His Ring on Her Finger, My Name on the Door novel · Chapter 11 of 32
Chapter 11: The Old Plaque
Nobody bent to pick up the shears.
Her mother stood with her hand still clamped on Claudia's arm, staring at the place where they'd fallen.
Claudia looked at Francesca.
Her eyes weren't wet anymore.
They were flat and dry and careful.
"Mama's tired," Claudia said. "She's been up since five with the flowers. Haven't you, Mama?"
Her mother didn't answer.
"Get out, Francesca," Claudia said gently. "Please. For Papa."
Francesca looked at the Quincy captain's wife.
The woman lowered her eyes to the roses.
But her hands had stopped moving, and Francesca knew that by tonight every captain's wife in Boston would hear about the shears.
She walked out of the greenhouse.
Nino lived in a narrow gray two-family house in Revere, two blocks from the beach.
His kitchen had yellow linoleum and a picture of the Pope over the stove.
He made coffee in a dented moka pot and set a plate of almond cookies in front of her that nobody was going to eat.
She told him about the portrait.
She told him about the key, and the note, and what her mother had said in the greenhouse.
Nino listened without interrupting.
When she finished, he took off his flat cap and turned it in his hands.
"I promised your father," he said. "I promised I'd take it to the grave."
"Nino. He's been in a vault for three years. Somebody cut my father's face in half last night."
He stared at the cap.
Then he set it down on the table.
"He knew," Nino said. "From the start."
The kitchen clock ticked over the sink.
"The night Claudia was born, I drove him to the hospital. Your mother was already inside. He sat in the back of the car in the parking lot for an hour. He wouldn't go in."
Keep reading free with an account. Start His Ring on Her Finger, My Name on the Door from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 10 · All chapters · Chapter 12 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend