Page 132 of Vita Mia

Eve looked away. She continued to pack.

“Eve?”

“I’m fine. I have so much on my plate. And you got Gino here running things. You don’t need me.”

“I do need you,” Mirabella said. “Your brothers need you. They both rely on you.”

“What about what I need?” Eve snapped.

Mirabella closed the door. She walked over to Eve and took her hand.

“I’m sorry mum, I shouldn’t have raised my voice. It’s disrespectful.”

“No. I’m sorry Eve. For telling the story about the fire, without your permission. For putting you through this without giving you a chance to understand what your father wanted for us—.”

“Can we not do this anymore? I know you don’t approve of my feelings for Nico. I know Nico doesn’t love me in a romantic way. I know Gino is who Papa wants to run the family business. The real business. I know my place in our world. I’m not fighting it anymore.”

“Oh sweetheart. You don’t know anything.”

“Right. I don’t know anything.” Eve turned and went for her other suitcase from the closet. Mirabella followed and again forced Eve to look at her.

“Nico is in love with you, baby.”

Eve frowned.

“No, he isn’t.”

“He’s in love with you. I’m your mother, but I’m a woman too. I see the way he looks at you. I know how he is there for you. He’s in love with you and that has terrified me since the first day I understood it.”

“Why? Mum? Why can’t you accept the fact that there is nothing wrong with us caring for each other. I know about Catalina and Uncle Domi. How cruel Papa was. How you defended them. How you always supported them.”

Mirabella led her over to the bed. She sat on it and Eve relented her anger and sat next to her. Mirabella covered her hand with both of her own. “Because you’re my first born. And I will never forget how confused and lonely you felt when you were young and I had to send you away to school. I took my eyes off you and I nearly lost you for a second time, Eve. I’ve never forgotten my mistakes because I learned from them. I spent years in this family trying to force them to do what I thought was right. In the end, they did what they wanted and people close to my heart died. I denied who my sister was and I lost her. I chose grief over you kids and I lost you. I don’t want to see you make my mistakes.”

“Don’t cry. You were the best mother to all of us.”

“Until I wasn’t,” Mirabella sniffed. “When I lost your father the first time, I couldn’t keep focused on you kids. I sent you away because I didn’t believe in the magic of our love anymore. It was selfish and cruel to push you away from my grief. I shouldn’t have. I’m so sorry,” Mirabella wept. “I put Nico in your life to replace our love. And I fear that it’s because of me you cling to him.”

Eve hugged her mother. And Mirabella held on to her daughter and cried. “I can’t give you those years back with Gio Eve. I want you to be happy. To have a family and to be loved the way you deserve to be loved. I know you try to be strong for all of us. I want someone to be strong for you.”

“And what if at the end of it all that man is Nico? What then?”

Mirabella shook her head sadly.

“Maybe we should ask Papa?” Eve said.

“I have.”

Eve smiled. “What does he think?”

“He thinks it’s time for us to let you go. For us to love you without conditions.”

“Papa thinks that?”

“Your Papa adores you. He’s lost so much in his life he has learned so much from his death. He’d never do anything to hurt you. Neither would I. The only concern we have is you haven’t trusted the world, only Nico. You had a good husband Eve. Stefano lost that baby too. How did it make him feel when he needed to grieve with you and found you taking comfort with another man?”

“He shouldn’t have been jealous of Nico,” she said bitterly. “And he walked out. Nico stayed.”

“He wanted you to ask him to stay. Sweetheart,” Mirabella touched her cheek. “Loving Nico from the bottom of your soul is okay. You two have always had a special bond. But you have to grow up, and trust yourself. Trust life. Be fearless. Let a man desire you the way you deserve, without all of this. You want to start over in America, then do it. Really do it.”

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