Chapter 44
forty-four
It’s nearing midnight, and we can’t stop laughing.
And no one’s showing any signs of leaving.
The first hour was filled with more hugs and tears than I could count. But then the night took a turn for more lighthearted stories.
Like how Marlene, my mom’s childhood neighbor, once caught her own daughter and my mother trying to sneak out early one Sunday morning to walk to the local bakery with large cups because apparently, they would get free frosting from the lady in charge of decorating the cakes if they came prepared with their own to-go containers.
Or how my mom and Monica, her old law school friend and coworker, once studied well into the night, only to pass out and end up locked inside their school library.
Apparently, they had to wiggle out a tiny window on the second floor and landed on prickly bushes, almost breaking a limb each, though they were too deliriously tired to care.
“Damn, how was our mother way cooler than either of us?” Nick grouses from beside me as he picks up a photo of her in a cut-off grunge T-shirt and shorts.
“Seriously, like how badass was she?” I lift the photo in my hand, showing her zip-lining somewhere in the Dominican Republic as a teen.
“Well, actually, up until her parents passed away, she was mostly a people pleaser,” Amaury, her cousin, says.
“What?” The cider in my hand almost slides out of my grip.
Carla nods. “It’s true. She was definitely a daredevil.
” She nods at a photo of my mother swinging on a rope before jumping into the ocean from a dock.
“But she had this constant worry about making sure everyone around her was happy. Bending over backward for random people in her life whenever she felt like she was letting them down. No matter how absurd the circumstances. It wasn’t until her father passed that she changed into the fierce woman we all knew her to be as an adult.
She was her mother’s protector when vultures descended, trying to pressure her to sell her family home, since the property was quickly rising in value.
But then her mother fell ill and passed away the same year her father died.
Your mother ended up inheriting the home.
Once her parents were gone, she decided it was her time to leave the nest and discover the world.
She had a full ride scholarship to law school in London and took the opportunity without a second thought. ”
Monica cuts in. “Only when faced with protecting the ones she loved did her claws come out, and then she never put them away.” She chuckles as she takes a sip of scotch. “And used that fire to become an incredible barrister who lived in the UK.”
It looks like I do have things in common with my mother after all.
Nick clears his throat, wiping his hands of crumbs and failing to meet anyone’s gaze as he asks, “Why didn’t any of you come forward after she passed?” Silence falls upon the room. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled to meet you all, and I won’t hold what you say against you. I’m only curious.”
His eyes lift and he doesn’t bother hiding the vulnerability behind them.
Everyone seems to shift around us, eyes volleying between them all before Carla takes the lead. “We did,” she says slowly. “We all did.”
Both Nick and I lean back, but he speaks first. “What do you mean? There was no one at her service. No one called us or visited, even when we moved to the States, closer to the Dominican Republic.” There’s an edge to his voice, but he manages to reel it in at the end.
“Well, I won’t pussyfoot around it,” Monica states. “It was your bloody father. He never informed us of her funeral. I only found out about her passing three days after the fact when she didn’t show up for work.”
Carla bristles next to me as she turns to us, pure fury on her face.
“She was my best friend. Our kids were supposed to be cousins. You guys were my niece and nephew in my heart. Back then, we were both single mothers struggling financially, getting our lives off the ground. But we spoke on the phone constantly. I helped her plan Nick’s Pokémon-themed tenth birthday party and had a massive Pikachu shipped over, even though it cost almost as much as my rent in shipping alone.
And I picked out the outfit Daisy wore home from the hospital the day after she was born.
It was created by a local Dominican designer.
During that last year, she was doing well at work and finally establishing herself.
She was planning on flying down with you two to visit us.
We had the entire itinerary planned for a whole month’s stay.
My best friend was finally coming back home and she was bringing the two little humans who had me wrapped around their pinky fingers.
But when she passed away? Ripped away from us far too soon and unfairly?
Your father decided to do the same with you two. ”
I swallow audibly, my skin vibrating with dread. “Explain.”
Amaury speaks. “We called every single day. Begging him to send you to live with one of us. The entire town would have raised you as their own if necessary, but we needed you returned to your family. Your real family. Because we knew that the man who fathered you was never a part of your life, and now he held all the power with legal guardianship. The sick man never allowed us to speak on the phone or send letters. And when we threatened to fly over there ourselves, having scrounged up enough money for Carla to represent all of us, he told us that he’d already shipped you guys off to a different country.
And reminded us that you were minors, and if we kept calling, he’d involve his attorneys and force legal action.
” He looks down, almost as if he’s beating himself up.
“You have to understand, we didn’t have much money back then.
Still don’t. I was working on visas for my family to enter the US for better job opportunities.
And this man was powerful. I knew I could not face off with him and win.
And none of us were a sibling, aunt, or grandparent, so we were forced to…
give up. I’m so sorry. I should have fought harder.
It is a regret I live with every day of my life. ”
Carla grabs my hand and Nick’s, eyes fierce.
“My best friend died, but I mourned all three of you. Knowing I never got to meet you in person and protect you from the man who was so manipulative and careless with your mother’s heart.
