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Valerio
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My mother gets up and holds me while my father takes long strides out of the room and I sob in her arms. “I can’t do it, Mom. I can’t marry her. I’m so sorry for letting you and Father down,” I tell her, and she holds me tighter, trying to soothe me.
“Shh, it’s okay,” she says, and I try to compose myself but fail.
“I love her mother. I can’t pretend to love someone else for the rest of my life—not now that I’ve found her. I can’t do it,” I add, and she pulls back from the embrace and looks into my eyes.
“I know, honey. But as your father said, you were born with a huge responsibility, and forsaking it would forsake who you are. Clio doesn’t belong in our world, honey,” she says, but I cut her off, shaking my head.
“No, mother, you are wrong. She be
