Chapter 4 – The Grandmother Behind The Photograph

Luca kept staring at the date.

“Eight days,” he whispered. “She was here eight days before Elena died?”

Mrs. Carter nodded.

“Your wife asked me to invite her mother while you were attending a meeting downtown.”

“Why didn’t she tell me?”

“She intended to.”

Mrs. Carter hesitated.

“She thought she had more time.”

Those words silenced the room.

Luca lowered himself into a chair.

For three years, he’d believed Elena and her mother had remained estranged until the end.

He’d told himself that Eleanor’s custody petition was another attempt to control her daughter’s life.

Now he was looking at a photograph that proved Elena had wanted something different.

“I would’ve let her come,” he said quietly.

Mrs. Carter looked at him.

“Would you, sir?”

Luca opened his mouth.

Then closed it.

Because everyone in that room remembered how much he and Eleanor had argued.

And Elena had been sick enough without having to referee another fight.

Vanessa stepped closer.

“Luca, surely you understand why Eleanor wanted Lily.”

He looked up.

“I understand that you used a promise my wife made to arrange something behind my back.”

“That’s unfair.”

“Then why did you hide this photograph?”

Vanessa studied the floor.

“Because you got upset whenever someone mentioned Eleanor.”

Luca looked at the picture again.

His wife was smiling.

Not because she’d forgotten their disagreements.

Because she had managed to bring her mother close one final time.

He pressed the photograph against his chest.

“I didn’t even know she had this day.”

I looked toward the sitting room, where Lily had fallen asleep against her father’s jacket.

For all his power, Luca couldn’t recover that afternoon.

But he could still change what happened tomorrow.

The following morning, he was downstairs before seven.

I found him standing at the stove, wearing a black shirt with his sleeves rolled up.

A plate of uneven pancakes sat on the counter.

Lily appeared beside me in her slippers.

She stopped.

“Daddy?”

Luca turned.

“Morning, princess.”

“You’re home?”

“I’m home.”

She ran toward him.

He lifted her onto the kitchen counter.

“Want to help me make breakfast?”

She smiled.

“Your pancakes look weird.”

“I know. I’m considering retiring from cooking.”

Lily laughed.

It was the first carefree sound I’d heard from her in days.

But when Luca mentioned visiting her grandmother, the smile disappeared.

“Do I have to stay there?”

“Can I come back with you?”

“Yes.”

She thought for a moment.

“Can Sophie come?”

Luca looked at me.

“Of course.”

By ten, we were driving toward Eleanor Hart’s house in Evanston.

Daniel had arranged the visit openly.

Vanessa remained at the mansion.

Luca had told her he needed answers before discussing their engagement again.

Eleanor’s home was nothing like the Moretti mansion.

It was a modest redbrick house with white curtains, an old porch swing, and rosebushes along the walkway.

I could understand why someone might imagine Lily enjoying the quiet.

But a comfortable house wasn’t the same as the home a child wanted.

Eleanor opened the door before we reached the porch.

She was a slender woman in her late sixties, with silver hair and tired blue eyes.

The moment she saw Lily, her face changed.

“Oh, sweetheart.”

Lily stepped behind Luca.

Eleanor stopped.

Her smile faded.

“I suppose I deserve that.”

Luca entered without answering.

Inside, family photographs covered the mantel.

Elena as a little girl.

Elena at graduation.

Elena holding baby Lily.

I noticed one photograph of Luca standing beside Elena at their wedding.

He noticed it too.

“You kept that?”

Eleanor followed his gaze.

“My daughter loved you.”

The admission surprised him.

“Then why did you spend three years trying to convince people I didn’t deserve my own child?”

Eleanor sat down.

“Because I was angry.”

“At me?”

“At everyone. Mostly at you.”

She clasped her hands.

“Elena was dying, and you were still handling business meetings. I thought you believed you could pay someone to handle everything that mattered.”

Luca lowered his eyes.

“I was afraid.”

“So was she.”

“I know that now.”

Eleanor looked toward Lily.

“When Vanessa contacted me, she said things weren’t going well.”

“What things?” I asked.

“She said Lily cried at night. That she preferred staying with the staff. That Luca rarely attended her school events.”

Some of those things were true.

That made the lies harder to recognize.

Eleanor continued.

“Vanessa told me Luca wanted Lily somewhere peaceful while he started a new marriage.”

“I never said that,” Luca replied.

“I know.”

“Did you know before last night?”

Eleanor hesitated.

“I didn’t ask you.”

Her honesty was painful.

“Why?” Luca demanded.

“Because I was afraid you’d say no.”

Lily suddenly spoke.

“Grandma?”

Eleanor turned.

“Yes, honey?”

“Why did you tell me not to call Daddy?”

The older woman’s eyes filled.

“I thought it would hurt less if you weren’t expecting him every day.”

Lily looked confused.

“But he’s my daddy every day.”

Eleanor covered her mouth.

Luca reached for his daughter’s hand.

Nobody spoke for a while.

Then Eleanor brought a silver locket from a small wooden jewelry box.

Lily leaned forward.

“Mommy’s necklace.”

Eleanor placed it in her hand.

“It belongs to you.”

“Even if I don’t stay?”

Eleanor’s face crumpled.

“Even then, sweetheart.”

Lily opened it carefully.

Inside were two tiny photographs.

One showed Elena smiling.

The other showed Luca holding baby Lily.

I watched Eleanor notice the second photograph.

She looked ashamed.

Then she brought out a child’s drawing Vanessa had given her.

“This is what convinced me Lily needed to leave.”

The picture showed Lily and me sitting at a dinner table.

There was an empty space beside us.

Eleanor pointed.

“Vanessa said Lily drew this because she felt abandoned.”

Lily leaned closer.

Her forehead wrinkled.

“That’s my picture.”

“Yes, honey.”

“But it’s broken.”

I looked carefully.

The paper had been cut along one edge.

A few pencil marks disappeared into the missing section.

Lily touched the torn border.

“I drew Daddy there.”

Luca went still.

“What?”

Lily pointed beside her little painted figure.

“He was holding my hand.”

Eleanor stared at the drawing.

The truth finally became visible.

Someone had removed Luca from the picture before showing it to Lily’s grandmother.

Lily looked up at her father.

Her voice was small but certain.

“Daddy, Miss Vanessa cut you out of our family.”