Chapter 14 - THE LITTLE GIRL WHO CALLED HIM HOME
Grace turned two on a bright summer afternoon.
We celebrated in the garden of the Mancini estate.
Not with hundreds of guests.
Just family and friends.
Rosa baked a cake.
Dr. Lane brought a stuffed puppy.
My father, with whom I'd slowly rebuilt contact, flew in from Arizona.
And Alessandro spent the morning hanging yellow balloons from the trees.
Grace ran across the grass in a pink dress.
Her dark curls bounced.
She stopped beside Alessandro.
“Dada!”
He froze.
I looked up.
Grace lifted her arms.
“Dada!”
Alessandro stared at me.
His eyes filled.
I smiled.
“She means you.”
He crouched.
Grace climbed into his arms.
He held her close.
For a moment, he couldn't speak.
Then he whispered:
“Hello, sweetheart.”
That evening, after the guests left, Alessandro sat beside me on the porch.
Grace slept upstairs.
The garden lights glowed.
He looked toward the mountains.
“Two years ago, I thought my life was finished.”
I smiled.
“Mine too.”
He turned.
“And then I found you in the snow.”
I took his hand.
“You didn't just find me.”
He frowned.
“What?”
I smiled through tears.
“You gave me time to find myself.”
May you like
He kissed my forehead.
And for the first time, I believed the future could be beautiful.
