Chapter 14 - ADRIAN ASKED WHAT I WANTED FROM THE VALES
A year after the gala, Adrian invited Lucy and me to dinner.
Not at a ballroom.
A restaurant in the North End.
Private room.
Sofia.
Adrian.
Me.
Lucy.
Four people trying not to call something a family dinner because nobody knew whether that word was earned yet.
Lucy ordered spaghetti and got sauce on a dress Sofia had bought her.
Sofia looked delighted.
Adrian pretended not to know how children's menus worked.
Halfway through dinner, he asked:
“What do you want from us?”
Sofia looked embarrassed.
“Adrian.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“It's a fair question.”
I considered it.
A year earlier, I might have said nothing.
Now I knew.
“I want you to stop treating belonging like debt.”
He leaned back.
“Explain.”
“My mother spent her life believing if she accepted anything from this family, the family got to make claims on her.”
Sofia lowered her eyes.
“I won't live that way.”
Adrian nodded.
“So no obligations.”
“Normal obligations.”
“What are normal obligations?”
I almost smiled.
“You call on birthdays.”
Sofia laughed.
“You don't send security because I don't answer my phone.”
Adrian looked mildly guilty.
“You don't offer Lucy money every time you feel sad.”
Sofia looked guilty too.
“And you don't expect me at every family event just because DNA says I'm invited.”
Adrian nodded.
“Done.”
Then I asked something of him.
“What do you want?”
That seemed to surprise him.
He looked toward Lucy, who was trying to balance bread on a spoon.
“I want the chance not to be my father.”
Simple.
Unpolished.
Honest.
I believed him.
Not because I knew he would succeed.
Because he understood success wasn't automatic.
After dinner, Sofia handed me a small envelope.
“I found this inside Lucia's piano bench.”
My grandmother's piano had been in storage for decades.
The envelope said:
For Elena, when she is ready to come home.
Lucia's handwriting.
My heart pounded.
Sofia said:
“I never opened it.”
I held the envelope.
“What if it's terrible?”
“Then it's terrible.”
“What if it changes everything again?”
Sofia looked at me.
“Then you can decide when you want that.”
May you like
I put it in my purse unopened.
For once, no one pushed.
