Chapter 8 - The Night Sofia Came Home
Six months after Aurelia, I returned to the hospital where Leo had been born.
I thought I was ready.
I wasn't.
The smell of antiseptic triggered memories before we reached the neonatal unit.
My hand found Luca's.
He held it.
Through the glass, I saw tiny babies sleeping beneath warm lights.
Then I remembered everything.
Thirty-three weeks.
Blood.
Luca carrying me toward the emergency entrance.
Me screaming that Leo was too early.
Doctors running.
A nurse cutting away my clothes.
Luca wearing surgical scrubs.
The anesthesiologist asking questions I couldn't answer because I was shaking.
Then Leo.
Forty-one seconds.
Those terrible forty-one seconds.
But more came.
After surgery, I had hemorrhaged again.
Doctors worked for nearly two hours.
Luca had been told he might lose me after nearly losing Leo.
I turned toward him.
“You never told me.”
“You had enough.”
“You thought I was dying.”
“Yes.”
“And then months later, I disappeared.”
His eyes lowered.
Now I understood.
Luca wasn't simply afraid of losing me.
He had lost me repeatedly.
Pregnancy.
Birth.
Kidnapping.
Amnesia.
No wonder fear lived behind his eyes whenever I walked away.
I touched his scar.
“How did you get this?”
He hesitated.
“The night you disappeared.”
“What?”
“I found one of Salvatore's men.”
I understood without details.
“Luca.”
“I wasn't a good man that night.”
“Were you ever?”
A surprised laugh escaped him.
I smiled.
“There's my arrogant criminal.”
His forehead touched mine.
“I missed you.”
“I know.”
“No.”
His voice broke.
“You don't.”
He looked through the NICU glass.
“I missed arguing with you. I missed you stealing my shirts. I missed finding your ridiculous tea cups everywhere. I missed you yelling because I left my shoes beside the stairs.”
“I did that?”
“Constantly.”
“Monster.”
He laughed.
Then cried.
Quietly.
I held him.
That was when the final important memory returned.
Not the kidnapping.
Not Salvatore.
Our wedding.
We had married in a tiny stone chapel.
Rain outside.
Only twelve guests.
Luca had forgotten half his vows.
I whispered them to him.
He laughed.
Then improvised.
“I can't promise you a quiet life.”
Memory-Sofia smiled.
“I know.”
“I can't promise I'll always deserve you.”
“You won't.”
Guests laughed.
“But I promise that if you get lost, I'll come find you.”
The memory vanished.
I stepped backward.
Luca immediately noticed.
“What?”
I couldn't speak.
“Sofia?”
“Your vows.”
His face changed.
“You remember?”
“You promised if I got lost, you'd find me.”
He looked shattered.
“I didn't.”
“Yes, you did.”
“It took eleven months.”
“You walked into my restaurant.”
“By accident.”
I shook my head.
“Maybe.”
Behind us, Leo babbled from his stroller.
I looked down.
“But he recognized me.”
The strange truth settled between us.
Luca hadn't found me.
Leo had.
Our premature baby.
The child we'd nearly lost.
The child who had spent his first thirty-six days fighting to remain in the world had somehow recognized the mother whose own mind no longer recognized herself.
I picked him up.
“You found Mommy.”
Leo touched my necklace.
Luca kissed the top of his head.
That evening, we visited the little chapel.
It was empty.
I stood where Sofia had once stood.
Luca beside me.
“I don't want our old marriage back,” I said.
Pain flashed across his face.
Then I continued.
“I want ours.”
He stared.
“The one we have now.”
I took his hand.
“Sofia loved you.”
My voice trembled.
“Avery loves you too.”
His eyes filled.
“And I think they're finally becoming the same woman.”
He kissed me beneath the same roof where we'd once promised to find each other.
May you like
This time, neither of us needed vows.
We had already kept them.
