“I watched how proud you were of them, so I sat with them as they practiced and learned. I watched and listened and learned. I became better at it than they were because I wanted to please you.
“From there it became my thing. People didn’t want to teach me things, they didn’t want me to know something. I wouldn’t ask them to teach me, I became them to the point of mastering whatever it was to show you all I could do anything. I can be anything. It’s just this time I learned something I love.”
“But at what cost? Of all the people you had to attach your star to, why him?”
“Why not him? What aren’t you guys telling me?”
My father looks at me with tears in his eyes. I look to my mother as I blink back my own tears. Her lips are trembling.
“You’re my only daughter. I only want the best for you. Everyone who gets attached to that family, I lose. We’ve given them so much. Not my daughter.”
I stumble to an accent chair and collapse into it. “What?” I ask in confusion.
“It’s time, Pat. The girl should know.”
I look at Uncle Talon and wrinkle my brows.
“Listen, I need to go. I shouldn’t hear any of this. My relationship with the Di Lorenzo family works because I don’t know the details. I want to keep it that way. We’re only useful to each other because I don’t understand the connection,” Toni says.
“I’m going to leave too,” Justin says as he walks over to kiss my mother’s cheek. “Congratulation, Oopies.”
“I can’t do this,” my father says and storms from the room.
“I think we should all go,” Uncle Ernesto says and moves to kiss my mother’s cheek. “We’ll get together to celebrate the baby soon. Congratulations, Oopies.”
Uncle Ernesto leans in to kiss my forehead and Uncle Rick and Uncle Talon follow suit, giving their congratulations as well. I try to smile but I’m confused and crumbling inside.
Something tells me whatever my mother is about to say is going to change my life forever.
Chapter 32
Connections
Carleen
Once everyone is gone, my mother goes to get me something to eat. I don’t even know if I can stomach it through this bundle of nerves. I just want answers.
She takes a seat after handing me a plate, then cups my face. “I have always only wanted the best for you. Make no mistake.”
I blink back my tears. “But?”
“Ava Di Lorenzo was a charismatic person. She made you think everything that happened around you was fate or coincidence, not her moving your life around like God.
“The Di Lorenzos were entwined in my life way before my first encounter with Ava. I just didn’t know that at the time.” She pauses and takes a deep breath. “Do you remember the story of how I met your father?”
“You guys met in college or something, right?”
“Actually, I was in college, but I met your father through my little brother, your uncle Steven.”
“The painter?”
Mommy scoffs. “I wish he would have stuck to painting. Steven wanted to be just like Kington. He thought he could build a big name and earn the respect of his big brother.
“From what I heard, he was doing it. He was building a name and reputation. Making all the friends he was told to and anchoring relationships that would benefit the future. Your father and I included.”
“He set you guys up?”
“I don’t know if you can say that. Steven was smart but he got caught up with some women who may have been smarter. You see, Steven met your father through your daddy’s sister, Gwendolyn.”
“Right, Daddy had an older sister. The one he never seems to want to talk about. I’ve never seen any pictures of her, but that one he keeps in his office.”
“That was some woman there. I think your father fears you’re too much like her. She adored you, you were her little shadow.
“Anyway, Gwen pushed Steven to get me and your father together.” Tears fill my mother’s eyes. “We were already engaged when your uncle was killed, murdered in the streets by a corrupt police officer.
“It was a hit. I knew nothing of these things and just thought he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I didn’t understand why my brothers were so angry and I wouldn’t know for years.
“Your auntie Gwen was a part of the Di Lorenzo inner circle. She’s the one who brought Steven in, he was an asset to them. Once he was gone, access to what they really wanted was gone. They needed my marriage to obtain what they lost through Steven.”
“So how did your family get involved if Uncle Steven was gone?” My stomach is tightening into knots. I have a bad feeling about this story.
Mom wipes a hand across her forehead and starts to look nervous. Her eyes grow distant.