Chapter 16: Federico's POV

Federico's POV

My grandfather stopped eating on the day Gianna came back from Teresa's kitchen.

By the end of that week the doctor had stopped using the word months.

I sat with him every night after Gianna went to sleep.

I had started telling her everything I did each day, whether she asked or not.

She called it my confession hour, and she said it with her eyes closed and her hand on my chest.

It was the first habit of mine that I had ever been glad of.

The old man lay with the oxygen hissing and his eyes on the ceiling.

"The dinner," he said.

"The last Saturday of August."

"Ruggeri thinks he is hosting a peace."

"He thinks he is hosting a trap for us. He wants her where his men can reach her."

"Good." The old man's mouth moved in what had once been a smile. "Let him think it. Who sits at his table?"

"I've asked the chairman and two elders to attend as witnesses to the peace."

"And Ruggeri said?"

"He can't refuse. His own letter invited every family he's wronged."

My grandfather breathed for a while.

"The notebook," he said.

"It goes with Gianna. It's hers, and I won't carry it for her."

"You learn." He closed his eyes. "When I'm gone, you'll want to do something stupid and fast. Don't. Put her beside you and let her talk."

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