AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hey,” Gia grabbed the journal out of her hands, “this is Mamma’s journal. What are you doing with it?”
Guilt washed over Bianca. “I... I just needed to hear her voice—to feel like she was still here.”
“And so you thought you’d read her private thoughts.”
“It was only one page and then...” Bianca stopped herself. Should she share what she’d learned? How could she not? This changed everything.
“And then what?”
Bianca shook her head. She didn’t want her sister to endure further pain. “Nothing.”
Her sister studied her for a moment. “It was something all right.” Gia lifted the still open journal and read the page. By the bottom line, her mouth gaped and her eyes were rounded. “Seriously?”
Bianca shrugged her shoulders. She wasn’t sure what to say. At least she wasn’t the only one who didn’t know about this affair.
Knock. Knock.
Enzo opened the door. “What’s going on with you two? Everyone is waiting downstairs for us?”
Gia motioned for him to come in. “Close the door.”
He did as she asked. When he stopped in front of them, he asked, “Why are you reading Mamma’s journal? You need to put it back. It’s none of your business.”
When he went to reach for the journal, Gia was too fast for him. She leaned back on the bed, out of his reach.
Bianca spoke up. “It was only going to be one page. Just enough to feel like Mamma wasn’t totally gone. And then—”
“Then we discovered something. Something big.”
Enzo shook his head. “Whatever it is. It’s none of our business.”
“Did you know Mamma had an affair?” Gia blurted out.
“What? No. That can’t be right. She wouldn’t do something like that.” He shook his head as though to chase away the troubling thought. He stepped back from them, distancing himself from the world-shattering news.
Gia scooted back on the big bed, crossed her legs and focused on the journal. She started to read their mother’s troubling words. Bianca’s gaze stayed on her brother, watching him as the wave of emotions washed over him. It was obvious that he hadn’t known about this affair. And the journal didn’t say when it’d taken place.
&
nbsp; Gia turned the page.
He said that he still loved me and forgave me for what happened, but when we fight, when the distance looms between us, I wonder if he remembers that bad time in our marriage when we separated.
I was so sure that he was never coming back. That we would end up divorced. Days turned to weeks and then to months. I was weak and let a handsome man sweet-talk me into his bed. I’ve never regretted anything so much in my life. And then the worst happened...
“Stop,” Enzo said. “This is wrong.”
“I can’t stop,” Gia said. “This affects us all.”
Enzo shook his head. “I don’t want to know.” Then his gaze narrowed and his voice shook with anger. “Isn’t it enough that we lost both of them? Do we have to do this today?”
He might not need to know but Bianca couldn’t live with the not knowing. What could be worse than her mother cheating on her father? Bianca needed answers as much as she needed oxygen.
As her sister argued with their brother, Bianca grabbed the journal from her. Her siblings’ voices faded into the background as she took in her mother’s words.
And then the worst happened. I became pregnant. Aldo said he’d forgiven me and would accept the baby as his own...
Wait. What? One of the three siblings wasn’t a true Bartolini? Bianca’s gaze hungrily sought out the next words, anxious to know that the family she’d known all her life was truly hers—that she wasn’t an outsider.
