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Rosa laughs in an unhinged way. I can’t blame her, and yet, even now, my soul is singing, my heart throbbing. He never wanted anybody else, only me.
“You’re wrong,” Rosa says. “Every moment is ruined.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” I reply. “What he did, I know it’s wrong. Lying is, but he did it for you. He did it so you could have something special, a memory of your mom that would always stay with you andmeansomething. For years, he pretended to love a woman he didn’t. For you.”
Rosa approaches slowly. Thankfully, the bleeding on her knuckles has stopped, but they’re still red.
“Stop defending him. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She’s got a point. The last thing I should do as her best friend is stand up for her dad. However, there’s another aspect to me, one that feels far more important. I’m the future wife, the future mother,his.
“You can’t hate your dad forever,” I say.
“Says who?” Rosa’s lips tremble, tears glittering in her eyes. “Maybe I can. Maybe I can hate him for the rest of my life, and anyway, it hasn’t even been an hour yet. What about that, Emma? Am I allowed an hour?”
“I just want you to remember that, no matter what, your dad still loves you.”
“Why are you talking about this like youknow?” she snaps. “You don’t know anything about Dad or why he does the things he does. He didn’t do this for me. He did it for himself so he could play the grieving husband. So he could look like he’s ever given a damn about anything in his life.”
I think of my man, savage in the beginning and now still savage, but with some softness, genuine emotion, and warmth in his heart.
“That’s not true.”
“She wasn’t killed in a gas explosion,” Rosa snaps. “He told me that much, at least. A rival gang killed her back during another war. Soon after, Dad took power. You know what I think? He kept up this love lie so he could use her death to become Don. That’s all he cares about.TheFamily. Nothisfamily.”
“That’s not true,” I snap, way too aggressively, as if I’ve got a dog in this fight. I have, but I can’t let Rosa hear its bark.
I saw how much Leo cared when he spoke about children and belonging. I saw how badly he wanted to protect me and our future family. Rosa can’t say he doesn’t care because he does. He cares about us, our love, and people who aren’t yet alive.
“Stopdefendinghim!” she yells, turning and marching for the stairs.
“Rosa, wait.”
I trail after her, hearing Eddie’s footsteps behind me.
“Miss, your hand,” Eddie calls. “I can’t let you leave until we’ve tended to it.”
At the top of the stairs, Rosa stops, spins, and glares down at us. “Stop worrying about my hand. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters anymore. Everything I’ve ever known is a lie. Just leave me alone. Both of you.”
Rosa aims that severe look at me. For a second, there’s something more than anger in her eyes. It’s a look that implies a lot. I wonder if I’ve gone too far in defending Leo.
“I can’t,” Eddie says, walking past me. “Not until I’ve sorted your hand.”
Rosa sighs and softens just a little toward Eddie, not me. “Okay, Eddie. Thank you, but then—”
“Then I’m a ghost. You won’t see me. You won’t hear a peep. Deal?”
They leave.
I walk back down the stairs and study the shrine, the shards of glass, and Angelica’s photo in the frame. My thoughts stray to Dario lighting these candles every morning. The love he must have for this woman promised to his big brother, with him forced to watch as Leo celebrated their love for years.
With nothing else to do, I go to the basement and drop onto the sofa of the entertainment room. I didn’t know it was possible to smile and frown at the same time, just like I didn’t realize it was possible for so much love and bleakness to fill a person’s heart simultaneously.
I ache for Rosa, but more than that, I long to be back in Leo’s arms, to hold him tightly and listen to his husky words of belonging. I’m unsure how much time passes with me just staring at the ceiling, thinking of the future. I dream of the first time I’ll hearMamaor watch as my baby collapses into a contented sleep after feeding.
At a knock on the basement’s main door, I climb the stairs.
“Yes? Hello?”
