Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN WHO BROKE THE SILENCE
Vincent remained on the floor for nearly ten minutes.
The monitors hummed above him.
Rain battered the estate.
And on screen four, Clara sat beside Matteo while the boy slowly described his mother.
He talked about her terrible singing.
The way she burned pancakes.
The ridiculous purple umbrella she carried even when the sky was clear.
Clara listened.
She didn't interrupt.
Didn't tell him to stop crying.
Didn't insist he should be grateful to be alive.
She simply let him remember.
Vincent covered his face.
For fourteen months, he'd believed silence protected his son from grief.
Now he understood he'd been protecting himself.
When he finally stood, his legs felt unsteady.
He walked upstairs.
Stopped outside Matteo's bedroom.
And knocked.
Clara opened the door.
Her expression changed when she saw him.
“Mr. Rossi.”
Vincent looked past her.
Matteo was sitting in bed holding the blue wooden star.
His cheeks were wet.
But his eyes were alive.
“Daddy?”
Vincent's chest tightened.
He couldn't remember the last time his son had called him that without being prompted.
He stepped inside.
“Hey, buddy.”
Matteo looked at him.
“Did Mommy really hate mushrooms?”
Vincent froze.
Then laughed.
A broken, surprised laugh.
“She absolutely hated mushrooms.”
Matteo smiled.
“Clara said I could ask you.”
Vincent looked at her.
Clara's expression was calm.
But something in her eyes challenged him.
Don't waste this.
Vincent sat beside the bed.
“Your mother once threw an entire mushroom pizza into the ocean.”
Matteo gasped.
“Really?”
Vincent nodded.
“She said it was a crime against food.”
Matteo laughed.
A real laugh.
The sound struck Vincent harder than any bullet ever had.
He began laughing too.
Then crying.
Matteo reached for him.
May you like
Vincent pulled his son into his arms.
And for the first time in more than a year, they grieved Isabella together.
