Chapter 5 - THE BROTHER LEFT OUTSIDE IN WINTER
“You locked my brother outside?”
Luca's voice broke.
Mrs. Carter flinched.
We were standing near the restaurant's side hallway, away from the customers.
Lucy had fallen quiet in her mother's arms.
The elderly housekeeper pressed her hands together.
“Your father told me Enzo wasn't welcome.”
Luca stared at her.
“And you listened?”
“I was afraid of losing my job.”
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Mrs. Carter had worked for the Moretti family for almost thirty years.
She was the woman who remembered everyone's birthdays.
The one who made soup when somebody was sick.
I'd never seen her look so small.
“Your father said Enzo had embarrassed the family,” she continued. “He ordered me not to let him inside until he agreed to apologize.”
Luca looked down.
“My brother wouldn't apologize for refusing to put his name on Father's business deals.”
Mrs. Carter nodded.
“Enzo said he only wanted ten minutes with you.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I intended to.”
She wiped her cheeks.
“But your father said you'd already made your choice. He told me not to interfere.”
Luca took a step away.
“I never made that choice.”
Rebecca's voice was barely audible.
“Enzo believed you had.”
Luca looked at her.
“Did he?”
“For a long time.”
The answer hurt more than an accusation would have.
Luca rested one hand against the wall.
His tattoos disappeared beneath the cuff of his black jacket.
“I was angry with him,” he admitted. “We hadn't spoken properly in months. I thought he wanted nothing to do with me.”
Rebecca held Lucy closer.
“He wanted you to know his daughter.”
Luca's eyes filled.
I saw him struggle to keep his composure.
Then Lucy approached.
She placed her father's watch in his hand.
“It's okay if you can't fix it today.”
Luca crouched in front of her.
For a moment, he couldn't answer.
Then he gently touched her shoulder.
“I wish I could fix a lot of things.”
Lucy nodded.
“Mama says some things take time.”
Rebecca turned away to wipe her eyes.
I looked at Mrs. Carter.
The housekeeper's confession hadn't erased what she'd done.
But it changed how I understood her.
She'd spent years carrying a terrible decision, and now she had to face the people it had hurt.
Luca stood.
“We're going to talk about this again,” he told her. “But not in front of Lucy.”
Mrs. Carter nodded.
“I understand.”
He turned toward Rebecca.
“Can we sit somewhere private?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“As long as Lucy stays with me.”
“Of course.”
We moved into a small dining room beside the kitchen.
There was a round table and a window overlooking the courtyard.
Daniel joined us after speaking with the responding officers upstairs.
Mark had been taken away from the restaurant while police investigated the reported protective-order violation.
Daniel had also given them the brass apartment key.
The thought made me breathe a little easier.
But I knew the key wasn't the only problem.
Mark knew where I lived.
He knew where I worked.
And Vanessa had given him access to both.
Rebecca settled Lucy beside her.
Luca sat opposite them.
“Tell me how Vanessa found you.”
Rebecca folded her hands.
“Two months ago, Margaret Vale contacted me. She said Vanessa Bellini wanted to help Enzo's daughter.”
“Margaret was your lawyer?”
“She helped me with a family-court matter after Enzo died. Mark accompanied me to the courthouse once because I needed someone to watch Lucy.”
I remembered that day.
The woman in the gray coat.
Mark standing beside her.
I had thought she was defending him.
Instead, she'd been helping his sister.
“Vanessa offered to cover my rent,” Rebecca continued. “I'd fallen behind after Lucy needed treatment for her asthma. My insurance didn't cover everything.”
“Did she actually pay?” Luca asked.
Rebecca nodded.
“Two months. Without asking for anything.”
That surprised me.
For a moment, Vanessa's actions sounded almost generous.
Rebecca looked down.
“She brought groceries. Took Lucy to the zoo. Stayed with us one night when Lucy was sick.”
Luca said nothing.
“Then she started talking about a better school,” Rebecca continued. “A bigger house. A room of Lucy's own.”
Lucy looked up.
“She showed me pink curtains.”
Rebecca swallowed.
“Last week, Vanessa said there was a job opportunity in Milwaukee. She told me you'd finally agreed to meet Lucy, but only if I proved I could support myself without asking the Morettis for money.”
“I never said that,” Luca answered.
“I know that now.”
“Why didn't you contact me directly?”
Rebecca stared at him.
“After what happened with your father, I wasn't willing to risk another rejection.”
Luca looked ashamed.
“I understand.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“No. You don't. I spent eight years trying to keep my daughter from feeling unwanted.”
Her words stayed with me.
Because I'd spent years trying to convince myself that being unwanted by Mark didn't mean I was worthless.
Then Lucy reached into her coat.
“Mom, the blue envelope.”
Rebecca frowned.
“What envelope?”
“The lady said to give it to you tomorrow.”
Lucy handed her a folded blue envelope.
Vanessa's handwriting appeared across the front.
For Rebecca.
Inside was a bus ticket, a printed travel schedule, and a school emergency-contact form.
Rebecca examined the ticket first.
“That's strange.”
“What is?” Luca asked.
“She said she'd booked my return trips, too.”
I leaned closer.
There was no return reservation.
Only a one-way ticket to Milwaukee.
Rebecca looked at the school form.
Her face changed.
Under PARENT OR PRIMARY CONTACT, her name had been crossed out in blue ink.
Vanessa Bellini had written her own name beside it.
“I never agreed to this,” Rebecca whispered.
Luca took the paper.
The lower section listed adults permitted to collect Lucy from school.
Two names appeared.
Vanessa Bellini.
And someone else.
Rebecca grabbed the page.
Her hands began shaking.
“No. Absolutely not.”
Luca looked up.
“Rebecca?”
May you like
She turned the paper toward him.
The second person authorized to collect her daughter was Mark Hale.
