I wonder if she thought about it. If she stood at the gate and looked back at the compound and considered, even for a moment, finding me. Explaining. Apologizing.
Probably not. Elena never looked back. That was always her gift. Moving forward without the weight of what she left behind.
I can’t do that. I carry everything. Every slight, every wound, every moment of being invisible in my own family.
But maybe that’s not weakness. Maybe that’s what makes me different. I stayed. I looked. I found the man destroying them from the inside. And tonight, Dante will make sure Romano pays for it.
“You’re thinkin’ again.”
Nonna’s voice cuts through my spiral. She’s watching me with those sharp eyes that miss nothing.
“Dough’s over-worked,cher.”
I look down. My hands have gone still, fingers pressed too hard into the yielding surface.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. Just be here.” She crosses to me, hip checking me aside, and takes over the dough with expert hands. “Whatever’s goin’ on in that head of yours, it can wait. Right now, we make bread. Feed the family. The rest takes care of itself.”
She’s right about one thing. I can be here. Present. Part of this moment.
“Can you teach me the roux?” I ask.
Nonna Rosa’s face splits into a grin.
“Now you’re talkin’. Maria, move over. We got another student.”
An hour later, I’m covered in flour and my shoulders ache from stirring and the laughter keeps slipping out before I can catch it.
Maria and I developed a rhythm. She handles the proteins, I handle the starches, and Nonna floats between us, correcting and praising in equal measure.
The kitchen is warm, fragrant, alive with purpose.
This is what I wanted. What I didn’t know I needed until I was standing in the middle of it.
“The gravy needs more time.” Nonna peers into a pot, frowning. “Another hour at least. Maria, you watch it. Don’t let it scorch.”
“I won’t.”
“You said that last time.”
“Last time was different.”
“Last time you were daydreamin’ about that Valentino boy who delivers the wine.”
Maria’s cheeks flush. “I was not.”
“You were. I got eyes everywhere,cher.Don’t forget it.”
I bite back a smile. There’s love in Nonna Rosa’s teasing, the kind that comes from years of knowing someone. Of being family even when blood doesn’t connect you.
I want Nonna Rosa to know me long enough to tease me like that.
“Cassia.”
His voice comes from the entrance, and my whole body responds before my mind catches up.
I turn, and there he is.
