Page 20

Valencia

I stared at the couple who had raised Julianna. They looked like nice people. A sweet, older couple in fact. Not like people who lied and schemed. Then again, I never knew what Ophelia was capable of either. So, how could I tell?

“Valentina?” the woman whispered as she stared at me.

It felt odd to hear that name. The one on my birth certificate.

To me, it was brand new. I’d always been Valencia up until today.

Had it only been one day since we found out that we weren’t who we thought we were for our whole lives?

It felt like a week. maybe a year. I nodded at her and finally replied, “Hello.” That was all I had right now, as I couldn’t think of what else to say.

Julianna sure could though, “Mom, Dad. Or should I call you Tommaso and Bianca ?”

At her hard tone, they both froze where they sat.

“What happened?” Julianna demanded.

“What do you mean?” Tommaso asked.

Julianna and I looked at each other then back at the screen. The couple still didn’t seem to realize that we knew.

“You aren’t my real parents!” Julianna exclaimed. “We know that you aren’t.”

The woman, Bianca, gasped and put her hand over her mouth.

“Who told you that?” Tommaso snapped as he genuinely looked angry at the accusation.

Romeo handed Julianna her birth certificate.

Grabbing it from him, she raised it up at the screen to show them. “This is my birth certificate. My rea l one. We got them from a man named Deacon Walker.”

Again, Bianca sucked in a deep breath then she exclaimed in a panic, “Walker? Oh, my God!”

“Are you both okay?” Tommaso asked in concern.

“We are.” I nodded.

“A-are y-you safe from her?” Bianca asked fearfully.

“Her?” I asked in confusion.

“O-Olivia.” Bianca nodded. Then she made the sign of the cross over herself as if to ward off evil.

“She's dead,” Julianna replied in a flat tone.

The couple both seemed to slump in relief. They sure didn’t look heartbroken about this announcement.

“Thank God!” Tommaso said. “That woman is dangerous.”

“Yes, Daddy …” Julianna hesitated then said, “She was.”

“And you say this Deacon Walker gave you these birth certificates?” Tommaso asked.

“Yes, he’s our brother apparently ,” Julianna told them in a hard tone. “Not that I knew any of this before.” Her voice rose in anger again as she snapped, “Why?”

The couple stared at her then glanced at each other.

Silence stretched out for a long minute or two.

Finally, Tommaso looked back at us and said, “I am your true father. Just so you know.”

Bianca started to cry.

“How can that be?” Julianna asked doubtfully.

He shrugged and explained, “I met Olivia Walker a couple of years before I met your mother. We were together for about a year. Then she suddenly left me. No note, no reason. I never found her. So I moved on with my life. Thank goodness, I met Bianca. But I swear, I didn’t know what Olivia was really like.

She had been a lovely person when I was with her…

” He shook his head. “Then later, she turned out to be—”

“Insane?” Julianna exclaimed as she cut him off. “Dangerous, a killer…”

I placed my hand over hers to try to calm her down as I gazed at the screen. “I can see why you didn’t know. Olivia raised me. And that whole time, she never showed me what other people told me had been her real self. I never knew the truth about her. I also never knew I had a sister.”

“When you were both about two years old, Olivia brought you to us. I couldn’t have children,” Bianca explained in a sad tone. “We tried and tried. Then a doctor told me that I probably couldn't have any. So that hurt a lot.”

“Imagine our shock when she just arrived at our door with the both of you,” Tommaso added. “I never even knew she’d gotten pregnant and had twins.”

“Why would she do that?” I asked. “Give us to you?”

They shook their heads.

“She said with her life and work, babies didn’t fit into it,” Bianca explained.

“We loved you both the very second we saw you. To be honest, I barely cared why. It didn’t matter to me.

It was the best day of my life! I loved you like you were my own.

You were so adorable and precious. Smart as all get out.

I was amazed by you both every day and I got up every morning just to rush to your room.

I loved every minute of being your mother. It was an honor and a Godsend to me.”

We all stared at her and could see the light in her eyes, the joy on her face.

Suddenly, tears filled her eyes as she went on, “Then she came back. That was my worst day. I felt like…Like part of me was missing and nothing could ever fill it.” Covering her face with her hands, she added, “It was a nightmare!” She sobbed into her hands.

Our father went on to explain since his wife was quietly weeping now, “We had legal custody and she had signed away all her rights before. I swear we never knew that she would simply sneak back into our lives and take one of you…I don’t know how she fooled us with the nanny part.

