Chapter 19 - One Year Later
One year after the gala, the DeLuca Foundation held its annual benefit in a different hotel.
Marcello insisted.
The old ballroom had too much memory trapped in it.
Lucia arrived early.
Lily wore sneakers under her formal dress because she had declared shiny shoes “mean.”
The guest list was smaller.
The speeches were shorter.
She had written Lucia twice.
Nobody demanded reconciliation.
Lucia kept the letters in a drawer until she was ready.
Marcello answered only through counsel where necessary.
Distance could be a boundary without becoming hatred.
During dinner, Lily wandered toward a display of foundation photographs.
One image showed Luca opening a children’s hospital wing.
“Uncle.”
“Yes.”
Then she pointed at a photograph from the previous year’s gala.
Vanessa stood in the background with one hand on the fake pregnant belly.
“That lady.”
“Her belly fell off.”
“Yes.”
Lily was already moving on.
“Can I have cake?”
“After dinner.”
“Cake is dinner.”
“Nice try.”
Across the ballroom, Marcello watched them.
“She saved us.”
Marcello shook his head.
“Lily?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Lucia looked surprised.
“She told the truth.”
“That’s different.”
Marcello looked around the room.
“We were supposed to save ourselves by listening.”
Then Marcello’s phone buzzed.
A final notice from the trust administrator.
Luca’s unborn-child proxy had been permanently closed.
His twenty-two percent shares would pass according to the ordinary provisions of his will.
No corporate power attached to a pregnancy.
Marcello put the phone away.
Then Lily ran toward him holding two pieces of cake.
“Daddy, Mommy said one.”
Elena shouted from across the room:
“I absolutely did.”
Marcello took one plate.
“Now we each have one.”
Elena pointed at him.
May you like
“Enabler.”
For once, the DeLuca family’s biggest conspiracy involved frosting.
