”
I didn't answer.
She continued.
“You were helping my daughter. I was embarrassed and frightened, and I took it out on you.”
Her voice trembled.
“You didn't deserve that.”
“No,” I said quietly. “I didn't.”
She lowered her eyes.
“I understand if you don't forgive me.”
I looked at her.
“I'm glad Rosie got something to eat. That's what matters most to me right now.”
Vanessa nodded.
Luca picked up the ring.
“Take this.”
She stared at it.
“It's yours.”
“I don't want it.”
“Neither do I.”
He placed it beside her handbag.
Then looked toward the window.
“We need to talk about Gabriel.”
Vanessa sat down again.
“I know.”
“He wants to see his daughter.”
She pressed her hands together.
“I'm afraid.”
“I understand that. But being afraid doesn't give you the right to decide Rosie doesn't need her father.”
Vanessa looked toward me.
“Do you think she'd even remember him?”
I thought about the little girl holding her rabbit.
“She remembers that he sang while he cooked.”
Vanessa's face crumpled.
“And she carries his key.”
I nodded.
“Those things mean something to her.”
Luca sat across from his former fiancée.
“Gabriel isn't asking to take Rosie from you. He's asking for a chance to know her again.”
Vanessa stared at the table.
Then whispered, “I kept his presents.”
“We know.”
“No. I mean I kept every single one.”
She looked up.
“I couldn't throw them away.”
“Where are they?”
“In a cedar chest at my apartment.”
Luca waited.
Vanessa continued.
“There's a wooden bird for this year. A small painted horse from last year. A little wooden boat. And a music box he made when she turned three.”
I felt tears sting my eyes.
Four birthdays.
Four presents.
Four chances to tell a little girl that her father hadn't forgotten her.
Luca looked devastated.
“Why didn't you give them to her?”
Vanessa whispered, “Because I thought she'd want to go looking for him.”
He shook his head.
“She already has.”
The room fell quiet.
Then Luca asked her something unexpected.
“Did you ever love Gabriel?”
Vanessa looked surprised.
“Of course.”
“What happened?”
She stared at her hands.
“We were young. We were scared. He wanted to fix everything himself, and I wanted somebody to tell me we were going to be okay.”
She paused.
“After Rosie got sick, we stopped talking like people who loved each other.”
“What did you do instead?”
“We blamed each other.”
I watched Luca absorb that.
Vanessa continued.
“When Gabriel left, I told myself he had abandoned us. It was easier than admitting I'd asked him to go.”
Luca looked up sharply.
“You asked him to leave?”
She nodded.
“I told him he needed to prove he could provide for Rosie without depending on the Moretti family.”
“And when he did?”
“I was already afraid of what would happen if he came back.”
Luca closed his eyes.
“Vanessa, you punished him for doing what you asked.”
“I know.”
Her voice broke.
“And then I punished Rosie because she kept loving him anyway.”
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Luca stood.
“I'm going to speak to Gabriel. After that, we'll arrange a meeting for Rosie if you're willing.”
Vanessa nodded.
“I want her to know her daddy.”
He looked at her.
“Then this time, don't make a promise you aren't prepared to keep.”
That afternoon, Vanessa returned with a small cedar box.
Gabriel was waiting in the restaurant's private room.
He hadn't seen her in months.
When she walked in, he stood.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Vanessa placed the box on the table.
“I kept these.”
Gabriel stared at it.
He opened the lid.
Inside were the four birthday gifts he'd made for his daughter.
His hands began shaking.
“You told me she didn't want them.”
Vanessa began crying.
“I know.”
He picked up the wooden horse.
“You said she got upset whenever I sent something.”
“I lied.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
His shoulders trembled.
I saw Luca move closer, ready to steady him.
But Gabriel raised his hand.
He needed a moment.
Then he looked at Vanessa.
“I missed four years of her life.”
“I know.”
“You can't give them back.”
“No.”
She lowered her head.
“But I can stop taking more away.”
A little later, Rosie arrived after school with Vanessa's sister, who had been looking after her.
The little girl came into the room carrying her rabbit.
She stopped when she saw the cedar box.
“What's that?”
Vanessa knelt beside her.
“Something I should have given you a long time ago.”
Rosie looked inside.
She touched the wooden horse.
“Who made these?”
Vanessa's eyes filled.
“Your daddy.”
Rosie looked surprised.
“All of them?”
“Yes, sweetheart.”
“Even the music box?”
Vanessa nodded.
“He made that for your third birthday.”
Rosie picked it up.
The little music box played a gentle, familiar tune.
She listened carefully.
Then looked toward Luca.
“Uncle Luca?”
“Yes, honey?”
“Daddy remembered my birthday?”
His voice broke.
“Every year.”
Rosie looked back at Vanessa.
Her little face changed.
May you like
And she asked the question nobody in that room was ready to hear.
“Mommy, if Daddy remembered me every year, why did you tell me he didn't want to come home?”
