Chapter 6 - MIA ASKED WHY HER MOTHER HID THINGS FROM HER FATHER
Mia was five.
Too young for full.
At ten, she asked.
“Did Mom not trust you?”
Dante took breath.
“She trusted me in some ways.”
Then:
“But she thought I trusted the wrong people.”
“Was she right?”
“Yes.”
Hard.
Then Leo, twelve, said:
“Why didn’t she just tell you?”
“She tried.”
Then:
“And I delayed.”
Dante showed age-appropriate email later.
Not to shame.
Transparency.
Then Leo:
“You said Javier is family.”
“Yes.”
“Was that why?”
“Yes.”
Then Mia:
“Family can lie.”
“Yes.”
“Then what’s point?”
Dante smiled sadly.
“Family is relationship, not proof of honesty.”
Good.
Then Renata entered life slowly.
Birthday card.
Lunch.
No secret gifts.
No trust conversations.
At first Leo called her Renata.
Later Aunt Renata.
Mia faster.
Dante slower.
Then one day Renata brought Sofia’s recipes.
Mia cried.
Ordinary inheritance.
Not money.
Then Sofia’s study.
Eventually transformed.
Not shrine.
At fourteen Leo asked to use as music room.
Dante said yes.
Locked drawer removed.
Good.
Then brass key.
Returned after trial.
Leo asked:
“Can I keep?”
Dante said:
“It opened something important.”
Then:
“But it doesn’t need control your room.”
They put in family document box.
May you like
Years later, forgotten.
Healing.
