Page 10 of Silent Night with Massimo

She pulls it open and reaches inside to find a little silver locket shaped like an angel wing.

She runs over to me, showing me what it is.

"This is like mommy's angel wings in heaven." I smile, helping her clip the necklace on.

My heart is so heavy. But I must smile and hide it, for my little girl's sake.

Watching my baby daughter enjoy the Christmas holidays makes me wonder - do I have a son out there? Where is he? Does he know about me?

I can't shake the feeling that Vera is right about him being alive. But What if it's false hope and I have to go through the pain of losing him all over again when I find out he isn't.

Chapter 5

Vera

Sitting on the bed with my legs curled up against my chest I stare at the window, almost fully covered in snow. At least the snow building up against the glass has blocked off that whistling ice-cold wind. But it hasn't made the place any warmer or any more welcoming.

"Hello." A tiny voice makes me jump and spin towards the door. The soft, gentleness is so out of place in the cellar.

Through the lower half of the door, between the one broken slat of wood, two big round brown eyes are looking up at me.

"Who are you?" I ask with amusement touching my voice and a smile on my face.

"Bella."

She is adorable. She can't be more than three or four years old.

"What are you doing here?" I ask as she proceeds to try and wiggle through the broken wooden slat. "No, wait,honey, you are going to hurt yourself." I jump off the bed, worried she will get stuck, but she's already slipped through the small gap.

"Oh my goodness, you're like a little Christmas mouse." I giggle.

The little girl scuttles over to the bed and launches onto it. I sit down next to her.

"Is this your room?" She asks, scrunching her nose as she looks around, obviously not liking the décor.

"Um. Yes. Sort of." I say, wondering where the hell she came from, but loving the fact that she's here. "Where is your mommy and daddy, sweetheart?"

"Mommy a angel. Daddy - " She shrugs.

"Is your daddy here? What's his name?"

"Massmisso." She trips over her father's name and I giggle again.

"Your daddy is Massimo. I know your daddy."

"Oh. Good." She says.

She shifts across the bed, wiggling closer to me. Reaching up towards my face she touches my cheek. "Pritty." She says with the most gorgeous little smile on her lips. My heart is filled with warmth and sadness.

I always wanted to be a mother.

"Not as pretty as you," I reply.

She wiggles against my side, and I wrap my arm around her. I can't help being so drawn to her. She is Massimo's child. My son's sister. We don't share the same blood, but somehow, we are family.

In another life, somewhere in a parallel universe, I wasmeant to have a baby with Massimo. I don't know if I will ever find my son, or prove my innocence, but in this small moment with his daughter snuggled against me - my heart feels warm. This is just a sample of what it might have been like.

I am torn between the fact that I know she should not be down here but feeling so alone and as though her visit is a Christmas gift of some kind - I sigh, a smile across my lips.

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