Page 17

Tito

“Where have you been?” Uncle Stephano asked.

I paused at the sour tone of his voice.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Descalia,” Valencia spoke up. “I wanted him to take me to the lake.”

I looked over at her, wondering why she was sorry.

She stared at him. “I hope he isn’t in trouble?”

Uncle Stephano stared back at her then looked over at me. “What is she talking about?”

I shrugged. “We went for a walk and it turned out to be a couple of hours, I guess?”

“I’m not your keeper, Tito.” Uncle Stephano looked over at Valencia. “I’m his uncle, not his boss.”

“Yeah, that’s not really true,” I told him as I smiled.

He shook his head. “Last time I checked, I was your uncle. Rocky is more like your boss than I am. I keep telling you both, the Council pays your salaries, I do not. You guard us well but your free time is your own. Right now, we are on lockdown, so you…” he paused.

“Never mind all that.” He waved his hand as if to disperse the whole subject.

“The real reason I was looking for you both was that Zia told me you needed help with finding records or something?”

“Yes,” I replied. “I have Rocky doing it.”

“It is about your parentage, si?” he asked as he looked at Valencia.

She nodded. “I just need the truth, so I can move forward with my life.”

“Si, but your life will be here with us.” Uncle Stephano smiled at her and swung his gaze to me. “Is that not correct?”

“I sure hope so,” I replied as I still held her hand.

“Si, si,” Uncle Stephano said. “To us, it doesn’t matter. La famiglia è la famiglia.”

I nodded and told her, “Family is family.”

She shook her head. “I need to learn Italian.”

“I’ll teach you.” I smiled at her. “There’s no hurry.”

“I hate to interrupt, but I already looked into…” Uncle Stephano paused. “The birth certificates.”

I stared at him. Yeah, being Stephano, he would probably do that…

just go ahead and research it. Especially, if it involved Deacon and it did.

The man knew no bounds sometimes. According to our mom, Stephano just did whatever he wanted to do.

I had to agree with Mama but I sure as hell wouldn’t tell him that.

“What did you find?” Valencia asked him in a whispery voice.

I squeezed her hand in support.

“It’s legit,” he stated. “And your birth names are different from …” he paused. “The ones you go by now.”

“Even our names aren’t real?” Valencia asked as she looked stunned. “Ophelia is or was our mother?”

“Yes, I am afraid so.” My uncle nodded.

“That means Deacon is really our brother then,” she reasoned.

“Yes and I am sorry for that,” he said.

“You’re sorry?” She stared at him.

He slowly shook his head. “Mia cara, I aim to end the man. He attacked my family.”

Valencia said nothing but I could feel the tension coming from her.

“I really wish you…” Her voice faded away.

My uncle stared at her and prompted, “You wish?”

Squaring her shoulders, she raised her chin and said, “I wish you would leave him alone. Let him go.”

He stared at her. “My dear, he came after my son Giovanni and Glory. Then he went after Dante and Della.”

“I am asking you to please consider it. All of this has been a severe trauma to Julianna and I. What kind of sister would I be if I didn’t at least ask you to forgive and forget?”

He stared at her.

“I wanted to ask before but…I didn’t have a right to really,” she tried to explain.

“With what he did and then what I did. But I was so relieved when you let him go. I admit it. He was there while I was growing up. He treated me well and never once abused me. I can see that…he even protected me if you think about it.”

“How so, mia cara?” Uncle Stephano asked her.

“By never telling me about all the illegal stuff and about Ophelia. What she was really like.” She let go of my hand and stepped closer to the golf cart. “Please reconsider this?”

“Listen to me my dear…The man lives a dangerous life. He always has from what I know. He won’t end well.”

Raising her chin, she replied, “That doesn’t mean you have to kill him. I mean haven’t you lived a dangerous life as well?”

He stared at her then he broke into laughter.

Squaring her shoulders, she huffed. “And what is so funny?” she demanded.

His laughter slowed as he explained, “I did not mean to anger you. I just admire you, is all. Standing up to me like that. You may not speak the language, but you really are italiana.”

Valencia seemed to ignore his offhand compliments as she tried one more time, “You said it before.” She cleared her throat and said, “La famiglia è la famiglia.”

He stared at her and chuckled some more. Then he looked over at me and grinned. “You chose well, Tito.” He placed his hand on the wheel and moved his cart up the path.

