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"But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us while we were still dead as a result of our sins, gave us life together with Christ; by grace you have been saved." - Ephesians 2:4-5

A few months later.

Maldives Islands. July 8, 2026.

Giovanna Rinaldi

We've been on the island for almost two weeks, as soon as the girls' exams were over we came to this paradise, just me and the girls, as they asked, but a week later they told me that they missed Mariam very much and wanted her to enjoy it with us and well Mari is here. We're going to spend the whole month here just enjoying the peace that this place brings, my daughters are playing in the sand on the private beach.

At the end of the day, I realized that love doesn't hurt. I kept thinking about that passage in the Bible that says: "Love is patient, love is kind.... It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things."

But it's not quite like that, this passage talks about difficulties for two, things that happen naturally, which are often not our choices, but betrayal is a choice, I couldn't just forgive him every time he hurt me and go back to him every time, love is kind, yes, but not a fool, Love has to be lived to the fullest, love, even with its difficulties, is good, but betrayal will never be a difficulty because betrayal is a choice and if I have to humiliate myself and forgive him every time, so that I don't have even one percent of his love, I'd rather die, we have to value ourselves.

I learned that for love to be true it doesn't necessarily need a partner, I learned that true love is self-love, love between two people, love between friends, between family. These months have been a lot of learning for me, I've talked to Elisa and my mother so much about my feelings and they've helped me so much that today I see how naive I was for believing that one day Lorenzo would love me as I loved him, I also realize that yes, I did love him.

My mistake was to have put him on a pedestal as if he would never hurt me or make a mistake with me, of course in a marriage you don't expect that, but the way he and I got together was unconventional.

I'm not ready to forgive him, it's all so recent that I don't feel comfortable with this situation. Giulia asked me if I would ever be able to forgive Lorenzo, and I said yes, but nothing will ever be the same.

Looking back over my journey to today, I've realized so many things that I could make a list of them all. I've learned that I could never sustain my marriage on my own because I loved Lorenzo too much, I had to get to know myself before all this happened, and understand that I shouldn't have put myself through this, I've understood that it's not wrong that I ended my marriage when I was the only one who fought for it to work from the beginning, I tried in many ways to make it work, but the time has come to let him go.

Another truth is that Lorenzo has always prioritized himself, rather than our relationship or even the girls, a fact that is what he did when he introduced Mia to me, twice, when she was a child and the time months ago when he left her to go after Lorena.

Love is like a plant, it must always be watered and cared for and if it isn't it will die. There's a phrase that says: "Take the value you give to stupid people and put it into yourself. Self-love is not selfishness, it's necessity!" I've never seen so much truth in one sentence.

- Mom? - Aurora called me

- Yes, my dear?

- Dad's not staying with us anymore?

- No, my love, why?

- It's just that I'm still afraid of staying with him.

- Lorenzo is your father and he loves you.

- But Mom, if Dad loves me, why would he fight with me?

- My little princess, your father wasn't happy when he was still married to Mom and he ended up taking out his frustration on you and Mia.

- Aurora, even though our father was horrible, he's still our father and God teaches us that we should give people a second chance. - Mia's words surprised me.

- Exactly my loves, look, I can't force you to be nice to your father, but whatever I can do to help you have a good relationship with him, I will.

- Thanks Mom, you're the best. - Mia said and we smiled at each other, Mia turned her attention to Aurora.

I sat down on the beach chair and began to look out at the immensity of the blue sea and think about my life.

....