“Good. Keep me posted,” I say before cutting the call. I suspect thatPenelopeis not her real name, which is why I can’t fucking find the woman or remember ever meeting her.
I don’t know what to think about the fact that she was watching Antonia. It’s fucking creepy. Antonia thinks it’s harmless, nothing more than a mother wanting to make sure her daughter was with good people. If the woman was that concerned about Jazzy, she would have contacted me when she found out she was pregnant. I would have helped her. She wouldn’t have wanted for anything and neither would my daughter.
I’ve lost almost seven years of her life. I didn’t get to see all her first steps, hear her first words. It pisses me off. I did find some baby albums in the trailer. I scoured them, looking for an image of her mother, but they were full of Jazzy alone. The few times she has spoken about her mother, she’s said nice things. Happy memories. I don’t think the woman mistreated her at all.
After dishing up three plates of pasta, I head out to the living room. “Dinner is ready!” I announce.
“Yes! It smells so good, Carlo,” Jazzy says, running into the dining room.
“Who’s winning?” I ask Antonia.
“She is,” Antonia grumbles. I smirk. I remember how much of a sore loser my wife used to be. It’s why she doesn’t gamble. She can’t handle losing.
“You okay?” I ask her. Today was… a lot.
“I just found out that my mother is alive and has a whole other family. Does my father know? He can’t possibly know she’s alive,” she says.
“I don’t think he knows,” I tell her. “The guy who—well, he didn’t work for your father.”
“Right.”
“Are we okay?” I was hoping that finding out the whole cheating thing wasn’t real would make Antonia less… guarded around me.
“I don’t know,” she says. “It doesn’t matter whether you cheated or not. You ripped out my heart, Carlo. Tore it to shreds and never bothered to try to fix it. I can’t just move on from that pain. From the reality I have been living with for years.”
“I’m fixing it now.”
“What if it’s too late?” Antonia asks.
“It’s not.” I take her hand and pull her against me, wrapping my arms around her. “I love you. I will do whatever it takes to earn your trust back. I just need you to give this a chance, a real chance. Not because you have to, but because you want to.” My lips press against her temple, and I breathe in her scent.
“I’ll try,” she whispers.
“Thank you.” That’s all I can ask for. I grab her hand and tug her into the dining room. “Come on, let’s eat before it goes cold.”
I left Jazzy and Antonia asleep in our bed. I guess that’s becoming a thing now. Gotta admit it’s an upgrade from the floor.
Right now, I’m sitting in my office, reading through the email my tech guy just sent through.
Name: Wendy Penelope Cruz
Age: Twenty-five
Current address: Unknown
There’s a photo of her, but I don’t need it. I know who she is. Why the hell didn’t I make the connection sooner? Wendy was one of my foster sisters. We fooled around a few times as teens. But then she was moved to a different home, and I never saw her again.
At least now I can say that I know who she is. I don’t need to have my daughter growing up thinking I don’t know her mother. We were just kids ourselves. I don’t know why she wouldn’t have come to me for help. Sure, I didn’t have as much as I do now. But she’s had years to come to me.
I run her name through hospital databases. If Wendy’s sick like Antonia thinks she is, something has to come up. Her medical records or something.
Is that why she left Jazzy with me? She’s too sick to care for her?
The letter said she can’t look after our daughter anymore. I took that as meaning she couldn’t be bothered, not that she couldn’t do it physically.
Letting the program run, I get up and go back to bed. I stare down at the two figures sprawled out under the covers. Jazzy is on one side with Antonia’s arm around her. I climb in behind my wife. I haven’t told Louie or Sammie about the messages she’s been getting. I need to find out who the fuck that is too.
I’m so fucking tired. I need to sleep first. Tomorrow, I will figure it out. Whatever it takes, I will protect these girls. Nothing is going to take either of them away from me.
