“Their mother,” she said. Then she looked at Valentina. “And her sister.”
Everything went silent.
Even my own breathing.
Valentina recovered first.
“That’s not your place to say,” she said coolly. “You don’t know everything.”
“I know enough,” Lucy replied. “I know she recognized her. I know Ines called her by name. And I know she said she had no family in that room.”
Thomas quietly closed the door behind her.
The click echoed.
I still had the ring in my hand.
It felt heavy now.
Ridiculous.
“Explain,” I said.
Valentina looked at me… then at Valeria… the babies… the ruined cake.
For the first time, she didn’t have an answer ready.
Lucy opened the folder.
“Ines came in three months ago,” she said. “Bleeding. Early labor. Head injury from an accident. The girl was with her—never left her side.”
Valeria lowered her head.
“I was in neonatal that night,” Lucy continued. “Your fiancée was at a hospital foundation meeting. When Ines saw her… she started crying.”
Valentina closed her eyes for a second.
“Not from pain,” Lucy said. “From relief.”
I turned to Valentina.
“She called her Vale,” Lucy added. “Not Valentina.”
Silence.
“Your sister?” I asked.
Valentina hesitated.