Restituta was awake at the parlour. Her aunt had asked to see her. She went down the steps, as her brother had been playing with her cousins. 

Her aunt had closed the door, the moment Restituta appeared. Her aunt had made her feel at home, and she had her own clothes, and more than that. 

“Do you like the clothes?” She asked, looking at her. 

“Yes, thank you.” 

“I could take them back with me to Belleni, there’s also some for Alfonso too.” Cecelia looked at her. “Let yourself go if you want to. I know you did nothing because of Alfonso.” 

She looked down, holding her hands behind her back. “I just didn’t feel it.”

“You’re still a child, even if your mother asked you to take care of him. You can admit that it’s overwhelming,” she said. 

Cecelia came to see her. "If you feel the need to cry, do it in front of me. I’ll never tell anyone. Besides, no one would question you." 

"Did you do that before?" She asked, holding the white gown of Cecelia’s.

She put a hand on her head. "I loved my father more than anything else in the world. It was hard not to, but then, there was my brother, so much younger than I was. I know." 

"Am I staying with you?"

"Federico is still young, he’s still adapting,” she said. “So yes, I'll see to your education. Whatever you wish to learn, I'll find a teacher for you. There's a lovely governess that I share with my daughters, and I think she would be great for you.” 

"Can I listen to your poems?" Restituta liked them. They always felt as though they swept her up her feet. 

“Be a child, while you still can. When you’re a woman, life isn’t as easy anymore.” She touched her cheek. 

Restituta could feel her cheek warming with her tears now. Her mother who had patience to correct her stitches and her sums; her father, who always had a story to tell her, tales of faraway land and how to read.

She cried right into them for everything that happened throughout the last few months. 

Cecelia had coaxed it out of her, and watched until she finished, drying her tears at last. “I know you miss them. I know you didn’t have the chance to do it. Alfonso only has you now, and it’s worse if you cry with him.”

She felt better, lighter, even as she dried her own tears. Leonora had told her that tears was release, but they must stop. She looked up. 

“If you miss your mother, come and find me. I’ll always have time for you.” She gave a smile. 

"Can you read us a bedtime story tonight?" Restituta knew she was a great reader, one of the best. 

She asked of her, not feeling bad. Cecelia only gave her a smile and a nod. “I would, for you, and for Alfonso.”

Leonora never minded her asking anything, but some of her relatives that visited her showed them looks of annoyance. 

She felt relieved.

"I do that for Alfonso, and he sleeps well and I fall asleep after him. He's just so upset 

"Of course, my dear." She asked. “How was your time in the convent?” 

“I can help you, as much as you need. Zia Leonora couldn’t do much as she had a bad back, so I helped her a lot.” 

Whether it was cleaning or helping her read because of her poor eyes. 

“You don’t have to,” she said. “You’re here as my ward, and it’s my duty to take care of you. There is nothing expected of you.”

Restituta nodded, accepting it now. 

“How do you like picking out a book to read?” 

Restituta nodded her head in understanding before feeling as though she belonged here.  

When the door opened, it revealed none other than her brother, with his smile and her cousins. Vivianna and Agnese, who both came to her smiling, looking up to her. 

"We can look for that book later." Cecelia smile, before looking at her. 

Restituta hesitated, just for a moment, before she joined them with a big wide smile.

For the first time in months, she felt childlike again, without any worries for the first time in months.