Watching his golf cart move further away, Valencia stomped her foot and complained, “He never gave me an answer.”

I raised her hand and kissed her knuckles. “I will have to have a talk with him. Like…he may not realize it but once Julianna and Romeo get married, Deacon will be family.” I then paused to stare at her. “The same as when you and I get married.”

Her mouth popped open in shock.

I chuckled and reached over to close it with my finger under her chin. “Get used to the idea because that is where we are headed, sweet Valen.” I grasped her hand again to tug her along the path.

When we got to the house, Julianna and Romeo were on the front verandah. Julianna still looked upset.

Valencia held my hand as we made our way up the wide steps. She paused and stared at Julianna.

“You found out, didn't you?” Julianna asked.

I sucked in a breath as this would be hard on Valencia too, as she would have to be the one to tell her.

“Yes,” Valencia nodded at her. “The birth certificates were real and correct. I’m sorry.”

Julianna bit at her lip as tears instantly showed in her eyes. “So, they lied to me.”

Valen looked away. She probably didn’t want to be the one to tell her… yes, her so called parents lied to her.

Romeo put his arm around Julianna’s shoulder.

Julianna held herself together as she kept her eyes on Valencia. “Do we even know what our names were at birth?”

Valencia nodded. “After you asked me that earlier, I checked and the certificates cite one of us as being…” She paused and shook her head. “Juliet.”

“L-like in Shakespeare?” she asked.

Romeo shook his head. “Wow, that is fate. But I listened to the Walkers when they were here and Olivia was obsessed with Shakespeare lore. Hence, the name Ophelia.”

“Then my name…” Valencia paused. “The certificate says it is Valentina.”

I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and said, “So Valen is your name. So there is that.”

Nodding, Julianna said, “I guess we have that much clarity. But we do not know who our father is or was?”

Valen let out a heavy breath. “No, we don’t. I’m unsure who would know that. O is gone as you know.”

“Deacon might know,” Romeo suggested.

“Oh, my God!” Julianna cried out. “He might know because—” Her voice broke on a sob. “He’s my brother!”

Romeo wrapped her up in his arms and tried to soothe her, “Calm down, baby. Just breathe, ok?”

Suddenly, Valencia stepped closer and tugged on a lock of her red hair.

Julianna raised her head up as tears stained her face. She stared at Valencia.

“Get yourself together,” Valencia scolded her.

“So you were lied to. We both were. You’re a grown woman now.

Stop acting like a child. When I met you, I saw a mirror image of myself.

Only I could see how smart you are. Far smarter than I am.

I also saw strength and confidence which you leant to me as I grappled with lie after fucking lie.

None of this changes who you are now or what you’ve become.

Do you hear me? What was done in the past doesn’t make or break your future. ”

Julianna stared at her, then reached up to swipe her tears away. “You’re right. I’m sorry for—”

Pressing her fingers to her sister’s lips, Valencia told her, “You shouldn’t be sorry.

You had wonderful people that raised you with love and they were good to you.

And look at what you’ve accomplished. A freakin’ high class lawyer.

” Valencia stepped back and added, “So don’t be sorry.

You are the same person that you were before we got this news. ”

Julianna blinked at her as what she said sunk in. “Wow! You can even litigate. You are my sister!” She laughed-cried and grabbed her up into a hug.

Romeo and I just stood there as they embraced.

Both girls rocked back and forth a little and hummed in sync.

Valencia pulled back and told her twin, “At least we have each other now.”

Julianna smiled at her. “We missed a lot. Like elementary school, our teens, college.”

I finally broke in with, “And now, you have these fine looking Italian men who adore you.” I looked over at Romeo.

He laughed and looked all around as he joked, “I count me in that category, but where is this other hot Italian guy?”

I scoffed. “Geeze, Romeo. Everyone knows I’m better looking than you.”

Romeo laughed. “Oh yes, the Italian Stallion.”

“Better a stallion than a slick lawyer type.” I smirked at him.

“Yes, until you need a ticket fixed, then it’s oh please Mr. Attorney, do your magic .”

“No, no cugino.” I shook my head. “That would be my brother, I don’t get tickets.”

Romeo scoffed now. “Oh, really? What about that scuffle in the park?”

Batting my eyes at Romeo, I said, “That was not a ticket. The guy had a big mouth and a little brain.”

