Chapter 8 - Sophia Asked One Question That Made Us All CryOne year later, Sophia asked:
“Why did everybody lie?”
We were sitting around the kitchen table.
Tobias.
Alessandro.
Me.
Sophia.
I looked at Tobias.
He answered.
“Because grown-ups get scared.”
She frowned.
“Of what?”
“Losing people.”
She thought about that.
“Then why do they leave?”
Nobody answered immediately.
Finally Alessandro said:
“Because sometimes fear makes people do things that cause exactly what they're trying to prevent.”
Sophia nodded.
Then looked at me.
“Did Daddy love me?”
I cried.
“Yes.”
“Did he love Mama?”
“Yes.”
“Did Uncle Toby love him?”
Tobias looked down.
“Yes.”
“Did you?”
She looked at Alessandro.
He swallowed.
“Yes.”
Sophia smiled.
“Then we're family.”
Tobias cried.
Alessandro did too.
It was the first time I'd seen him cry.
He reached for Sophia.
May you like
She climbed into his lap.
And the family we had been hiding from for seven years finally sat together without fear.
