Chapter 9 - MY FATHER CAME TO FLORENCE
Victoriao Moretti arrived without warning.
Naturally.
I found him waiting outside the institute.
Older.
Smaller somehow.
Power loses height when you stop fearing it.
“We need to talk.”
“No.”
His expression hardened.
“I came across an ocean.”
“That was your decision.”
“Janevra.”
I almost kept walking.
Then stopped.
Not because he deserved it.
Because I wanted to know whether there was anything left between us.
We sat at a café.
He hated the tiny table.
Good.
---
“You destroyed the alliance.”
“No.”
“You sided with your husband.”
“I sided with evidence.”
“He has poisoned you against your own family.”
I laughed.
“Elio told me to choose for myself.”
That silenced him.
“You never did.”
My father looked away.
Then:
“I protected you.”
“You traded me.”
“That marriage kept you safe.”
“You did not ask whether I wanted it.”
“Children do not always understand what they need.”
“I was twenty-two.”
“You were naive.”
“Then you should have educated me.”
My voice shook.
“Not sold me.”
Silence.
For the first time in my life, my father had nothing ready.
Then he said quietly:
“I did what my father did.”
There.
Not apology.
Understanding.
A beginning.
“My mother hated him for it.”
“Yes.”
“And you still repeated it.”
“Yes.”
I stared.
He looked suddenly tired.
“I don’t know how to undo that.”
“You can’t.”
His face tightened.
I continued:
“But you can stop pretending it was love.”
That landed.
---
We did not reconcile in Florence.
Life is not that efficient.
But when he left, he said:
“I am sorry.”
First time.
I did not say:
I forgive you.
I said:
“I heard you.”
May you like
Enough.
---
