“Oh, Sienna,” he pulled me into his side and wrapped a gentle arm around me, “I wanted to be your father so much. It’s why I couldn’t give you up.”
“Give me up?” I tried to follow.
“I think it’s time I told you my part in this whole thing.” I tried hard to breathe evenly to stop the pain in my chest as he spoke. “I was in love with your mother. I still am, apparently.” He chuckled darkly. “But our happily ever after never came. Things got very complicated, and we were torn apart. She later married and had you. But your mother’s, ah, life situation became unbearable. As things worsened, she knew she needed to get you somewhere safe. She turned to me, the one person in this world she trusted, for help. We made an agreement that I would hide you away from danger and,” he hesitated, “from the Capri family.”
“Because she believed the Capri family killed her brother.”
“Right.”
“But they didn’t?”
“No, they didn’t.” He turned to look at me. “Piero looked into it. He was going to share that information with you last night. The bombing just threw everyone for a loop.” I nodded, feeling better knowing they weren’t behind the hit that killed my uncle.
“Do you know who did it?”
“We have our suspicions, but I’ll save that for another day. I want to finish my story.” He took a deep breath. “I was only supposed to hide you away from danger, but in the first few weeks of you being with me, we became close. It was my hand you needed to fall asleep, I was the one who read the stories right, and you’d latch on to my leg when you were frightened. I never had a daughter, and you were part of my Elenora. I had no idea when, or if, I would ever see her again. Maybe it was selfish, but I just couldn’t be that far away from you. So, I did the one thing I promised I wouldn’t do. I hid you close by. Next door to where I lived with the Capris.”
He drew in a breath and huffed it out. “I promised myself I would drop you off and only check in on you occasionally.” His hold on me tightened. “I truly thought they were a good family. I had someone watching you, but he fed me false information. I wonder if he even really checked on you at all. Then months and months went by, and he never showed up to give me his report. He went missing, and I had to know what was happening.
“Remember the day you met Elio at the pond?” I nodded through sudden tears. “Well, I was following the path through the woods and saw you crying. It broke my heart to see you like that. I couldn’t believe I had found you there, after so long, and it took every ounce of willpower not to approach you. I knew I had to find a way to see if you were all right. I circled back home and sent Elio to you. I knew he would find you.”
“Did Piero or Andrea know about me?”
“No. It’s the biggest secret I’d ever kept from them.”
“Why?”
“For reasons I can’t share right now.”
“Did you ever tell Elio about me?”
“Never. And when it was obvious that Elio was falling for you, it was too late. I couldn’t take that from you or from Elio.”
“Why?”
“Because the love you two have is the exact same as Elenora’s and mine. You can’t cheat that kind of love. It’s like a boomerang effect. No matter how far you separate, one way or the other you will find each other again. I know what that’s done to me and Elenora. I couldn’t do that to the two of you.”
Tears dripped from my cheeks as I let his story marinate in my head. Many questions rose to the surface, but one thing stood out.
“It’s strange,” I whispered. “Subconsciously, I think I knew you were someone special to me, because when we met, I felt an instant connection with you.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t honest from the start. I just couldn’t be.”
“I am, too,” I nodded, “but I appreciate you taking care of me, even though I had no idea you were.”
He sniffed and cleared his throat then gave my hand a squeeze.
“Thank you for sending Elio to me.” I squeezed his hand back.
“He needed you, just as much as you needed him.”
We both fell silent and enjoyed the sway of the hammock as we sat immersed in our thoughts. Then his phone rang. He spoke briefly then slid the phone into his pocked.
“Shall we?” He smiled and held out a hand to me. Wordlessly, I took it, and he walked me back up to the house. We both had to get on with our day.
I was tempted to call my boss and see if there were any stories I could look into, just to feel like I was doing something worthwhile with my time. Then decided I should check in with Wyatt first to see how his research was going. As I went to look for my phone, I ran into Andrea struggling with a big box with a laptop balanced on top of it.
“Here, let me help you.” I took the computer and a file she had pressed under her arm.