Page 65 of Before the Storm

“You must speak Italian?” Tara asked.

“Not as well as you’d think,” Winnie said with a laugh. “When Dad came out to visit me, though, I wasn’t too bad. He was impressed.”

Knowing that Donnie had been there every step of the way—from Winnie’s high school years through college and beyond—felt like a knife in Tara’s stomach. She swallowed and lookeddown at a curry she wasn’t sure she could choke down despite how delicious it smelled.

Winnie hesitated. She’d sensed the shift in mood.

“I know he wasn’t always good,” Winnie stuttered finally.

Josie and Tara hurried to tell her it was all right.

“We know he’s changed,” Tara said.

“It was a long time ago,” Josie affirmed, although she believed a man like Donnie could never really change. She wasn’t sure she could ever forgive him for what he’d done to Tara. He’d taken Winnie away.

But Winnie left on her own, she reminded herself.

But she was here now.

She was here to say goodbye.

Josie could see that clearly as anything. Winnie was petrified at how slender and sick Josie looked. Josie could sense it in Winnie’s mannerisms, in the way she looked at Josie with buggy eyes, as though she were constantly overcompensating for how frightened she was.

Josie wanted to dip into her now-familiar refrain.I’ve accepted it. I’ve been through too much pain to keep going. I don’t want to put myself through anything else.

Suddenly, it felt ridiculous to say something like that to Winnie—especially now that Winnie was pregnant.

How could Josie say anything regarding her own death when there was so much life in the room?

Josie set her untouched plate to the side and shifted to her feet. She felt shaky and uneven.

“Can I get you anything?” Tara asked warily.

“I just realized how tired I am,” Josie offered. “I might run upstairs and take a power nap. That way, we can talk all night!”

Winnie got up to hug Josie. “You’ll let us know if you need something?”

“I should say the same to you,” Josie said. “I know pregnancy isn’t easy.”

Winnie waved her hand. “It hasn’t been so bad.”

“It wasn’t for me, either,” Tara remembered. “Not after I fainted at the Christmas Festival, anyway. But your aunt Josie took good care of me.”

“Of course she did,” Winnie said with a sad smile. “Nobody takes care of people like Aunt Josie.”

Cindy looked on the verge of tears again. Josie sensed she was heavier with guilt with each passing moment.

Josie had to get out of there. She had to remind herself of her own resolution—to take control of her life and death.

But as she mounted the stairs, everything felt murky and strange.

Was she capable of changing her mind for Winnie and the baby’s sake?

Was she capable of loving something brand-new in a world she’d already given up on?

Chapter Twenty

February 2025

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