Page 509 of Reign

Another slowly takes its place.

Mamma holding a baby against her chest.

Me.

Her face is lowered toward mine, her mouth pressed against my forehead. She looks at me as though there’s nothing else in the world she needs to see.

The image dissolves before I am ready.

Mamma appears again, sitting between Angelo and Santo. They are younger, but both of my brothers are already scowling at the camera while she smiles between them.

“Oh, they’ve always looked like that,” Luciano murmurs.

A laugh breaks through my tears. “Pretty much.”

Then the photograph fades, and the next one takes its place.

Mamma barefoot beside a pool.

Sunlight catches in her hair. One hand shields her eyes while she smiles toward the camera. She looks warm. Happy. Real enough that something inside me reaches helplessly toward her.

Mamma alive.

My crying turns ugly.

The photographs continue drifting through the water one at a time, forming and fading as though Luciano is quietly returning pieces of her to me.

I turn my head.

He isn’t looking at the ceiling.

He’s watching me.

All this time, while Mamma’s face moves through the ripples above us, Luciano watches mine.

“You did all of this?”

“I had assistance.”

“From whom?”

“Angelo gave me the photographs and the original perfume. Santo remembered the song.”

“My brothers helped you?”

“They did.”

I try to say something else, but it breaks apart and becomes another sob.

They wanted this for me too.

Luciano moves closer.

His arm slides beneath my neck, and he draws me against him until my cheek rests over his heart. The mattress shifts with us, carrying me easily into the shape of his body.

I clutch his shirt.

“You remembered.”