Chapter 6 - The Watch He Asked To Keep
“I was hoping you wouldn't ask about that tonight.”
Luca stared at Vanessa.
“Why?”
She lowered her eyes to her diamond bracelet.
“Because the watch was supposed to be a wedding surprise.”
Frank looked confused.
“A surprise?”
Vanessa nodded quickly.
“I was going to place it beside Elena's photograph during the ceremony.”
Luca's expression hardened.
“While Dad watched from the restaurant?”
She didn't answer.
“Vanessa, where is it?”
She opened her small red evening bag.
After a moment, she removed a square velvet box.
I recognized it.
Frank had shown me that box several months earlier.
Inside was a silver pocket watch with a worn chain and a tiny scratch near the clasp.
Elena had given it to him after thirty years of marriage.
The engraving on the back was simple.
For every minute, together. — Elena.
Frank used to wind it each morning.
Sometimes his hand wouldn't cooperate, and he'd ask me to help.
He always listened for the ticking afterward.
“Still going,” he'd say.
Tonight, he watched Vanessa hold the box as if it contained something irreplaceable.
Because it did.
Luca reached for it.
But before Vanessa handed it over, Frank spoke.
“I asked for that back yesterday.”
Vanessa froze.
Luca turned.
“What?”
Frank swallowed.
“I changed my mind about giving it away.”
“Why, Dad?”
“Because I decided I'd rather give it to you myself.”
Luca looked at Vanessa.
“Did he ask you to return it?”
She hesitated.
“Yes.”
“And you refused?”
“I explained that everything had already been arranged.”
Frank nodded sadly.
“She said I'd spoil the surprise.”
Luca rested both hands on the table.
“My father wanted his own watch back.”
“I wasn't stealing it.”
“Nobody said you were.”
“You're acting like I did something terrible.”
“You kept something that belonged to him after he asked for it back.”
Vanessa looked toward the guests.
“I was trying to create a meaningful family moment.”
Luca's voice softened, but his words didn't.
“A meaningful family moment would have included my father.”
He took the velvet box and placed it beside Frank.
“Dad, it's yours.”
Frank touched the lid.
For a few seconds, he didn't open it.
Then he looked at his son.
“Would you mind winding it?”
“Not at all.”
Luca opened the box.
He turned the small crown carefully until the watch began ticking.
Frank smiled.
“There she is.”
The tenderness in his voice made my eyes burn.
He wasn't talking about the watch.
Not entirely.
Luca placed it in his father's left hand.
Frank closed his fingers around it.
“I thought maybe I was being selfish,” he whispered.
“About what?”
“Wanting to keep something that reminded me of your mother.”
Luca shook his head.
“You never have to give away your memories to prove you love me.”
Frank looked down.
“I wish I'd known that Tuesday.”
Aunt Rosa, seated near Sal, suddenly cleared her throat.
Rosa Moretti was Frank's younger sister.
She'd traveled from Milwaukee for the wedding celebrations.
She was a gentle woman who usually avoided family disagreements.
But something had been troubling her.
“Luca,” she said, “may I ask something?”
He nodded.
“Of course.”
Rosa held up an ivory envelope.
“This was delivered with our wedding-weekend information.”
Vanessa stiffened.
Rosa took out a small printed card.
“I thought it was strange when I read it.”
“What does it say?” Luca asked.
Rosa looked at Frank.
“I'm sorry, Frankie. I should have checked with you.”
She handed the card to Luca.
He read it.
Then he read it again.
I watched the color leave his face.
“Claire,” he said quietly, “would you please sit beside Dad for a moment?”
I hesitated.
The empty chair beside Frank had belonged to a guest who'd moved farther down the table.
“Sir, I'm working.”
“I know. Please.”
I sat.
Frank looked relieved.
Luca turned the printed card toward Sal.
At the top were the words Family Courtesy Notice.
Below was a paragraph explaining that Frank's recovery had become emotionally difficult and asking relatives not to discuss Saturday's ceremony with him.
The final sentence was worse.
Please respect the family's decision to allow Mr. Moretti a peaceful weekend without additional questions or expectations.
Luca looked toward Vanessa.
“Whose decision?”
Vanessa said nothing.
“Mine?”
She swallowed.
“Luca, that wording was meant to be sensitive.”
“Did Dad approve it?”
“No.”
“Did I?”
“No.”
“Then who is 'the family'?”
Her eyes filled.
“I was managing the arrangements.”
Frank reached for the card.
Luca handed it to him.
The old man read slowly.
Then he looked at Rosa.
“Is that why you stopped asking me about the wedding?”
Rosa began crying.
“I thought talking about it would upset you.”
Frank shook his head.
“I thought nobody wanted to talk about it with me.”
Sal covered his mouth.
I suddenly understood something else.
For weeks, Frank had mentioned how quiet the house had become.
He'd said relatives were busy.
That everyone had their own lives.
He'd accepted the silence without complaint.
But they hadn't forgotten him.
They'd been told to leave him alone.
Vanessa looked genuinely distressed.
“I didn't realize people would stop visiting.”
Luca stared at her.
“You asked them not to bring up Saturday. What did you expect?”
“I thought they'd still come.”
Frank folded the card.
His hands were trembling.
“I didn't know everyone thought I was too upset to speak about my own son's wedding.”
Rosa reached across the table.
“Frankie, I would've come every day if I'd known.”
He squeezed her fingers.
Then Luca looked around at the guests.
“Is there anyone else who received this?”
Nearly every hand at the table went up.
Vanessa stared at them.
And Frank whispered something that silenced the room.
“So it wasn't just Luca who stopped asking what I wanted.”
He looked at the relatives he'd loved all his life.
“You all believed I was better off being left alone.”
May you like
Then Rosa lowered her hand and said:
“There's something else, Luca. Vanessa told us Frank had asked for all this himself.”