Of course, she had different hair… blonde in fact.

She had airtight credentials and her background check was flawless.

As Nanny Bea, she seemed to be taller, with a different eye color and had glasses.

Then she had a southern accent. She had to have worn makeup so we never saw the scars she had before.

She acted sweet and she seemed almost shy and the real Oliva wasn’t any of those things.

After she took Valentina, I kept going over the fact that we never knew it was Olivia that we had hired as your nanny.

I couldn’t forgive myself. I had allowed her to just take you away.

” He let out a long breath and shook his head.

“I-I mean we never found any proof that it was her, but we figured after a while that it had to have been her. Damn, we just never had any real proof though and even if we did, we could never find her. The cops were the ones to bring that up. About Olivia being the one who took you. I never even thought…I mean how could I not know it was her? We…” He shook his head sadly and stared at me.

“...looked for you, for a long time. We protected Julianna like never before. With help from the government, we were able to change our names.” He gave Julianna a nod as he stared at her now. “Yours too, Julie.”

Bianca nodded. “We didn’t have a choice really, but we had always called you Julie anyway.

We feared Olivia would come back. We moved to New York City as this all happened upstate in a small town.

With the millions living in the City, we hoped our new identities would hide us from her.

” She swiped at her tears and stared at me. “We missed you so much, Valen.”

It was my turn to gasp as I asked, “Valen?”

Nodding, Bianca gave us a trembling smile. “It is what we called you.”

I looked over at Tito.

Smiling, he nodded at me.

Tito had been the only one who called me Valen. At least that was what I thought. “But Ophelia… I mean Olivia called me Valencia.”

They shook their heads.

“We don’t know anything about that,” Bianca said.

“It sounds wild,” Tito spoke up. “But maybe she changed your name for the same reason. To hide you?”

I stared at him and said, “Maybe?”

“So, basically, we were your true parents,” Tommaso spoke again.

“We were… are ,” Bianca added. “Please give us the chance to be? We never thought of it again after she brought you to us…that I wasn’t your real mother.” She sat up and squared her shoulders. “In my heart and soul, you are my daughters.”

We stared at her.

I took Julianna’s hand and squeezed it. To remind her of what I’d told her earlier. Besides, these two people seemed to be genuinely sweet. They both looked so desperate and hopeful for us to forgive them.

“So my last name is not Regatta?” Julianna asked.

They both shook their heads.

“But it is in legal terms,” our father explained. “It has been legally changed since you were five years old. And I am your true father,” Tommaso added. “And it isn’t just biological, Julie. Please forgive us? It just didn’t feel like a lie.”

Bianca nodded. “We raised you from a baby and you were always ours.”

I again squeezed her hand as those had almost been my exact words earlier.

Julianna released a long expelled breath and admitted, “That’s what Valen said. That you would always be my parents.”

“And Valen is still ours too,” Bianca added. “I-if you will allow it, we would like to visit with you?” She smiled at me through her tears.

Julianna and I glanced at each other then back at the screen.

“I would like that,” I answered. “Please know that I…that we want and need family.”

We all had tears in our eyes. This moment was one I never saw coming a month ago.

One that I surely never expected when I first arrived here.

Parents who wanted me, family that were truly my real family.

I paused and swiped an errant tear away.

“I would like to introduce you to someone who means everything to me.” I motioned to Tito.

Smiling, he came over and placed his hand on my shoulder.

“This is Tito Angelo Bruno,” I stated proudly.

“Bruno,” Tommaso asked as he said, “Come closer to the screen, young man.”

Tito leaned in between Julianna and I.

“Oh, my… Dio mio!” Tommaso stared at him in disbelief. “You look just like him…”

Tito squeezed my shoulder. We had already gone through this same kind of scare once before.

Tommaso sat up in his chair and he looked upset as he asked, “Your father was Angelo Rofinni Bruno, correct?”

We stared at the screen. We sure didn’t know what new shock was coming now.

“Yes sir,” Tito replied stiffly.

“You are serious?” Bianca exclaimed. “This cannot be!”

“He was my father, yes.” Tito nodded.

“I was saddened when he died.” Tommaso lowered his head. “He was far too young.”

“H-how…” My words faded into the ether of not really wanting to know as we already went through this torture of possibly being related somehow.

“He was my best friend back in Italy,” Tommaso explained. “We grew up together.”

