I paused near the seats, looking around to take everything in. My aunt had arranged pictures of me and Papa, and… of Lester.
I moved forward cautiously, a chill running down my spine. Above the fireplace, in the space between the mantel and the TV, was a small white frame. In it was an old selfie, taken with Lester before we had even started dating.
I frowned. I could have sworn that picture was only on Lester’s phone.
“Do you like it, honeybee?” I turned at the sudden, cautious sound of my aunt’s voice.
I swallowed hard, a thought tearing at my insides. It was always wonderful to see Lester again, but the truth was… he wasn’t Camillo.
I forced a reluctant smile. “It’s… lovely,” I croaked, wrapping my arms around myself.
At that moment, Oliver appeared behind Aunt Lizzie, stroking his gray goatee with hands covered in silver rings. There was a clear sense of apprehension on his face.
“Liv went home…” he murmured, looking at me with the caution of someone walking on eggshells. “She’s just worried about you, Doll. We all are.”
My shoulders slumped with a deep sigh. “You have no reason to be.”
“Honeybee…” Aunt Lizzie sighed, slowly sitting down on the sofa. “First, we thought you were living out the romance of your life. Then we find out it was all a lie and you’d been snatched by some wannabeDon Corleone! I thought we were going to lose you.”
“He would never hurt me,” I defended, feeling like an intruder in my own home.
But instead of doubt, I found a smile full of tenderness on my aunt’s face. “I know he wouldn’t,” she murmured, and my heart raced. She reached out an arm to Oliver, motioning for him to sit beside her. I couldn't help but smile as I watched him place a tender kiss on her cheek. “You said it yourself. Good men sometimes behave badly. This one here is proof of that.” She laughed, and Oliver gave her a sulky look. “And I know we don’t love them any less, no matter how serious their crimes may be.” As she spoke, her green eyes—the same shade as mine—locked onto me. “But you have to understand that Olivia thought shewas going to lose her best friend. And I…” Her throat caught. “For me, it was like losing my brother Paul all over again.”
I sank into the opposite sofa and sat facing my aunt. My insides were knotting into a tangled web. Before he became my Papa, he had been like a father to Aunt Lizzie. They’d been orphaned young, and he’d ended up raising his younger sister on his own. Between my own grief and everything that had happened, I hadn’t stopped to think about what this meant to her. Suddenly, those last twelve years flashed before my eyes in a fraction of a second.
Selfish.That’s what I’d been every time I’d wanted to die. I’d focused only on my own pain and ignored what my absence would mean to Aunt Lizzie. To Olivia. Even to Oliver. Maybe the greatest act of courage and selflessness, at the end of the day, was simply choosing to keep on living.
“I’m sorry…” I murmured softly. “I never meant to hurt you.”
“Your aunt knows that, Doll. We all know it. Even Olivia. Just as we understand that you’re suffering.” Oliver surprised me. He had never been a shallow man—quite the opposite. But seeing him so serious was always a shock. “Listen, kid… He sent you back to protect you. You understand that, right?”
I nodded, tears streaming down my face. “That’s what he said.”
Oliver snorted. “I respect him for that. I’ve been part of that world. One day you’re breathing, the next, your brains are baking in the sun. That’s no life for you, Daisy Doll.”
“What if it is?” I whispered, afraid of my own words. I watched Oliver straighten up and cast a worried glance at my aunt. “What if right by his side is exactly where I need to be?”
My aunt stood up and slid over to my sofa, gripping my hands tightly. “If that’s where your happiness lies, I’ll buy you the plane ticket to Italy myself. But give your soul and your mind some time before you make a decision,” she urged. “Until December, Daisy.”
“I don’t even know if he’ll let me come back.”
“When you open a bird’s cage and it flies back through your window, it’s there to stay. If you ever go back to Italy, believe me, that man won’t send you away again,” she murmured, her voice carrying an unusual firmness. “But I need you to wait until December, Honeybee.”
“Why? Why are you asking me this?”
“Because I won’t just be giving you my blessing to go back to Italy or to that man. I’ll be giving you my blessing to die at any moment. And if that’s the case... let it be for love.”
Chapter 57
Daisy Peonia Mary Parker
August, 2025
Silver River, South Mississippi, USA
No, I no longer belonged in that house.
When night fell and I retired to my room, my aunt’s words echoed in my mind.‘I’ll be giving you my blessing to die at any moment. And if that’s the case... let it be for love.’That was the truth, wasn’t it? Staying by the side of a man like Camillo meant exactly that: accepting that death could come when I least expected it.