“Speeding ticket, scuffle…tomatoe, tamato?” Romeo waved his hand around. “Whazthediffernce?”

The girls laughed.

I shook my head and used my thickest Italian accent, “As my cousin slash lawyer, you were supposed to fuggedaboutit!”

Him and I both laughed as well.

Then Romeo stopped laughing suddenly to stare at me. “But the lawyer in me has questions. Like why is your shirt wet?”

Julianna seemed to brighten up by all the joking as she nodded then looked over at Valencia. “Same here, why are you wearing his jacket in 75 degree weather?”

I glanced at Valencia to see her cheeks were flaming with a bright pink. I decided to save her the embarrassment. “Well, there was this bee—”

With a huge gasp, Julianna looked afraid. “Those things are deadly.”

Valencia looked over at her. “Don’t tell me. You’re allergic?”

Julianna looked stunned. “How did you…” Her voice fell away. “You too?”

Nodding rapidly, Valencia replied, “I didn’t have an epi pen, so I jumped into the pond.”

Romeo looked back and forth at them. “Oh wow, so is the reaction really bad?”

“YES!” The girls exclaimed in unison.

“Any other severe allergies we should know about?” Romeo asked. “Like we need to know this stuff.”

The girls looked at each other again and said, “Peanuts,” at the same time.

“Damn,” I said. “That’s a bad one. I mean no PB and J’s, no Reeses?”

Romeo shook his head sadly. “Halloween will be very dangerous.”

Julianna laughed. “You two actually have little boy pouts going on!”

Valencia laughed with her twin. “Yeah, you look like someone just told you that the Tooth Fairy isn’t real. I mean it’s not like you’re little kids who dress up and…” Her voice fell away as she stared at me.

I know I had guilt written all over my face as I glanced away.

“No! You actually dress up?” Valencia exclaimed in surprise.

I looked back over at her and defended, “It’s a tradition here at Descalia.”

Julianna stared at Romeo and asked, “You dress up too?”

He tossed his arms up and defended it as well, “All the brothers do.”

“Except for Luca.” I nodded.

“Yeah,” Romeo said sarcastically with a childish whine in his voice. “He is too special .”

Then he and I raised our hands and scoffed loudly at the same time, “Because he’s the capo dei capi !”

Looking a bit lost, Valencia glanced over at Julianna.

She translated it, “The boss of all bosses.” Then she laughed.

“Oh, I thought it meant something like asshole?” Valencia then clapped her hand over her mouth.

We were all laughing as Romeo and I nodded our heads and said, “Same thing!”

The girls kept shaking their heads.

“So that means we get to dress up too?” Valencia asked me.

I paused and then nodded slowly as all kinds of costume ideas for Valencia floated through my head.

Romeo snapped his fingers in my face. “Earth to Tito.”

I blinked at him.

Romeo shook his head. “Oh, I know where your mind went, believe me. I just got back from there.” He snickered. “But they can’t be at the costume party in the get ups we have in our heads.”

The twins stared at us.

Then Julianna smacked his arm as she chuckled.

Valencia looked over at me.

I think I actually blushed as I could feel my cheeks heating up. I had a French maid and belly dancer in first place, then a naughty nurse outfit coming in at 2nd place.

Both girls seemed to get the gist of what Romeo had insinuated. They laughed as me and my cousin got caught out for sure.

“Wow!” Julianna chuckled.

“Yeah, you have an actual Halloween party? Here?” Valencia asked.

I nodded. “Every year.”

“Yeah and we get a crowd too. It’s famous around here,” Romeo said. “Known as the best Halloween party in the Crescent.”

Valencia looked over at her twin. “See? Life is going to be fun.”

Julianna nodded. “I can see that.” She looped her arm through Romeo’s arm. “First though, I have to… well, I have a video call with my paren…” Shaking her head, she released a long sigh and went on, “...with my parents.”

Valencia stared at her. “Can I sit with you when this happens?”

Julianna stared back at her lookalike. “You would do that? I mean you don’t have to…”

Valencia smiled at her and said, “La famiglia è la famiglia.”

Julianna stared at her. “Ok, okkkk.” She looked impressed. “You are quick with the Italian, Sis.”

“It’s in her blood,” I said.

Spreading her arms out, Valencia said with perfect mobster pitch, “Fuggedaboutit!”

We all laughed.