Booth Three

Epilogue

The sun beams down on us, filling us with a sense of warmth we desperately need. The Ferrari house feels as cold as it always does — empty and bleak. It's a stark contrast to the joyous atmosphere I experienced the first time I visited. Nobody likes coming here anymore. Why would they, when it's this lifeless? The only time the walls hear laughter is when I bring the girls over, and that's purely because they don't know what's going on. They don't know Lucy doesn't get out of bed anymore, or that Violet rarely comes home at night. They don't understand the hole Oliver left in this family and in this home.

"How is she?" Diego glances up at Kaleem. He walks out onto the veranda, shaking his head in disappointment.

"She's not coming," he tells us. "It's too much for her."

"As usual," Valeria sighs.

"Val..." Ivy shoots her a pointed look, but she's had it.

"No, this is bullshit," she insists. "We're all grieving. We're all sad, but we're all here, aren't we?"

"She's depressed, Valeria. Give her a break."

"Whatever," she scoffs angrily. Roman strokes her back, whispering something in her ear to calm her down, but it doesn't do much. "Now we have to wait another year."

"I'm fine with that," Diego says.

"If she doesn't get her shit together soon, we'll never be able to spread his ashes."

"I didn't want to spread his ashes in the first place."

"Oh, fuck off Diego," she snickers. "You just want to keep carrying around his urn like it's a fucking plushie."

I stifle a laugh. She's not wrong. He's attached to that thing. It's supposed to be on our mantelpiece, but it keeps popping up in a different room every few days. He moves it from his bedside table to the dining room, and into the kitchen. He even joked about taking it into the shower with him once. I don't blame him, though. He just wants to feel close to his dad.

"Hey, don't laugh at that," he turns to me jokingly. "You're supposed to be on my side."

"I am!" I chuckle. "It's just a funny thought."

"Maybe if you two hurry up and get married, mum will come to the wedding and we can ambush her about spreading the ashes," Val comments.

"We're not doing that," Diego states.

"Why not? Just move your date forward a little."

"We like our date."

"Why? It's just a day."

"It's the date I asked her out."

"Ew," she wrinkles her nose in disgust. "You two are way too sentimental."

Diego shakes his head at her. Valeria hasn't been able to keep her opinions to herself the past few weeks. She's exhausted, apparently. She hasn't been sleeping well since the second trimester hit. We've all learnt to live with it, though. We stopped taking her words to heart ages ago. Her pregnancy has been the opposite of Ivy's, who hasn't stopped glowing for months. They're in a similar situation, but it's been entirely different for the both of them.

Valeria is frustrated and sick, and based on what I know, she's absolutely hating this pregnancy and wants it over with as soon as possible. Roman is excited, though. He's keeping Valeria together and encouraging her to keep going. It's basically the opposite for Ivy. She's enjoying the pregnancy, while Isaac is freaking out. He's terrified of becoming a father. He'll do great, though. He's a sweet guy. The only downside of their pregnancy that I know of, is that they've had to postpone their wedding. I think they would've done that, anyway, though. Even Diego and I were hesitant about announcing our engagement. Everything feels too soon. It's only been a year since Oliver died.

I've only seen Lucy once since the funeral. She came downstairs to congratulate us when we announced our engagement a few months ago. She doesn't mind talking to one or two people, but any kind of group situation is too much for her. She didn't come to Ivy's baby shower, or to Valeria's. Val still has a few more months to go, but Ivy's ready to pop at any second. I doubt Lucy will be there for the birth. Valeria already said she doesn't want her there for hers.

Diego and I have started talking about having kids, too. Not now, but in a few years. We've created a whole plan for our future, and it starts with us moving into a new house on the Ferrari property next week. It's a house bigger than anything I've ever dreamed of, but it's not as insane as the main house. Hayley will start second grade here in Westchester, and I'll take time off work to apply to culinary school, take Penny to her weekly speech pathology appointments, and search for my sister. Now that I have the option to, I want to spend some time helping her out. If she'd like, we can pay for a rehab program and therapy to help her recover from her addiction. She may not want to, but I at least want to keep tabs on her to make sure she doesn't end up like our mother. Besides, right now, I'm only the girls' legal guardian, but Diego and I would like to officially adopt them as our own. And once I've graduated from culinary school, we can turn our family of four into a family of five, maybe even six.

Diego once mentioned he'd like to name one of his kids after his father, and I'd like to give that to him. I'd love to have a little Oliver running around. Baby Ollie.