Chapter 6 - The Truth About Lucia
Three weeks later, I stood inside an empty Hearth & Honey.
The eviction notice was gone.
So was Keller.
Dante had purchased the building.
I still refused to accept it as a gift.
“You're impossible,” he said.
“And you're controlling.”
“I saved your bakery.”
“You bought an entire building without asking me.”
“You needed a building.”
“I needed rent money.”
“Buying seemed more efficient.”
I stared at him.
He stared back.
Matteo slept against his chest.
“You know,” I said, “normal people use banks.”
“I own one.”
“Of course you do.”
He smiled.
An actual smile.
Then his expression softened.
“Bennett called.”
My stomach tightened.
“About Lucia?”
Dante nodded.
We sat.
He placed a folder between us.
“The hospital reopened her case.”
I couldn't touch it.
“What did they find?”
“Eric’s theft altered several medications. One was administered to Lucia.”
I closed my eyes.
“So he killed her.”
“The doctors can't say with absolute certainty.”
“But?”
“It significantly reduced her chances.”
I stared at the folder.
For eight months, I'd blamed my body.
Maybe I hadn't carried Lucia long enough.
Maybe I'd worked too hard.
Maybe I'd missed some warning.
Every motherless morning had begun with another version of the same question.
What did I do wrong?
Now I knew.
Nothing.
Dante reached across the table.
He didn't grab my hand.
He simply placed his beside mine.
I chose to close the distance.
“I want something,” I said.
“Anything.”
“Careful.”
“I mean it.”
“I want the bakery reopened.”
“Done.”
“Under my ownership.”
He sighed.
“Clara.”
“My ownership.”
“Fine.”
“And I repay whatever you spent.”
“That'll take approximately one hundred and eighty years.”
“Then Matteo can collect from my estate.”
Dante laughed.
Matteo woke and immediately started fussing.
I reached for him.
Dante paused.
“You don't have to.”
“I know.”
That mattered.
I lifted Matteo.
His tiny fingers closed around mine.
For the first time, holding him didn't send me completely back to Lucia.
He wasn't replacing her.
Nobody could.
Matteo was simply Matteo.
A child who had survived.
Dante watched me.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You're staring again.”
“I do that.”
“It's creepy.”
He smiled.
Then the bakery door opened.
Dr. Bennett entered carrying an envelope.
“Sorry I'm late.”
Dante stood.
“What happened?”
“Nothing bad.”
He looked at me.
“Actually, this is for Clara.”
I opened it.
Inside was a letter from the hospital.
A settlement.
And another document.
A proposal to establish a neonatal medication-safety fund in Lucia Reyes’s name.
My vision blurred.
“They want your approval,” Bennett said.
I couldn't speak.
Dante read the page over my shoulder.
“The Lucia Reyes Infant Safety Fund.”
I pressed my hand against my mouth.
Dante whispered, “Say yes.”
I looked at Matteo.
May you like
Then at the bakery where I'd thought my life ended.
“Yes.”
