"And that time Tomasso got hospitalized for a stomach infection? She thought it was something serious. Got on her knees and begged the doctor, then knelt outside the operating room for hours until the surgery was over. She's crazy about him. She'd never leave. A little thing like this is nothing compared to losing Tomasso."
"Exactly what I was thinking."
Tomasso's lips curved. He pulled Catarina closer against him, his arm tightening around her shoulders. "No matter what it takes, I'll give Catarina and this child a home."
I stood in the doorway and watched the man I'd loved for seven years hold another woman in his arms.
My fingers curled at my sides until my nails bit into my palms.
He had it all figured out. He'd been planning to give Catarina a home all along. Divorce me, register the child, remarry me like a transaction, like shuffling territory on a map. And every person in that room had already accepted it as the natural order of things. Because that was what Giovanna did. Giovanna bent. Giovanna knelt. Giovanna loved him so much she'd swallow anything.
Well then. Who was I to stand in his way?
I stepped into the doorway and spoke quietly. "A boy? Congratulations."