6. La Familia

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"..... oh Lucia it is good to see you..." Tamia said as she gave her husbands niece a hug. " How have you been, and how is your mama?.."

"First of all, I just need to thank you for allowing me to stay for dinner

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"First of all, I just need to thank you for allowing me to stay for dinner... I spoke to uncle Raphael just yesterday and I really didn't expect to be seeing all of you guys today, but I was happy to get his call this afternoon and I'm grateful for the invite.... mama is definitely getting worse, it is hard to see and some days I can't stomach it... But I love her so much and I would spend hours just sitting with her..."

"Lucia, you are family, you can come here any time that you want to. You don't need to be invited. We just don't generally think to ask because you're busy in your high flying job.." Tamia said with a smile as she served up the food and the kids came to the table, cutlery in hand, ready as if they had been starved for the entire day.

Diego sat down at the table. He smiled at Lucia. "I'm going to go and see my sister this weekend, I feel terrible for not getting in there sooner...

"Uncle Raphy, I wouldn't worry about it too much. She won't recognise you, you can't hold a conversation with her..." she then quieted. "I'm sorry.. of course, if you want to go in there you go...  I don't mean anything by that I just don't want you to have any expectations that she's gonna come to you with open arms.. she doesn't move from her seat all day."

"Well.. nevertheless, she is my sister and you are my niece and I have to support my family. I want to support my family, okay"

Lucia smiled and nodded.

"Dad, Terra is here.." Luca, Diego's 10 year old son said. He knew who his father's boss was, and had already opened the door to let him in.

"Terra?.." Diego said as he saw him, appear in the dining room. Diego stood up.

"I'm not stopping, there's just one quick thing that I need to talk to you about... I'm sorry to barge in here at dinner Tamia.." he said looking at her.

Tamia smiled, Lucia looked up from her plate, she recognised that voice. She looked at Hadyn. His eyes then fell to hers, seeing as she was a stranger, sitting at this table, and he recognised everybody else.
They both stopped and took a few seconds to take each other in, realising that less than 48 hours ago, they had been at the lake house together, talking.

Hadyn then left the room with Diego.
"Pay no attention to him, that's Raphael's boss... he's a good man... hard, and not the nicest of people to those who cross him... But for those who know him like we do and have done for years, he's like family and a really good man..." Tamia said. "plus, he pays well." She added on more of a whisper.

Tamia was right, they had a lovely family home, much bigger than the apartment that Lucia lived in. They seemed wealthy and comfortable with what they had. They weren't scraping day by day to put food on the table, like a lot of other people in the neighbourhood, they grew up in.
Lucia though, didn't understand why she felt a flutter and her colour rise when she saw his face again. She had never had that before on seeing just some random guy who worked with her employers.

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