Chapter 16 - ELENA’S ROOM
For years, I kept too much of Elena.
Bianca was wrong to compete with it.
She was not wrong that the house had become a shrine.
That truth took me longer to accept because admitting it felt like giving Bianca retroactive justification.
It did not.
Two things can be true without canceling each other.
At forty-nine, I finally packed some of Elena’s clothes.
Not all.
Donated most.
Kept a few pieces for Livia.
Moved several photographs from public rooms into family albums.
Not because Bianca wanted them gone.
Because I was ready.
That distinction mattered to me.
Livia helped.
She chose which photograph stayed in the library.
Elena laughing on a sailboat.
No formal portrait.
Then she found the silver comb.
“Mine?”
“Yes.”
“Can I wear?”
“Whenever you’re old enough to keep it safe.”
She considered.
“Ten?”
May you like
“We’ll negotiate.”
Family business.
