LOGINChapter 215Elowen Giuliana noticed too."Uncle Kian," she said. "Come here."Kian turned back, his eyes red, and moved to the bed.Giuliana held out her free hand to him.He took it, and she pulled him down so she could whisper something in his ear.I saw his face crumble completely.When he straightened, he nodded at whatever she'd said."I promise," he said hoarsely. "I promise.""What did she say?" I asked.Kian looked at me with such raw emotion that it stole my breath."She asked me to take care of you," he said. "If the news is bad. She asked me to make sure you're okay. You and him." He nodded towards Matteo who raised his head confused."Giuliana..." I started."Just in case, Mama," she said. "Just in case."I couldn't speak.Couldn't breathe.Could only hold her hand and try not to break apart completely. ......Two hours had never felt so long and so short at the same time.We tried to distract ourselves.Marco drew. Giuliana dozed. Matteo paced.Kian stood at the window,
Chapter 214ElowenThe waiting room outside the imaging department was painted a cheerful yellow.Someone had thought that would be comforting.They were wrong.I sat between Matteo and Kian on a hard plastic bench, my hands clasped so tightly in my lap that my knuckles had turned white.Marco sat across from us next to his father, his leg bouncing anxiously.None of us spoke.What was there to say?The scan would take forty-five minutes, they'd told us. Forty-five minutes to get images of Giuliana's brain and spine, to see if the tumors were shrinking, stable, or growing.Forty-five minutes to determine if we kept fighting or started saying goodbye.I'd never known time could move so slowly.Every minute felt like an hour. Every hour felt like a lifetime.Matteo's leg was pressed against mine, and I could feel the tension radiating from his body. His jaw was clenched so tight I worried he'd crack a tooth.Kian sat perfectly still on my other side, but I could see his hands gripping h
Chapter 213"No," Giuliana said, reaching for his hand. "It's perfect. It's the most perfect thing anyone's ever given me."Marco relaxed slightly. "Really?""Really," she confirmed. "Can I keep it?""Of course," Marco said. "I drew it for you."He carefully tore the page out of his sketchbook and handed it to her.Giuliana held it like it was made of gold."Will you help me hang it up?" she asked. "Where I can see it?""Sure," Marco said.He found some tape and hung the drawing on the wall across from her bed, right in her line of sight.When he was done, Giuliana studied it."That's how I want to feel," she said quietly. "Like I'm winning. Like I'm strong enough to fight.""You are strong enough," Marco said firmly. "You're the strongest person I know.""You keep saying that," Giuliana said."Because it's true," Marco said. "You want to know something?""What?""When kids at school found out I was visiting you, some of them said I shouldn't. That it would be too sad. That I should j
Chapter 212ElowenThree weeks.That's how long we'd been living in the hospital.Three weeks of watching Giuliana endure treatments that made her violently ill.Three weeks of holding her head while she vomited into a basin.Three weeks of hearing her cry in pain when she thought we weren't listening.Three weeks of hell.But also three weeks of something else.Three weeks of Marco showing up every single day after school, homework in hand, ready to sit with her.Three weeks of watching Kian and Matteo slowly, impossibly, become something that looked almost like friends.Three weeks of stolen moments in the garden behind the hospital, where Matteo would find me when the weight became too much to carry alone.Three weeks of learning that love wasn't always gentle. Sometimes it was brutal and unforgiving and demanded everything you had.And you gave it anyway.I was sitting in the chair beside Giuliana's bed—my permanent residence now—when she stirred.It was early morning, the sun jus
Chapter 211ElowenMarco laughed. "Maybe. Or maybe I'm just tall."They fell silent again, but it was a comfortable silence now."I'm sorry," Giuliana said suddenly. "For not... for pushing you away before. When I got sicker. I just didn't want you to have to see me like this. I didn't want you to feel sorry for me."Marco looked at her seriously."I don't feel sorry for you," he said. "I mean, I'm sad that you're sick. But that's different. You're still you, Giuliana. You're still the smartest, bravest person I know. Being sick doesn't change that."Giuliana's eyes filled with tears again."I'm not that brave," she whispered. "I'm scared all the time.""Being brave means being scared and doing it anyway," Marco said. "My dad told me that once. And you're about to do this treatment thing, even though you're scared. That's brave."He was quoting almost exactly what I'd told Giuliana just yesterday.Wise kid."Will you..." Giuliana hesitated. "Will you come visit me again? While I'm do
Chapter 210ElowenDr. Ferraro met us at the entrance to the pediatric oncology ward.When he spoke to Giuliana, he crouched down to her level instead of looming over her."Ciao, Giuliana," he said warmly. "Sei pronta?""Sì," she said, though her voice was small.He smiled and stood, turning to Matteo."We'll get her settled in her room first," he said. "Run some preliminary tests. Start the first infusion this afternoon. You're all welcome to stay with her.""We're not leaving," Matteo said firmly.Dr. Ferraro nodded, understanding.He led us down a hallway painted in cheerful colors, past rooms with open doors where I could see other children in various stages of treatment.Some were playing. Some were sleeping. Some were crying.My heart clenched.This was Giuliana's world now.At least for a while.We reached her room—a private room, because of course Matteo had arranged for that—and Dr. Ferraro helped her into the bed."I'll be back in an hour," he said. "To start the tests. For
Chapter 72Elowen I wanted to argue more but my bladder was making demands that couldn't be ignored and I realized he wasn't going to budge on this, so I took care of what I needed while trying to ignore his presence just a few feet away.When I finished I tried to stand on my own but my legs were
Chapter 69Elowen"Go inside," Adrian said, his voice cutting through my declaration like it was nothing, like I hadn't just poured out two years of pain and finally found the courage to tell him the truth.He wheeled his chair toward me and I hated myself for the way my body automatically tensed,
Chapter 67Matteo I nodded, not trusting my voice, and moved to her wheelchair to turn it away from the woman and her son, to guide us toward the petting zoo like she'd asked, to get my daughter away from people who didn't deserve to breathe the same air as her."Sì, principessa," "Yes, princess."
Chapter 68ElowenThree days had passed since Matteo disappeared and each morning I woke up hoping to find some explanation, some message, some sign that he hadn't just used me and vanished into thin air like I meant absolutely nothing.But there was nothing.Just silence and his empty chair at bre







