Chapter 1

My daughter asked me the way she always did. "Is Papa still not coming home for my birthday?"

I couldn't bear it and wanted to lie to her again, but instead she was the one comforting me.

"Papa must have gone to be with Auntie Rosalind again, the one who keeps threatening to leave her husband. It's the same if Mama spends it with me."

My eyes filled with tears at once.

The night Lorenzo Fallaci and I were married before the whole famiglia, Rosalind started making noise about her own marriage falling apart.

Because of it, Lorenzo dropped me right there, half out of my clothes, and rushed off into the dark.

For the next five years, at Valentine's dinners, at our daughter's birthday parties, on the feast days and our wedding anniversaries, Rosalind would always, right on cue, kick up her marriage drama a moment beforehand.

I'd tried to stop him, but he'd only stare at me like I was being unreasonable.

"Cara, Rosalind is my adopted sister. Living under Salvatore's roof is hard and painful for her too. You need to be more understanding."

This time, it was our daughter's parent day at the little parochial school.

An hour before it started, Rosalind's call came, right on schedule.

His phone buzzed and his whole body turned toward it, the way it always did, as if someone had pulled a leash.

I blocked him at the door. "You've never gone, not once. Our daughter gets called a fatherless bastard by the other children."

He shoved me hard out of the way. "Didn't you hear Rosalind crying her heart out on the phone? If I don't go, that animal Salvatore will beat her!"

But when I brought our daughter to the school,

Lorenzo was there playing the interactive games, standing in as the father of Rosalind's child.

My daughter clutched my hand and asked me sadly, "Mama, has Papa stopped wanting us?"

I lifted her up and carried her inside. "No. It's that Mama has stopped wanting him."

……

I carried Gemma Fallaci in, and the moment she saw Lorenzo she called out to him. "Papa."

Lorenzo was crouched by the slide, playing a clapping game with Chiara Marchetti.

He heard her voice and straightened up. "Gemma? Why are you two here?"

He started toward us. He'd taken barely half a step when there was a dull thud behind him, and Chiara dropped to the ground and burst into tears.

"Papa, carry me! I want Papa to carry me!"

The instant Lorenzo heard her, he stopped short, turned, and bent down to scoop Chiara into his arms. "What's wrong? Did you hurt yourself?"

Rosalind came trotting over, crouched beside them, and wiped the tears off Chiara's face with a wet wipe. Just before her own eyes went glassy, her gaze flicked sideways, checking who was watching. "That fall hurt, didn't it? Papa and Mama are both right here. There, there, don't be scared."

Gemma slid down out of my arms and stood against my leg, both hands twisting the hem of her skirt.

She didn't call out a second time. She only watched Lorenzo's back, quiet and still.

The parent-child games started soon after.

The teacher had everyone gather round.

Gemma walked over toward her classmates.

She'd barely reached them when a little girl beside her pointed at her and pouted. "Gemma, you don't even have a papa. Your papa has never once come to your parent day! And you lied and said he'd definitely come this time. Liar!"

Another child joined in. "Yeah, she's always saying she has a papa, but we've never seen him even once. My mama says you're just a fatherless bastard!"

"Liar! Faker! Bastard!"

They crowded around Gemma, pointing and jeering without stopping.

Gemma's face went red all over, and she kept trying to explain. "I do have a papa, and my papa came today too! If you don't believe me, I can call him over!"

She bit her lip, pushed out of the circle around her, one small fist closed tight around the strawberry hairclip in her hair, then worked up her courage and ran a few steps toward Lorenzo, tilting her head up as she called out. "Papa! The teacher says the games are starting. Will you come play with me?"

Chiara instantly wrapped her arms tight around Lorenzo's neck and buried her face in his shoulder, one hand already tugging at his sleeve. "This is my papa! He's my papa! He's playing the games with me today. You're not allowed to steal my papa!"

The children all around burst out laughing and crowded back around Gemma. "Gemma is lying! Gemma is lying! She doesn't have a papa and she wants to steal someone else's!"