Page 85 of Head Over Heels

"My grandfather—" She stops herself. "Karl. Karl was one of the Nazis there. He took your grandmother's wedding ring. The painting on the wall. You know that one in the picture she has of her with Vittorio and Roberto?"

Hettie gasps.

"Dio mio,"Catalina breathes. "Are you saying you found them? They've been lost for more than eighty years."

"Stolen," Josie corrects her. "They weren't lost. They were stolen."

"What matters now is that they've been found," I remind them. I take Nonna's ring out of the box and hand it to Hettie.

"I always wondered what it looked like," Hettie murmurs in awe, inspecting the ring in her hand. She looks more closely. "It's engraved. Vittorio and Elena."

"I want to see," Catalina says, disappointed. "She hasn't talked about it in years," she sighs quietly, "but she cries out in her sleep for it. She still dreams of it."

I upload the close-up pictures of the ring Josie and I took earlier and send them to her.

Hettie hands the ring to Joe, who murmurs in amazement.

"Josie found this?" Catalina asks. "How did she know it was Nonna's?"

"It's a complicated story," I say, looking at Josie. "Do you want to tell it?"

She sighs. "My grandfather. I didn't even know he was still alive. My mom cut off ties with him when I was four. Thirty years ago. When I got a letter from the lawyer about my inheritance—everything he owned—I was dumbfounded. With everything, it's worth more than a billion dollars."

"I'd pee myself if someone told me they were giving me a billion dollars," Catalina laughs.

"That's the one thing Ididn'tdo." Josie chuckles. "I stormed into my parents house and demanded to know how he could have been living only a few miles away for my entire life and I didn't know about it." She sighs. "Mom just told me to leave it alone. Then I found a letter in the bank deposit box, describing his one regret. Taking that ring from a young, pregnant woman. I think he spent eighty years trying to find her."

"Ironic, since she lived in the same city as him for three-quarters of a damn century," Hettie points out.

"I didn't have any idea it was your grandmother that he'd been looking for, but when I was at your parents house the other night for dinner—"

"You got invited to a family dinner?" Catalina squeals. "Then it's official. Wait—" She frowns. "Who takes whose name when lesbians get married?"

"We're not getting married," I interject strongly, before adding more quietly, "at least not yet."

Josie gives me a look I can't decipher.

"When I was at your parents," she continues, ignoring Cat's question, "I saw your grandma's picture. The painting on the wall behind them in that picture—it's the same painting that covers Karl's wall safe at the penthouse. I've been going through a lot of the documents there, and I recognized it immediately."

"She almost fainted," I remember out loud. "She might have, if I hadn't followed her because she was overwhelmed."

"Overwhelmed with what?" This time it's Joe. He's been quiet today.

Josie raises an eyebrow at him. "Your family is wonderful, but they're a lot."

Hettie laughs. "Stick around. You'll get used to us."

Joe clears his throat. "That's why you got quiet. You were unsure of yourself with us at first, but you were starting to warm up. After dinner, you seemed more introspective."

Hmm. I never thought of my brother as the observant type.

Josie nods. "It's a lot. All of this." She glances at me. "I wasn't sure how you'd all take it. If it would change things."

"Why would it change anything?" Catalina asks. "It's not likeyoudid it. You can't change what he did."

"Josie?" It's Joe. "Did you find other things of hers, besides the ring and the painting?"

Hettie elbows him. "It's enough, Joe. Nonna will be tickled to see them again. To put her wedding ring back on her finger."

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