That was the woman standing before me.
Mamma had called Guido’s wife and asked her to style Stella’s hair. It was short, but it was slicked back to showcase how gorgeous her face was. Her body, a tad bit thinner than it was before, was covered in a bright floral embroidered dress, the hem uneven and landing right at her ankles. A pair of gold heels were on her feet, lifting her a good two inches. I’d had our jeweler create bangle bracelets for her, and the diamonds inside of the stars caught the light and glittered. I couldn’t wait to buy more for her—a claim.
Mine.
I held my hand out for her, and she took it.
“Say something,” she whispered, ducking her head, tucking a strand of hair back that hadn’t moved.
“That’s going to be a fucking problem,” I said. “I can barely breathe.”
She smoothed the dress. “It’s the dress. It’s stunning.” She looked at the three women, who had all my love before, and smiled.
Now there were four women who had all my love.
“Fuck the dress,” I said. “It’s nice, but you’re beautiful, Stella. You.” And I was getting choked up. She was leaving this fucking hospital on my arm. She’d be with me forever. A physically transformed woman from the one who had entered this place.
“Thank you, Matteo,” Stella said, her voice stronger, louder. She smiled at me, and I turned into a fucking puddle at her feet.
I pulled her forward, so proud I wasn’t sure my chest could swell any more, or my heart might fucking burst. “Stella,” I said, “this is my father, Brando Fausti. papà, Stella.”
“Stella,” he said, taking her hand and kissing it.
She nodded, but she didn’t add anything else. Her eyes were still wide. Mamma, Magpie, and Mia laughed a little but didn’t say anything.
“Let’s not linger.” Magpie looked around like someone was going to jump out and put her in a straitjacket. “I don’t like these places unless a woman I love is giving birth.” She nudged my sister with her hip, and they started laughing.
Stella was still staring at my father. Once they walked ahead, I narrowed my eyes at her. “Tell me,” I said.
“Erm…tell you?”
“You’re staring at my father.”
She blinked at his back and then turned her eyes on me. “Oh.” A smile came to her face. “It’s hard to look away from him. You’re his twin!”
I grinned. “Wait until you meet my grandfather.”
“Nonno,” she said.
I nodded and offered her my arm. She took it and we followed behind the group. “He’ll expect you to call him that.”
“Sweet. I never had a grandfather before.”
She was about to have an entire life she never had before. And I couldn’t wait to fucking give it to her.
Even though we’d taken walks around the hospital in Tuscany, it was the first time Stella was riding in a car in over two months.The entire time, her hand was locked on mine, and her head was pressed against the window. Dr. Casella said she might get nauseas from not experiencing motion in a while, but when she offered Stella something to take, Stella declined. I’d asked her if she got car sick before, and she just shrugged. She’d never travelled for long periods in them, she’d told me, not since she was a kid.
Occasionally, she’d eye Saverio in the driver seat, my sister sitting next to him, fiddling with the radio. I could tell certain songs piqued her interest, but she wasn’t feeling good enough to enjoy them.
It was times like these that I knew it was going to take time for her to get used to life. The last time she’d experienced real life was when she was twelve, before her mamma left her with the Nemours. When I brought up all of that, she said she wasn’t ready to talk about it. I got the feeling she had been extremely close to her mamma, and she was worried about what had happened to her. I hated to be the one to break it to her, but one day, I would. I’d show her all the things Saverio, Mia, and Evelina found. I told her about the box, but she didn’t want details.
“Not ready yet,” she’d whispered in a voice so broken, I couldn’t deny her the time to get stronger before all the answers she needed would break her heart all over again.
Her eyes had been shut tight, last I checked, but they were cracked open. A slight smile was on her face. An older song that was making a comeback was on the radio, and my sister was singing it to Saverio in the same sort of baby voice the singer had. The singer said something about waiting for the guy’s love, and every time my sister would sing it, Rio would have a different response for my sister. Like when the singer sang,we can’t be friends,and my sister repeated it, Rio said, “Fucking right. You’re so much more than my friend. You’re everything.”
Mia loved singing to Saverio while he drove, and I could tell Stella liked it. As we got closer to Siena, she started to sit up straighter and ask questions about the songs playing on the radio. I wasn’t sure if Stella caught it or not, but at one point, my sister wiped tears from her eyes. I stared at Mia until she met my eyes through the rearview mirror. She nodded, and I knew why she was crying. She felt bad that Stella had missed out on so many years of her life. She’d missed doing all the girly shit my sister did because she’d been a prisoner.
Lifting Stella’s hand to my mouth, I closed my eyes and breathed her in.I’d make her life better. I’d take care of her. I’ll never let her hurt again, if I can help it.
