Page 86 of Head Over Heels

"We found her wedding silverware—Josie did, I mean. It's engraved. I remember her talking about it when we were kids." I look at Catalina on the screen. She's the one who's most connected with the past, with Italy. "Do you remember a locket? It's gold. It matches the design on the wedding ring. It's engraved, too." I send her a close-up of it.

"She hasn't talked about that in a long time." Catalina looks closely at the picture before looking back up at me. "If memory serves, Vittorio got the locket when he ordered the wedding ring. He gave it to her as an engagement gift."

Josie clears her throat. "We also found documentation of coins he took from your family's home." She passes Joe a list of the items. "The bastard was meticulous, if nothing else."

Joe studies the document, seeming to understand it better than I did. He looks up at her. "I always thought Nonno Roberto was exaggerating what we had. "The coins your grandfather took that night—they weren't just currency. They were part of a collection passed down through generations of Pietras. Some were from medieval times. Many were from the time before the Black Death when Italy was full of prosperous city-states and kingdoms."

"I'll return everything," Josie says firmly. "All of it belongs to your family.

Hettie, practical as always, leans forward. "We need to be careful how we handle this. Nonna's not as young as she used to be."

"She's stronger than you think," Catalina argues through the screen. "She survived losing Vittorio, losing her home, building a new life there. She deserves to choose whether she wants the pieces of her past back.

"I vote we talk to Mom and Dad first," Joe says. "They've spent decades protecting her from these memories."

Two hours later, we're all gathered around my living room, Catalina back on the screen. Mom paces while Dad sits quietly on the couch watching her. I've never seen her this agitated.

"Show me again," she demands, reaching for the ring. Her hands shake. "All these years… He was right here in Delmont."

"Lucia." Dad's voice is gentle."Siediti, tesoro.Sit."

She sinks into the couch beside him. "Do you know what that night did to her? She was eight months pregnant with me, and he took everything she had left of Vittorio."

"I want to make it right," Josie says quietly. "I can't undo what he did, but I can return what he took."

Mom studies her for a long moment. "You're nothing like him."

"She's really not," I say, taking Josie's hand.

"The ring isn't just about Vittorio," Catalina adds from the screen on the wall. "It's about everything she lost—her home, her history. Her sense of safety."

"Which is why we need to be careful," Dad argues. "She's lived without these things for eighty years. Why open old wounds?"

"Because they never healed," Joe counters. "You've seen how she still reaches for that ring. How she talks about the painting in her sleep."

"What do you think, Florence?" Mom asks suddenly.

I think about how Nonna's eyes still light up when she talks about Vittorio, how she insisted I learn to make his favorite dishes even though he died long before I was born. "I think… I think she'd want to know. Not just about the ring, but about all of it. She's spent her whole life wondering what happened to those pieces of her history."

"But it needs to be her choice," Josie adds softly. "We can tell her we found these things. Let her decide if she wants to know more."

Mom wipes tears from her cheeks. "You know she'll ask how we found them."

"Then we tell her the truth," I say firmly. "About Karl, about Josie inheriting everything, about her choosing to return it all." I look at Josie. "Love can heal broken wounds."

Josie's eyes shimmer with tears as she squeezes my hand.

We spend the next hour planning how to approach Nonna. Catalina suggests Sunday dinner. She'll fly in to be here. Mom insists on cooking all Nonna's favorite dishes.

"What about the coins? Hettie asks practically. "There are over a hundred pieces that were stolen that night."

"I'd like them," Joe admits quietly. "At least some of them."

"They're rightly ours, and they would be in your hands right now if they weren't stolen," Dad says.

"I could sell a few if anyone in the family needs money."

"Guiseppe," Catalina chides, "I think we all have enough to take care of ourselves. You should have them."

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