AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It means a lot to me that she cares about my opinion. “I do,” I admit. “But I’m going to miss you when you go to New York.”
“I’ll miss you too. But you and Joey will come visit, right? I mean you’ll have to come meet your nephew.”
I grin over at her. “Try and stop us.”
Kristin goes to find her father when we get back to the house, and I shower and change into my suit. It’s Gabriella’s christening day and the house is a flurry of activity. Joey’s busy organizing caterers and balloons for the party afterward, and I head down to the garden to find her.
“Maximo?” Anya’s soft voice calls as I pass the den.
“Everything okay?” I ask as I walk toward her. She’s dressed in a soft pink dress with her hair and makeup done, but she still looks so pale and weak that it stops me in my tracks. With everything going on, I haven’t seen much of her these past few weeks, and I regret that. Anya is a woman I deeply admire and respect. Life is too fucking cruel sometimes.
“I need to ask you a favor,” she says with a smile that is still capable of lighting up a room. Slipping into the den, she beckons me to follow.
“Of course. What is it?”
I watch her perch on the edge of the sofa, my curiosity well and truly piqued. I’m surprised she’s even here alone. It’s rare that Lorenzo isn’t by her side these days.
“Won’t you sit?” she asks.
Unable to figure out what she could possibly want to talk to me about, I sit across from her. She takes a sip from the glass of water on the table beside her. Reaching under the sofa cushion, she grabs a small white envelope and hands it to me. It has Lorenzo’s name written on the front in her delicate handwriting.
“What is this?”
“It’s for Lorenzo.”
“Yeah, I can see that, so why are you giving it to me?”
“It’s a letter,” she says softly, her eyes brimming with tears. “For after I’m gone.”
Jesus, fuck! “Anya. Don’t talk like that—”
“Maximo!” she admonishes me. “I am dying. We all know it. There is no miracle cure around the corner. In a few months’ time, I won’t be here. That’s the sad truth, but I’ve come to accept it.” She gives a slight shrug of her shoulders. Even talking about her own death, she’s dignified and resilient.
“But this…” I hold up the letter.
“If I give it to him myself, he’ll tear it up.” She shakes her head. “Besides, it is not for him to read yet.”
“When should he read it?”
“That’s for you to decide. I trust you to make that call.”
A heavy weight presses on my chest. “How will I know that, Anya?”
“It’s not sealed. Read it.”
I open my mouth, but no words come out.
“Please, Maximo?”
“Why not Joey? Or Kat? Or Dante?”
She shakes her head. “They’re too close to him. They won’t be able to bear his pain and they’ll give in too soon just to make him feel better. It will all be wasted.”
“And you think that I can stand to see him hurting? They should be the ones, Anya. Not me,” I argue. Staring at her, I silently plead for her to reconsider. I don’t want this fucking letter. Already it feels like a lead weight around my neck. How the fuck do I know when the right time is? I don’t understand why I’m the one being trusted with something as important as whatever this is.
“You are the right man, Maximo. You love him like a brother, but you see him for the man he is and the man he can be. Read the letter, and then one day I hope you will know when to give it to him.”
“I-I can’t read your private letter to him. It’s fucking wrong.”
