“You could… wait,” Flávia suggested. “You could wait until Jimi got better. Then you could make it official. Then we could throw the kind of celebration you deserved.”

“I was simple, Flávia,” Simone said. “Simone would never accept a huge wedding with guests Simone did not even know. Simone wanted something intimate. Simone only wanted the blessing, that was all.”

“Yes,” I said, laughing through my tears. “Her grandmother would have been furious if she did not get the ...