Chapter 315

Standing in the nursery, Valentina looked at the twin cribs with a look of amazement and slight panic. Seven months pregnant with twins, her belly was absurdly huge. Everything seemed like it was stretched to breaking point. Her back ached constantly. Her feet were twice their normal size. When she looked down, she could hardly see her own feet. But she was happy in a way that made all of the discomfort feel entirely worth it.

Luca was making another dresser in the corner and his heavy black hair fell into his forehead as he focused on measuring. And had brought to this role the same vigor with which he once managed an empire. Every little thing had to be just right. All of the furniture had to be totally secure. He wanted his daughters to have everything in order. He worked the nails into the wood with precision.

“Old Italians’ names,” Luca said flatly without lifting his eyes from it. Now his voice was firm and unflinching. "Isabella and Sofia. They are classic. They are strong. They carry weight and have meaning behind them.”

Valentina shook her head a little as she tried to settle into the rocking chair with her stomach in the way. The chair was creaking softly under her as she sat. "Aurora," she said clearly. "And maybe Lucia. Something that feels new. Something that could be theirs, not part of the past. Something that is theirs alone."

“‘Aurora’ is not a name though,” Luca protested and she could imagine the smile in his voice. They’d been having the same argument for weeks now, and they both knew it was all banter. They were playing one of their favorite games.

“Aurora means dawn” Valentina said patiently. "It means new beginning. It’s the light at the end of darkness, after all. It is totally appropriate for what we’re creating right here in this place. For the life that we are building together.”

At long last Luca glanced up at her from his work. Blue eyes that were soft and warm, filled with love. “Compromise, then,” he said after moment’s contemplation. "Isabella, in honour of your mother who will never be replaced. And Aurora, for the new start we are making. Yes? Does that work for you?"

Valentina nodded, her eyes welling with tears the way they did all the time now. The hormones of pregnancy, mixed with real emotion. "Yes," she whispered. "Isabella and Aurora Caruso. Our girls. Our daughters that will change everything.”

The baby shower had been on a sunny afternoon in the garden, high and bright. Kennedy and Liv had all of this planned with their military like precision for detail. There were string lights strung between the trees, and soft shadows fell across everything. Tables were draped in white linen, and set with pretty flowers. The villa was already full of soft laughter and the soft clink of glasses as guests began arriving.

Elena was seated up front, presiding with her observant eyes and kind smile over everything. She appeared more vibrant than she had in years. Little of their past worries weighed her down. Alecia weaved her way around the party, serving up food and drinks, and Valentina observed how much calmer her sister had been. The therapy sessions were working. Healing was in sight, it was starting to become tangible.

Near the end of the party, as the sun dipped and turned the sky orange and pink, Alecia pulled Valentina away from the bustle of outdoor life into one of the still rooms in their house. She clutched a wrapped parcel and her hazel eyes glowed with emotion and nerves.

"I have something for you," Alecia whispered. Her voice trembled slightly. "For Isabella and Aurora. Something important."

She passed Valentina the leather-bound journal. It was a beautiful cover that had clearly seen better days, with gold initials on the front. The leather was handled for softness and suppleness.

“I've been writing in this for months,” Alecia said cautiously. "Letters to your daughters. Letters about where we were from. About the mistakes I made. About our mother. On the hope I have for them to be better than we were. So they know exactly where they came from, but also know that they can do so much better than everything that came before them.”

Valentina slowly opened the journal and page after page saw Alecia’s handwriting. The words were thoughtful and candid and full of love. She started to cry, deeply emotional tears that were coming from somewhere deep and true within her.

“Alecia,” she murmured through her tears. "This is beautiful. This is so beautiful."

"Don't thank me just yet," Alecia smiled through her own tears. “Just wait until you actually read it. Wait until you get there and realize how full of love he is on those pages.”

A week later, Valentina was reading on the terrace which overlooked the garden when she got a surprise letter. The afternoon was mild and tranquil. It was a forwarded from the prison via official channels. She recognized the handwriting immediately. Bianca.

She carefully flipped it open and started reading the words that were written on careful handwriting throughout its pages.

Bianca had written a lot about regret and remorse. About Isabella and how the woman had been a victim before she became a villain. She chronicled the decisions she had made and how everything would have potentially played out involving love rather than revengeful, bitter darkness. She wrote about redemption — if one was even possible for someone like her. Could she meet the babies, perhaps just once – not as family but to apologize to Isabella’s memory.

Valentina read it slowly three times. Then she let Luca see it that evening.

"Absolutely not," he said immediately. His jaw was tight. His protective impulses were in overdrive. For a moment, he was the old Luca, the dangerous one. "She is dangerous. She will always be dangerous."

But when Valentina solicited Alecia’s thoughts in private, Alecia shocked the two of them with her response.

"She was a victim too," Alecia said in hushed tones one afternoon when they sat in the garden. "Before she became a villain. That doesn’t mean what she did is excusable. But it also means that she needs to be given the opportunity to regret it in earnest. It’s just that she deserves a shot at redemption.”

For several days, Valentina had been pondering this. She considered all the angles. She called out to her mother, in spirit. And she finally, wrote Bianca back:

“When my daughters are older and I can explain everything in full, if they so choose, they can meet you. That is the only just way I can conceive of. And for now, understand that your regret counts. But, they will determine if you’ve earned your comeuppance.”

She folded it up and sealed it, addressing it to Lennan, the lawyer; she posted it without letting Luca see it. There were some decisions that she would have to make alone. Some things had to be up to her.

Valentina was awakened in the night, eight months pregnant, by a stabbing through her belly. Her whole stomach seized in one sensation. The contractions continued every two minutes or so, intense and scary. She’d read about Braxton Hicks contractions in all of her pregnancy books, but this felt different. These felt absolutely real. This all had the feel that the actual thing was about to begin.

She pushed at Luca, frightened out of her wits. "It's time," she said in a harsh whisper. "For real this time. I can feel it."

Luca sat up in bed, fully awake in an eye-blink. Sleep fled from his eyes. "Are you absolutely sure? You do not have any doubt?"

“I know for sure,” Valentina, who spoke with complete authority amid a contraction, said. "Luca, I am sure. We need to go now."

They grabbed the pre-packed hospital bags they had prepared weeks ago, and left quickly for the car. The night was silent and quiet all around them. They proceeded towards the hospital when suddenly Valentina told Luca to pull over.

She paused for a moment at Isabella’s tree, the lemon tree they had planted in the garden months ago. She put her hand on the stem of the young tree. The palm of her hand pressed on smooth bark.

“Wish us luck, Mama,” she murmured to the tree and her mother’s memory. “Your granddaughters are being born today. They are coming right now."

The leaves rustled. softly and strangely as with a breath of sudden wind, yet there had been no wind. For one brief instant, Valentina could have sworn that she’d smelled her mother’s familiar scent. The fragrance of lilies, vanilla and Isabella’s own special scent that nobody else ever smelt quite like.

She looked at Luca. She could tell by his expression that he had detected it as well. The impossible thing had also happened to him. He had the oval face and blue eyes of a cherub, all but unseen behind the wire rims of his glasses.

“She's here with us,” Valentina muttered.

“Let’s go us some,” Luca said and reached to take her hand. “Then we shall go seek Isabella and Aurora.

They headed in the direction of the hospital, watching as the dark night sky turned lighter with an approaching dawn. Naples was still asleep around them. Everything seemed possible and real, like they were entering a new chapter of their lives that would fundamentally alter everything.