Page 132 of With this Ring
Then heart had gotten involved, and she’d been lost.
But now…? She’d never want to cause this kind of hurt.
“I’m sure your sister—”
“Mother!” Adriana interrupted. “Will you listen to yourself? Sasha knew exactly what she was doing.”
Falling in love.
Her heart constricted, and she couldn’t breathe.
Love?
Was that what this was?
Ever since she’d been young, she’d adored him, and that feeling had turned into hero worship.
But love?
Until now, until Gregorio, she hadn’t even understood what the word meant.
She’d give her life for his.
And he’d risked his to save her.
Saying nothing else, Adriana left, grabbing the knob to slam the door.
The sound echoed from the ceilings.
Then, the noise faded, leaving only the constant sounds of beeping.
Her parents looked at each other as the silence descended.
Finally, her mother touched her hand. “Sasha…”
“I…” Sasha shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she said again. But even if she repeated it a thousand times, things wouldn’t get better. “Honestly, I never meant for any of this to happen.” Furiously, she blinked so the tears didn’t fall. “Go ahead and leave. Adriana needs you.”
“So do you,” her mother said.
Once more, her parents exchanged glances, and a moment later, her father walked out of the room.
Feeling even more miserable, she allowed a tear to fall. “You have to believe—”
“Shh,” Rosa soothed, reaching for a tissue to dab Sasha’s cheeks. “You’ve spent your life making other people happy. Maybe it’s time that you thought about Sasha.”
Stunned, she stared at her mom. “You can’t mean that. This is a disaster.”
“After what we’ve been through…”
That night.
“You were stronger than you ever should have had to be. You took care of us. Then you became our warrior child.” Rosa smiled, part with pride, part with regret. “Adriana didn’t want to go out with Gregorio that night. Did you know that?”
“What?” Furiously, trying to remember, she thought through the layers of her memory. “No.”
“She’d fallen in love with someone else.” Rosa scoffed. “Was planning to go out with the other boy…Luigi, I think it was.”
The name didn’t sound familiar.
