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Francesco knew that look all too well. He’d experienced it all his life.
Constanza continued after having put her son and his wife in their place.
“Fortitude doesn’t come easy. Strength doesn’t come easy. But we endure so that our familia prospers for generations to come. You undermined everything we stand for.”
The way she looked at Valentina broke Valentina’s heart and pissed her off simultaneously. Valentina didn’t expect much from her parents, not even her mother. Her mom had been domesticated years ago. She had no voice – none. Yet, Valentina voiced no protestation. She tried to reason with them before, and her pleas were ignored. Talking more was pointless.
“You have sullied the family name, soiled and tainted our legacy,”
Valentina couldn’t maintain her grandmother’s unrelenting gaze, but she stood steadfast, shoulders back and head held high.
“You are no longer welcome here.”
Chapter Three
“What does that mean?” Isotta whispered.
She didn’t mean to say it aloud as she watched her sister storm from the dining room. But once again, she uttered a thought that was supposed to be internal. Isotta avoided the dining room and followed her sister, gaining ground on Valentina with each step. Isotta closed the door to Valentina’s room after having entered uninvited.
“What does that mean?” She asked with intention.
Valentina ignored her, haughtily stomping around the room, trying to decide what to take with her.
“Valentina, what does that mean?”
“What are you talking about?” Valentina replied without focusing on her sister.
“What grandmother said. What does it mean?”
Valentina blew out heavily and paused her activities, inclining herself to her sister. Isotta saw that Valentina’s eyebrow was pitched high on her forehead, and she watched as Valentina crossed her arms underneath her chest.
“Are you really not that bright?”
Isotta looked confused, not sure whether she felt insulted.
Valentina shifted her weight onto her other foot, jutting out her hip and placing a delicate hand there.
“Your parents have disowned me. They have called me a failure. They are turning their backs on me and putting me out to fend for myself. That’s what’s happening, Isotta. At grandmother’s insistence, I am being disowned.”
Valentina felt the hot press of tears behind her eyes. She didn’t want to cry, but the press was more than she could contain. A tear slipped down her cheek, and she violently swiped it away. Isotta started to understand.
“But why?” Isotta whined. “Why do you have to go?”
Valentina dismissed her sister’s inquiry and started to throw things in her suitcase. She no longer cared what she took. She just wanted to get as much of her stuff as she could. She continued to swipe at the tears that dared to fall.
“Because Isotta, they don’t know me,” she finally answered.
When the guards showed up at the door, it set in for Valentina that the disownership was real.
“Why are they here?” Isotta asked and then turned to the guards, confronting them directly. “Why are you here?” She shrieked.
They ignored her.
“Ms. Valentina,” one of the guards said.
Valentina acted as though she didn’t hear him and kept throwing her things into her luggage. It began to sink in with Isotta,
“Why don’t you just go!” She screamed at the guards.
