Chapter 7 – THE INITIALS BESIDE HIS NAME

“No, Ethan.”

Luca answered immediately.

“I did not tell anyone to keep you outside.”

The boy looked toward the paper.

“But those are your initials.”

“I know.”

Luca turned to Mr. Romano.

“Tell me when I signed that sheet.”

Romano adjusted his glasses.

“Wednesday afternoon. The day before the birthday lunch.”

Luca nodded slowly.

“I remember approving the staffing arrangements.”

Vanessa crossed her arms.

“Then you remember giving me authority to manage the event.”

“I remember telling you to handle the invitations.”

“Exactly.”

“That isn’t the same as telling you to exclude my godson.”

Romano looked uncomfortable.

“Mr. Moretti, I believe I can explain.”

Luca turned.

“Go ahead.”

“The original instructions were approved Wednesday.”

He placed a second page beside the first.

“This is the copy we made for the dining staff.”

I stepped closer.

On the earlier copy, the final instruction concerned guest parking.

Nothing appeared about the Hayes family.

Romano pointed toward the newer page.

“The additional line was written Thursday morning.”

Luca studied it.

“After I signed?”

“Yes, sir.”

Vanessa looked away.

Romano continued.

“Mrs. Bellini told me you’d already approved the change verbally.”

Luca looked at her.

“Did I?”

She remained silent.

“Vanessa.”

“You were busy.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

Her eyes filled.

“No. You didn’t approve that specific instruction.”

Claire lowered her head.

Ethan stared at the table.

The room was quiet enough that I could hear the clock above the entrance.

Luca folded the two sheets together.

For a moment, he looked older than thirty-six.

Then he spoke.

“I should never have signed something I wasn’t going to supervise.”

Vanessa looked surprised.

“Luca—”

“No. I need to say this.”

He turned toward Ethan.

“I let somebody else manage things that mattered to me. I assumed that if there was a problem, someone would tell me.”

He swallowed.

“And when you stopped coming, I accepted an explanation without checking.”

Claire looked up.

“What explanation?”

Luca hesitated.

“Vanessa told me you’d asked for some time alone.”

Claire stared at him.

“I never did.”

“I understand that now.”

He looked at Ethan.

“I thought you and your mom needed space. I didn’t want to pressure either of you.”

Ethan’s voice was small.

“I thought you were glad we stopped coming.”

Luca shook his head.

“Not once.”

Claire wiped her eyes.

“So she told us you wanted distance, and told you we wanted distance.”

“Yes.”

The simplicity of it was devastating.

Three months of silence.

Three months of unnecessary grief.

And a boy who believed he’d lost two fathers in the space of two years.

Vanessa sat down heavily.

“I thought everyone would eventually adjust.”

Luca looked at her.

“Adjust to what?”

“To separate lives.”

Claire took a breath.

“Vanessa, Ethan already has a separate life. He goes to school. He has friends. I work. We pay our bills.”

She glanced toward her son.

“He wanted dinner with someone who knew his father.”

Vanessa pressed her lips together.

Claire continued.

“You made that sound like a weakness.”

I watched Uncle Salvatore remove his glasses.

He had tears in his eyes.

But he remained silent.

Luca turned toward Vanessa.

“Was any part of this about money?”

She looked confused.

“What?”

“Did Claire ask you for financial assistance?”

“Did Ethan?”

“Then what were you trying to prevent?”

Vanessa stared at the engagement ring.

For a long moment, she didn’t answer.

Finally, she whispered, “I thought if the two of them kept coming here, I would always be an outsider in my own marriage.”

Luca sat opposite her.

“You could have told me you were afraid.”

“I tried.”

“You told me Daniel was dead and I needed to move on.”

She looked down.

“That wasn’t fair.”

He paused.

“And neither was letting you think I’d stop loving you if I kept my promise to him.”

Vanessa finally looked at him.

For one brief moment, I saw the two people who had once wanted to spend their lives together.

Not a villain and a victim.

Just two adults who had failed to tell each other something important.

But then Luca looked toward Ethan.

“And when you became afraid, you didn’t ask for reassurance.”

His voice tightened.

“You made a child pay for it.”

Vanessa began crying quietly.

“I didn’t know it would hurt him this much.”

Claire shook her head.

“You took his father’s watch in front of thirty people.”

Vanessa closed her eyes.

“I know.”

“You told him he wasn’t family.”

“I know.”

Claire’s voice broke.

“What did you think would happen?”

Vanessa had no answer.

Luca rose from his chair.

He looked toward the guests.

“I apologize for what you’ve witnessed tonight. Please give us some privacy.”

Several people began standing.

No one complained.

I helped clear glasses while the guests quietly gathered their coats.

Ethan remained beside his mother.

Then, just as Luca turned back toward Vanessa, the boy stood.

He slowly unfastened his father’s watch.

“Ethan?” Luca asked.

The boy placed it on the table between them.

“I don’t want to make you choose.”

Luca stared at him.

Ethan’s eyes filled.

“I know you love Vanessa.”

Vanessa covered her mouth.

“And I know you want to get married.”

He swallowed.

“I just need to know something before we leave.”

Luca moved closer.

“Anything.”

Ethan looked at his mother’s trembling hands.

Then at the engagement ring on Vanessa’s finger.

“If you still marry her, will Mom and I have to stop being your family?”