Chapter 9 - Lily
Nora stayed.
But she did not become Dante's girlfriend overnight.
She made him work for it.
John found this extremely entertaining.
“Flowers,” he advised Dante one morning.
Nora looked over her coffee.
“Don't help him.”
John ignored her.
“Chocolate.”
“Traitor.”
Dante smiled.
“What else?”
John considered.
“Grovel.”
Nora laughed so hard Lily kicked.
By February, the Moretti mansion no longer felt like a museum.
John ate dinner downstairs every evening.
Music returned to the library.
Nora stopped wearing her maid uniform because she was no longer employed as household staff.
Instead, Dante hired attorneys to repair the financial damage Brody had caused.
The fraudulent debts were removed.
Her credit began recovering.
He offered to pay everything.
Nora refused.
“I need help fixing my life. I don't need someone purchasing a new one.”
Dante respected that.
It made him love her more.
Brody accepted a plea agreement for his role in the fraud and kidnapping. His cooperation against Victor reduced his sentence.
Before being transferred, he asked to see Nora.
She agreed.
He looked smaller behind the glass.
“I don't expect forgiveness.”
“Good.”
He nodded.
“I did love you.”
Nora shook her head.
“You loved having someone trust you.”
The distinction hurt him.
He asked about Lily.
Nora protected her boundaries.
“One day, when she's old enough, I'll tell her the truth. What happens after that will be her decision.”
Brody nodded.
For once, he didn't argue.
In March, John began walking short distances with assistance.
His doctors said some neurological damage would remain permanently, but his recovery had exceeded expectations.
Nora cried the first time he took six steps.
John complained she was embarrassing him.
Then April arrived.
So did Lily.
Nora's contractions began at breakfast.
She dropped her spoon.
Dante stood immediately.
“What?”
Nora stared at him.
“My water broke.”
John smiled.
Dante went pale.
“Now?”
“No, Dante. Next Thursday. Yes, now.”
The feared businessman who could negotiate a hundred-million-dollar contract without blinking suddenly forgot how doors worked.
He grabbed the hospital bag.
Then the wrong bag.
Then his coat.
Then Nora's coat.
Then no shoes.
Nora laughed through a contraction.
“Are you having the baby?”
“I am perfectly calm.”
“You're holding John's blood pressure monitor.”
Dante looked down.
He was.
John laughed until he coughed.
Seven hours later, Dante stood beside Nora in a Manhattan hospital delivery room.
She crushed his hand.
“I hate you.”
“You're doing great.”
“I specifically hate that sentence.”
“Understood.”
Another contraction came.
Nora screamed.
Dante kissed her forehead.
“Break my hand if you need to.”
“Planning on it.”
At 6:42 p.m., Lily Rebecca Bennett entered the world screaming furiously.
The nurse placed her against Nora's chest.
Everything else disappeared.
Nora cried.
Dante cried too, although he later denied it.
Lily had dark hair, tiny fists and an immediate dislike of being wrapped.
“She is perfect,” Dante whispered.
Nora looked at him.
He wasn't looking at Lily.
He was looking at her.
John met Lily the following morning.
Nora carefully placed the baby in his arms.
The old man's hands trembled.
For several seconds he couldn't speak.
Then Lily opened her eyes.
John smiled.
“Princess.”
Nora remembered the cold room.
The stale toast.
The untouched water.
The man everyone had forgotten.
Now sunlight filled his hospital room while four generations of broken histories seemed to meet around one tiny child.
Dante stood beside Nora.
John looked between them.
“Marry.”
Nora nearly dropped her coffee.
“Excuse me?”
John pointed at Dante.
“Slow.”
Dante frowned.
“Whose side are you on?”
John pointed at Nora.
“Hers.”
“Obviously.”
Nora laughed.
Dante waited another month before proposing.
Not in a ballroom.
Not before hundreds of people.
Not with photographers.
He took Nora to John's old room.
The room had been transformed.
The burgundy curtains were gone.
The walls were warm cream.
Books filled the shelves.
Beside the fireplace stood three photographs.
John and Alessandro.
Nora and Rebecca.
And Lily sleeping against John's chest.
Dante took Nora's hand.
“The worst things that happened to this family survived because everyone was afraid to speak.”
He knelt.
“I don't want fear deciding anything else for us.”
Nora covered her mouth.
“Nora Bennett, will you marry me?”
From behind the partially open door came John's voice.
“Say yes.”
Nora laughed through tears.
“You're eavesdropping!”
“Old.”
“You've used that excuse for six months.”
Dante was laughing now.
May you like
Nora looked down at him.
Then she said yes.
