Chapter 2 - Grandpa Luca
I opened the dining-room doors.
Thirty faces turned.
At the head of the table, Luca Moretti stopped listening to the man beside him.
His eyes found Emily.
Then her stomach.
His fork struck his plate.
“Emily?”
“Hi, Dad.”
Vanessa reached us before he did.
“What a surprise,” she said brightly.
Then, through her smile, she whispered, “Leave.”
“No,” I said.
Her fingers closed around my arm.
“You desperate little maid. I told you to put her in a cab.”
A chair scraped.
“Take your hand off her.”
Luca’s voice wasn’t loud.
Vanessa let go.
He walked toward Emily, stopping close enough to touch her but somehow afraid to.
“You’re having a baby?”
Emily nodded, already crying.
“How far along?”
“Almost six months.”
His face changed.
“Six?”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For not telling you.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“I tried.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Luca, sweetheart, this is hardly—”
He raised one hand.
“How many times?” he asked Emily.
“I don’t know. Twenty?”
He looked at Vanessa.
“You answered?”
“Sometimes. You were busy.”
“You told me he was ashamed,” Emily said.
The room went silent.
Luca stared at his daughter.
“Ashamed of you?”
“She said you didn’t want people knowing I was pregnant before the wedding.”
Vanessa let out a sharp breath.
“I was protecting tonight.”
“From my grandchild?”
“You know how people talk.”
“I should have known my daughter was becoming a mother.”
He turned back to Emily.
“Who’s the father?”
“Michael.”
“The teacher?”
She nodded.
“We’re getting married in the spring.”
Luca pulled her into his arms.
I watched her clutch the back of his jacket like she was afraid he might disappear.
“I would have come,” he said.
“To what?”
“Everything.”
“Vanessa said you didn’t want to be involved.”
“I bought a crib last month.”
Emily pulled back.
“What?”
“Saw it in a store window. Bought it. Felt ridiculous afterward.”
His mouth trembled.
“It’s upstairs.”
She covered her face.
Then she remembered the bag.
“I brought you this.”
The little white onesie looked impossibly small in his hands.
GRANDPA LUCA.
He read it twice.
Then pressed it against his chest.
“I was going to give it to you six weeks ago,” she said.
Vanessa looked toward the door.
Emily wiped her cheeks.
“Dad, did you really sell Mom’s house?”
Luca’s head lifted.
“What?”
“The house on Maple Street. Vanessa said I had until Friday to take Mom’s things.”
“That house isn’t mine to sell.”
Emily frowned.
“I transferred it to you on your twenty-fourth birthday.”
Vanessa’s glass hit the table.
Emily reached into her purse.
“Then why did two men bring me this?”
Luca unfolded the letter.
A final property inspection had been scheduled for the following morning.
The contact name was Vanessa Bellini.
Emily gripped his sleeve.
“They kept asking about Mom’s locked cabinet.”
Luca looked up.
“They didn’t care about the furniture,” she whispered. “They wanted the key.”
He folded the letter carefully.
“Nobody goes near that house.”
Vanessa opened her mouth.
Before she could speak, a phone vibrated inside her purse.
May you like
On the screen, a message lit up.
WE’RE AT MAPLE. BACK DOOR’S OPEN.
