Page 110 (1/1)

Dante leaned over to look at hter and he then looked up at me, his pink lips pursed "What her na adorable

"Yeah, Axe," Levi said, "What’re you calling our niece?"

As I stared down atrosy face and said, "I wanna call her Chiara"

Silence met my words and I tensed I wasn’t sure ifnamed after our ma me with tears in their eyes "Axe," Levi said, his voice breaking "Mahter shared her naht now"

"Yeah," Austin said, equally as choked up "Ma, Axe Shter He leaned down and kissed her forehead "Chiara," he said lovingly then Levi followed suit "Little Chiara Carillo"

My heart was so full as the five of us sat here in silence All three of us brothers unable to speak until Dante suddenly pointed up at the sky and said, "Papa big star!"

Austin laughed at his son shattering our poignanthis dark hair "Si, Dante A big star Le stelle grande," he said in Italian

Dante watched Austin’s lips and said, "Lee stel ee gan de"

We all laughed as Dante tried to speak Italian "Bene!" Austin told his son, and tickled Dante until he burst into fits of giggles "Molto bene!"

Turning to Levi, I watched hiot to reo, he was too young But it should be so ainst the ith hter cradled in my arms, I said, "Austin, tell us what those stars are"

Austin looked over at loss over at the request We hadn’t done this since ere little kids trying to escape our abusive papa

Austin carefully placed Dante higher on his lap, Dante squealing with exciteht sky

I turned to Levi "Look up, Lev"

Shaking his head and s at us, Levi leaned back and looked up

Austin pointed at three stars in a row "The three stars there are called Orion’s Belt You can tell it’s Orion’s Belt by the way they’re all in a row You see?"

I listened to Austin explain constellation after constellation, Dante and Chiara now part of our Carillo tradition And as the minutes passed, a sense of peace and cal here staring at the stars like we did so long ago, had made it

We were the Carillo boys Three brothers born into chaos and pain Three brothers who’d endured tragedy and loss Brothers until the end, bound by blood, our bonds unbreakable by unconditional love

And I was sure that up in that sky, there was an angel looking down on her sons, a smile on her face and a prideful happiness in her heart

The End