Chapter 13
Isabella asked to speak with Dominic.
I said no.
She looked at me.
I corrected myself.
“Do you want to?”
“Yes.”
Her choice.
Not mine.
We met in the private dining room.
Lucia stayed with Teresa.
Dominic looked at Isabella and smiled.
“So you got what you wanted.”
She sat across from him.
“What did I want?”
“Marco.”
Her expression hardened.
“I had Marco.”
He frowned.
“Before you.”
She continued.
“I lost him because of you.”
Dominic leaned back.
“You lost him because you believed me.”
There it was again.
The victim causes the cruelty.
Isabella did not flinch this time.
“Yes.”
That surprised him.
“I believed you.”
She nodded.
“I was twenty-nine, pregnant, terrified, and you carried Marco’s ring.”
Dominic said nothing.
“That was my mistake.”
She leaned forward.
“Your lie was yours.”
Silence.
Good.
Dominic tried another angle.
“He will never forgive you for leaving.”
I stood behind her but said nothing.
She looked at me first.
Then back at Dominic.
“That is between Marco and me.”
His face changed.
Exactly.
No access.
No interpreter.
No place inside our relationship.
He hated that more than anger.
Isabella continued.
“You wanted every conflict to pass through you because if people spoke directly, you became less necessary.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“You think you understand me?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I finally understand what you needed.”
That hurt him.
She stood.
Before leaving, she placed the torn photograph on the table.
Dominic stared at it.
“You tore this because it held the card.”
“And Rosa.”
“Yes.”
She looked toward him.
“But Lucia carried it all the way back anyway.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
Isabella smiled faintly.
“You lost to a preschool backpack.”
Then she left.
I almost laughed.
Dominic did not.
Later, I repaired the photograph with clear archival tape.
Not perfectly.
The tear still showed.
I considered replacing it.
Isabella stopped me.
“No.”
I looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because hiding the tear would make it prettier than what happened.”
She was right.
The photograph had survived because Lucia carried it.
Damaged.
May you like
Still useful.
Like more than one person in the room.
