Chapter 13 - THE UNBORN DAUGHTER
Lucia’s baby became a person in the story before she was born.
Not legally separate in every context.
Emotionally.
Very much.
Lucia named her Emilia.
Adrian knew the name.
They had chosen it together months earlier.
Lucia considered changing it.
Not because she hated the name.
Because everything associated with Adrian felt contaminated.
Miles told her:
“You don’t need to decide while angry.”
A therapist told her the same.
Eventually Lucia kept it.
“Emilia was hers before he did this.”
Good.
Then medical consequences.
No evidence the fall had caused placental injury.
Growth remained appropriate.
Movement normal.
Lucia still had nightmares.
In one, she fell and never reached the floor.
In another, her father and Victor argued while she stayed suspended on the staircase.
She hated that one most.
“Because nobody catches you?”
I asked.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because nobody looks at me.”
That sentence hurt.
Both families had turned her marriage into a symbol.
Morelli-Costa peace.
Legacy.
Business stability.
Respectability.
When she was suffering, we kept looking at what her leaving would mean.
Not what staying was doing.
I started therapy too.
Not court ordered yet.
My anger class would come later.
Therapy was my choice.
I did not advertise it.
Lucia found out anyway.
“You?”
“Yes.”
She smiled.
“Poor therapist.”
“Very.”
May you like
That was the first time she teased me after the hospital.
I took it as a gift.
