Ally smiled and reached out to take my hand, playing with my fingers. “But I didn’t. In fact, things only got worse. She died and I went to prison.”

“Axel…” Ally said in sympathy, but I stopped whatever she was going to say by holding up my hand.

“Ally, when I went to prison, it forced me from the Heighters, which led to me being shanked.”

Ally blinked fast and I rushed to make her understand. “Carina, if I hadn’t gone through all that… all that pain, that rage… I would never have talked to the nurse in the infirmary about my tattoo designs. I’d never have been forced into the art class to rein in my anger. I wouldn’t have fallen in love with clay sculpting, that then led to my marble sculpting, into which I poured my pain. I would never have met Vin, who published pictures of my works, who then took my marble angel to an exhibition at the Met—”

“Where I saw it in a magazine and flew to New York to see it in reality. Where I then wrote articles and journals on your works and methods—”

“Where Vin read them, and when he went to put the show together, hired you to curate it… the woman that was friends with my brother… the woman who understood my soul before I even did…” I took a calming breath, “the woman who was in the room with my mamma as she passed when I couldn’t be… that same woman who answered my mamma’s prayer… she became my light, she saved Mamma's lost son.”

“Axel… I… I don’t know what to say…” Ally whispered, as more tears fell from her eyes. I pulled her to my chest and breathed in the lavender shampoo scent of her hair.

“I always wanted this,” she said tightly, “I always wanted this kind of love, this intense love… I just never realized it could be so much more… until you.”

I closed my eyes as she said those words and for the first time ever I felt… unburdened.

I fixed my attention on my mamma’s marble statue and said quietly, “Ave Maria.”

Ally tensed against my chest, and asked, “What?”

“The angel, its title should be “Ave Maria.””

“Axel,” Ally sighed, “It’s beautiful… it’s perfect.”

Ally pressed kisses all along my neck and I closed my eyes, relaxing at her touch. “The broken angel is my mamma in this life. Trapped in a body she couldn’t escape from, praying for death rather than living in that hell. The ashes she’s holding are symbolic for death.”

Ally’s lips had left my neck, her body so still. “And the other side?”

I smiled, almost feeling the warm sun on my mamma’s face. “That’s the next life, heaven, paradise, whatever you wanna call it. That’s my mamma waking after death, fully healed, feeling the bright sun on her healthy body… free… it was always my dream from when she got sick. That she would once again be free.”

A sense of peace filled me as I looked at the statue and I took a deep breath. All the titles and information were given. I’d gotten through it. The exhibition was finally complete.

“Axel?” Ally said.

“Mmm?” I murmured, my attention fixing on the bright stars of Orion’s belt through the glass roof.

“It’s time to tell your brothers about your sculptures.”

I waited for the apprehension, the shame and the dread. For once, it didn’t come. As I stared up at the stars, I realized I was ready to tell them about the real reason I was in Seattle, and what I’d really been doing with my life.

“Yeah,” I said in response. “I’ll tell them tomorrow.”

I could feel Ally smile against my chest, and she whispered, “Te amo, querido.”

A rush, an almost crippling feeling of love ran through me, filling my every muscle and I whispered back, “Ti amo, carina. Sempre.”

Chapter Twenty

Axel

As I sanded the final curve of the hand, then washed the Carrara marble down with water, I stood back on the riverbank and exhaled.

This was my favorite piece yet.

I’d worked around the clock to get this done over the past week, the quickest I’d ever completed a sculpture, but I had no choice. I had to get the image from my head and into marble… I needed this piece to be seen forever. I needed it to complete my first show. It was the perfect end to the journey Ally had created.

As the afternoon wind whipped around me, I covered the sculpture with its tarp, padlocking it to the plinth and texted Vin that I’d finished. Only he knew I was adding it to the exhibition last minute. He had the text boards made up in private, the title board, colored backdrop and everything else I needed to make this perfect.