Chapter 15 - The Vase Stayed Broken
Three months after the night the vase shattered, Camilla came to dinner wearing her wedding ring.
I noticed.
Said nothing.
Growth is often extremely boring from the outside.
Marco arrived twenty minutes later.
Also wearing his.
He had been invited by Camilla.
Not me.
We ate in the smaller dining room.
No guests.
No Anthony.
No history lesson.
For the first fifteen minutes we discussed a leaking roof at one of Camilla's rental properties.
Then Marco complained about parking.
Then Camilla insulted his new beard.
He touched his face.
“You said you liked it.”
“I lied.”
“See? Trust issues.”
She laughed.
I did too.
Nobody mistook laughter for healing.
After dinner, Marco carried plates into the kitchen.
Asked before opening the wine cabinet.
I almost told him he didn't need permission in my house.
Then realized maybe asking was not weakness.
Camilla stood near the fireplace.
The empty pedestal remained where the antique vase had been.
I had been offered restoration.
Japanese gold repair.
Invisible museum repair.
Complete reproduction.
I declined all three.
The pieces were in a box in storage.
Camilla looked at the empty spot.
“You're really not replacing it.”
“No.”
“Because of symbolism?”
“Because the insurance company valued it at an insulting amount and I remain offended.”
She laughed.
“Thank God.”
“What?”
“I thought you were about to say the broken vase represents truth.”
“I raised you better than that.”
“You really didn't.”
Fair.
Marco returned.
He stopped when he saw us looking at the empty pedestal.
“That vase was Lydia's gift.”
“Yes.”
He looked toward me.
“I found the receipt.”
I stared.
“Of course you did.”
He smiled faintly.
Then his face changed.
“There was writing on the back.”
I closed my eyes.
“Marco.”
“Not a secret message.”
“Good.”
“Just Mom being Mom.”
Camilla looked at him.
“What did she write?”
He remembered.
“For Elena. Because expensive things shouldn't only belong to people who know how to behave around them.”
Camilla laughed.
I could hear both women in that sentence.
For a moment the room felt full.
Not haunted.
Full.
Then Marco's phone buzzed.
He looked at it.
His father.
He declined the call.
Camilla noticed.
“You don't have to do that because I'm here.”
“I know.”
“Do you want to answer?”
“No.”
Simple.
His.
After coffee, Marco put on his coat.
Camilla did too.
I looked at her.
“You leaving together?”
She nodded.
My stomach tightened before I could hide it.
She saw.
“Dinner.”
“Oh.”
“Not moving home.”
“I didn't say anything.”
“Your face is extremely loud.”
Marco smiled.
“Runs in the family.”
I pointed toward the door.
“Go.”
They walked outside.
I watched from the window despite myself.
Marco opened the passenger door for her.
Camilla stopped.
Said something.
He closed it again.
She walked around to the driver's side of her own car.
Marco stood beside his.
Two vehicles.
That relieved me more than it should have.
Then Camilla came back inside.
I frowned.
“What happened?”
“Forgot my phone.”
She found it on the table.
Before leaving again she saw Elena's envelope on the shelf inside my study.
The door was open.
She stopped.
“Do you ever wish Mom destroyed it?”
I looked at the yellowed paper.
“Yes.”
Camilla seemed surprised.
“Why?”
“Because then I'd have to remember her without checking her work.”
She stared at me.
I closed the study door.
Not locking it.
Camilla looked toward the front hall where Marco waited outside.
“Dad.”
“Yes?”
“If I go back someday...”
I waited.
“Don't decide that means everything is fixed.”
“I won't.”
“And if I don't—”
“I won't decide what that means either.”
She smiled.
“That's ambitious.”
“I've had practice.”
She kissed my cheek.
Then left.
From the front window I watched her walk down the steps.
Marco said something.
She shook her head.
He did not repeat it.
They stood beside their separate cars for almost a minute.
Talking.
Camilla could still divorce him.
She could eventually go home.
They might build a different marriage.
They might discover love was not enough to build one at all.
I had no answer.
That was no longer an emergency.
Camilla finally opened her car door.
Then stopped.
She looked across the roof at Marco.
Whatever she said, I couldn't hear.
Marco nodded.
He got into his own car.
Camilla got into hers.
Both engines started.
For a moment I expected one to follow the other.
Instead Marco turned left at the end of my driveway.
Camilla turned right.
I stayed at the window until both taillights disappeared.
Then I went upstairs.
The envelope remained in my study.
The seal was broken.
The letter had answered what Elena believed on one terrible night.
May you like
It had not decided what any of us had to do now.
For once, we were going to have to do that ourselves.