And there hasn’t been a single day that I haven’t thought about you two and wished things could be different.
I know I, we, can’t change the past, but we’d all like to be a part of your lives now, if you’ll allow it. ” She visibly holds her breath.
Nick and I look at one another. Gone is the self-assured CEO, and in his place is a sad and shattered eleven-year-old boy.
We were loved. We were wanted.
But we were exiled by our father.
A wave of sadness threatens to pull me under, but then a comforting hand curves around the back of my neck, the touch so uniquely Luke’s. I see Luisa move and take a seat on Nick’s lap, embracing him as his shoulders start to shake with furious tears.
But I remain perfectly calm, refusing to shed another tear.
Stock-still as all the pieces start to fall into place.
The parent I tried so desperately to placate and feel love from was the person responsible for causing pain in so many lives.
I spent years innocently breaking myself down to perfectly moldable little pieces that would be more appealing to him, and for what? Even if the man possessed a heart with the capability to show love for his children, it was never going to be enough.
I was never going to be enough.
But it wasn’t because I’m unlovable. He just isn’t capable of loving anyone but himself. And I truly think he sees absolutely nothing wrong with that.
And knowing this, I have zero doubts that he conspired with Damien behind my back, trading my submission, the kind I had given him my entire life, and used it as some form of sick political currency for his company’s monetary gain.
I stand as I address the entire room. “We had no idea, and I’m sickened by the fact that we’ve lost all this time with one another, but we would love nothing more than to have you all join our little family from here on out. If you’ll still have us.”
Everyone stands in a rush, and hugs and kisses are exchanged.
When Valentina stands before me, I don’t hesitate to pull her in for a tight hug. “Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You have no idea how much this means to Nick and me.”
She wipes a tear as she chuckles. “By the way I’ve been secretly crying in the kitchen between food and drink refills. I’m pretty sure I got the gist of it.”
I turn in search of Luke and find him releasing Nick from a hug. I take a step in their direction, catching the tail end of Nick’s side of the conversation. “…and I swear to God, if you don’t marry my sister after all of this, I’m calling that guy I know, and you’ll be—”
I raise my brow at them, and they shamelessly shrug it off like it’s no big deal.
I know I initially beat myself up for feeling as though I was falling for Luke far too quickly, being used to caring about public perception and appropriate timelines.
But if he were to get down on one knee right now, I’d pull him back up and wake a judge and demand they marry us right this very second.
His eyes narrow, as if he’s reading my mind, and now it’s my turn to shrug.
“Thank you all for the hospitality, but it’s late. We’re all going to head out and let you digest everything you’ve heard tonight,” Monica states as she lifts her purse over her shoulder.
“There is a private car outside that will take you back to your hotel. You will have the suites for a week. Longer if you wish to extend your trip. Just say the word,” Luke offers.
They all nod appreciatively, and I smile widely, knowing that they’ll be in town longer to spend time with us.
I can mentally see Nick clearing his work schedule as Carla pulls him in for a goodbye hug.
“Dios mío, Nicholas. You were Carmen’s pride and joy.
Her little man. She would be so insanely proud of you, I know it.
” She pats his cheek and then moves on to me.
“And Daisy, her baby girl. She dreamed of you for years, thinking she would never have another child, secretly wishing for a baby girl, and then you came along, making her final dream come true.” She kisses my cheek before she takes a step back.
“If she saw you two working together…” She shakes her head.
“Her legacy is alive and well in you both.” Her eyes stay on me a moment longer before she chuckles.
“I still can’t believe she named you Daisy. ”
Luke comes to stand behind me, wrapping me in his warm arms, pulling me closer to his chest.
“Why is that?” I ask, looking around to see everyone giggling amongst themselves.
All my life I’ve assumed it was her favorite flower.
“I grew up hearing this story so many times.” Carla smiles. “Your grandparents were next door neighbors growing up, and your grandfather fell in love with your grandmother when they were still in diapers. When they were teenagers, he asked her parents for permission to date her.”
“And they said no, because they were too young,” Marlene cuts in.
“But your grandfather was undeterred. He said he would win your grandmother’s heart and prove to her parents that his love was true.” Carla pauses.
I look between all their smiling faces. “So what happened next?” I ask eagerly.
Carla grins. “Your grandfather worked in landscaping after school. So he bought as many daisies as he could afford, and instead of simply giving her a bouquet of flowers that would die within a week, he planted them along the path from their house to their school. So your grandmother and her parents would walk by daisies, her favorite flower, every single day.”
Luke stills behind me, and my nails dig into his forearms across my stomach.
“Your mother loved her parents’ love story. So much that she named you Daisy. She never found a love like that but wished it for her baby girl so strongly. She named you after the one act that brought her parents together, which led to her, which led to you.”
They all laugh at my shocked expression, not knowing that I’m reliving the visions of that moment in Luke’s driveway.
The thousands of daisies he planted himself.
But instead of doing it with the intention of winning my heart, he did it thinking he would never have it.
And now having heard this story, there is one thing I know for certain.
Luke is my soulmate.
And if I dare dream a little too hard, I’ll allow myself to believe that maybe my mother hand picked him for me.