Tito sucked in a surprised breath then he asked, “Y-you’re Tommy?”

Tommaso nodded as a smile broke out on his face. “Angel was like a brother to me. I mean he even visited us in New York.” Then he paused as he seemed to realize something significant and his face paled. “He held you girls right on his lap when you were three years old or so.”

We all went silent as the small-worldness of this revelation sunk in. Tito’s father had held me and Julianna when we were babies?

“Angelo was your Godfather, girls,” Tommaso stated quietly. “And Maria was your Godmother.” He paused, then asked in a shaky voice, “I-is Maria still alive?”

“Yes!” Tito replied with a laugh. “She just threatened me with a spatula at dinner tonight and we just got through having her Budino al Cioccolato.”

Tommaso laughed. “Your father used to say that life was not worth living if there were no—”

“Cioccolato,” they both said at the same time.

Everyone laughed now as we all felt relief in this at least.

“So when we visit, we will get to see Maria?” Bianca asked hopefully.

“Yes, you will. We have been here for most of my life.” Tito shook his head. “My father died when I was just a teen, but we were already living here when it happened.”

“So did they ever find his killer?” Tommaso asked.

The room went utterly silent.

I now held my breath. What did he mean?

Looking confused, Tito asked in a hushed tone, “Whose killer?”

“Oh my,” Binaca said as she looked upset again.

Now we were going down yet another rabbit hole… again.

“Someone was after your father,” Tommaso told us.

“His car went off a cliff,” Tito replied.

“After they put a bullet in his head,” Tommaso growled.

“Tommy,” Bianca chided as she grasped his arm.

“I can’t help it, Bianca. I still feel angry,” he admitted. “It doesn't matter how many years go by. It won’t ever matter. I’d never wanted to return to the ole country so badly like I did when I was told he had been killed. I wanted to find that coward and give him a bullet between his eyes.”

“Who told you?” Tito asked as he couldn’t seem to take his eyes from the screen. “About this being a murder.”

I reached for Tito’s hand and squeezed it. Murder. We never expected this Zoom meet to go like this. I glanced over as my gaze met Julianna’s and she looked worried too.

“His brother, your Uncle Leonardo,” Tommaso replied. “He said they had all believed that he had driven off a cliff until they pulled that car up from the ravine. Then they could see it wasn’t an accident. I think his killer hoped the car would explode and burn. Only it didn’t.”

“H-e didn’t know, Tommaso,” Bianca said as she looked surprised. “They never told him about the murder.”

Tommaso studied Tito. “I’m sorry. I figured that…” He let out a heavy sigh.

“That someone had told me the truth?” Tito snapped, obviously upset by this shocking news.

“Si, si.” Tommaso nodded.

“Did my mother know? About the true cause of his death?” Tito asked.

Romeo moved closer and set his hand onto his cousin’s shoulder in support.

Tommaso paused before answering, “I don’t know? We didn’t know where she was and we never spoke to her again.”

“Oh, wow,” I said as I realized that this might turn into a huge mess. “Tito…if you ask her and she never knew?”

Tito nodded. “Yes, that would be hard… My mother never told a lie in her life, so I don’t think she knows.”

“But we know who would, don’t we?” Romeo asked him.

“Who?” Tommaso asked.

“My father, Stephano,” Romeo replied.

“Stephano Descalia?” Tommaso asked as his eyes widened.

Bianca had again lost all color from her face as she kept shaking her head and repeating, “No, no, no.”

Romeo nodded. “Maria is my aunt, so I gather you know my father, right?”

“W-we knew him a-at...one time,” Tommaso nervously stammered. “Julie talked about you, but she only told us your name…Romeo.”

I stared at them.

They had seemed so happy and comfortable after we hashed out the facts about our parentage but at the mention of Stephano, their whole demeanor had changed. They looked utterly frightened now.

“What’s wrong?” I asked them. “Why do you look so scared?”

Neither of them said a word.

Tommaso leaned forward and the screen went black.

Looking as confused as I felt, Julianna tapped her keyboard, then she stared at the screen. “It says they left the meeting.”

“Why did they look so afraid?” I asked.

Romeo shrugged. “My father is known as the Dark Moon. I never knew why. But then there are people who know and fear him as a mobster?”

“They weren’t scared when we talked about Maria,” Julianna reasoned. “She is his sister, so why would they look so surprised about Stephano?”

We all shook our heads.

“I got a bad feeling about this,” I said.

“Me too.” Julianna nodded.