The villa felt different now. Not heavier—lighter. Like something toxic had finally been exhaled. Ivan was gone, and with him, the shadow that had stretched across too many corners of our lives.
I left Luca with Gio and my brothers. They needed to talk, to laugh, to dissect the chaos that had led us here. I needed something quieter. Something real.
Aunt Lori was in the sunroom, her fingers curled around a mug that smelled like chamomile and resolve. She looked up when I walked in, and her eyes softened the way they always did when she saw me—like she was seeing my mother in me, and me in my own right.
“I need your help,” I said, sitting across from her. “It’s about my IUD.”
She didn’t blink. Just nodded once. “You and Luca?”
I nodded. “We want to start a family.”
She set the mug down
