Chapter 24
Joey stuck around once we got back to the house to lend some moral support to his newly found sister and my mother. I called Zack and he was pissed but after I told him the truth about a long lost sister he became pretty nice. Alissa and Erin were on their way over, mom called a family dinner and wasn’t taking no for an answer. Dad wasn’t home yet and I have to admit I was a little glad, I knew for a fact he wasn’t going to be happy. Grandma Loupe was out with her friends doing god knows what; maybe her hair will be purple tonight.
Alissa was still leaving town that night but she had time for a family dinner she told mami over the phone. I bet she wishes she would’ve found an early flight.
Mom and Elena were in the kitchen, I stayed in the living room to give them time alone. No matter what I or the family felt it still had to be harder on them. I looked around but no sign of Joey; man of mystery strikes again.
I left the living room and headed outside. It was hot but it felt better than being inside. I sat on the porch as a car, Zack’s car, pulled into the drive away. He walked right up and sat beside me. “Hi.” I said shyly.
“You’re driving me crazy.”
He could’ve said worse, now he was just being honest, hell I was driving myself crazy. “Yeah, I could see that.”
He kissed me as we sat beside each other. “How are you?” The tough guy womanizing cop was gone and now I saw the sweet- yeah who would’ve thought it, Zack Myers was sweet- the sweet guy I was in love with was looking back at me.
“I don’t know yet, I’m trying not to think of it. My mom is going to need someone on her side tonight and I decided to be that person. Wanna stay for dinner?”
Now Zack began to look uncomfortable. “I can’t and I won’t lie, your family scares the hell out of me and I think this is something you should do alone as a family. I’ll see you tonight and take your mind off of it then.”
“Oh, ok when you put it like that I forgive you for ditching me.”
“I have to get back to work before my boss decides to fire me for never being around and not making this case.” He kissed me again as he stood from the porch. “You wouldn’t happen to know where Joey is, do you?”
“Actually no, I don’t.” he might’ve been somewhere close by but I really had no idea where he was. Zack left after that and I stayed on the porch, I couldn’t flake on dinner but I didn’t want to be inside until the second I had to.
“Lying to Myers again?”
I leaned over the porch railing and found Joey leaning against the side of the house. “No, I had no idea where you were and how long have you been standing there?”
“A few minutes, enough to hear you and Myers hint at sex, thanks for the disturbing visual.”
“Shut up.” Ok that was embarrassing, I hate when people listened in when they really shouldn’t. “That’s what you get anyway for lurking around. Shouldn’t you be inside?”
“I’m giving them time to talk alone.”
“Yeah, me too.” I went to where he was standing. “How are you dealing with it?”
Joey had his arms crossed over his chest and his foot against the wall behind him; he looked down before meeting my eyes. “I just want to know why. Someone took Elena away from them and made them believe she was dead because they wanted them to suffer. Dad figured it out after all this time, I have no idea how, and he was killed for it.”
“Have you talked to her, she might have some answers.”
Joey shook his head. “I haven’t worked up the courage to talk to her yet.”
“Whoa, Mr. Fearless mystery man lacking courage? All right I won’t make fun of you now; I’ll save it for later. Do you want me to talk to her?”
“It doesn’t matter what I say, you’re going to ask her anyway because you’re nosey and you want answers too.” Joey said. “Now, you can make fun of me later all you want but if you breathe a word about what I’m going to ask you I will have to kill you.”
The day just isn’t complete unless I have my life threatened. “Ok, what is it?”
I could tell he didn’t want to say anything, which just made me more curious. “I’m not good at this family thing. I’ve been alone for a long time and I like it that way but now I really don’t have a choice. It scares me because there’s this person I have to look out for and shares my blood. I don’t know how to talk to her.”
I was touched he decided to open up to me; I guess we really were friends. “Do you want my help? We could talk to her together later once my family scares the hell out of her.”
Joey shook his head and smirked. “They can’t be that bad.”
“Just wait and see, why do you think Zack hauled ass out of here and why my mother had to demand that my sisters show? And just wait till Grandma Loupe shows up, she’s a funny kind of scary. But its not that bad once you get use to it.” I explained, I didn’t want to freak him out to much but my family was something else. But I wouldn’t trade them for anyone else in the world.
I heard a car door shut and peeked out the side of the house when I turned back around Joey was gone so I walked toward them. “You just can’t get enough huh?” I asked Theo.
“If I have to be here so does he, it’s only fair. So what’s going on?” Erin wanted to know.
“Let’s wait for Liss to show up.” I didn’t want to explain to her what was going on, it was mom’s place and I also had no idea what to say.
Erin looked worried now. “It’s serious, isn’t it?”
“It’ll be ok I promise, just keep relaxed, remember you are pregnant.” Thank god as I said that Alissa pulled up, she also asked what was going on. “Mami will tell you when she’s ready, just enjoy dinner.”
My sisters knew me pretty well; they both gave me a puzzled look but asked no questions. My stomach began to do back flips as we all headed inside.
Theo stayed in the living room as we went to the kitchen, which made me wonder where dad was. Elena and mom were sitting at the table as the food cooked on the stove; they looked up when we entered. I wanted to run when I saw my mother’s tearful eyes. It wasn’t easy to see a parent cry and I didn’t know how to help.
Joey came back inside though the back door and leaned against the wall near Elena, she needed some support too.
“Mom?” Alissa questioned, she seemed to know something very serious was going on, her eyes were very intense. “What’s going on?”
Mom stood from her chair and grasped the back of the chair for support. She couldn’t seem to get the words out, Joey had told me so she didn’t have any practice on explaining Elena. “Mami?” she looked at me when I called her, her eyes made me want to cry. “Do you want me to?” In all honesty I didn’t think I could do a better job but I wanted to help.
She shook her head. “This is my family, I have to do this.” She looked at Alissa and Erin. “Before your father and I met I was very serious with another man. I had a baby and all this time I thought she was dead from mistakes in the past. She’s not.”
Alissa looked at Elena. “Her?”
Mom lowered her head so no one could see her tears. “Yeah.” I said. “This is Elena; the baby she didn’t know was still alive. The man mom was with was Art De Luca, this is his son Joey. You all know Art was killed and the reason was because he found out Elena was alive. Art found Elena and told her everything before he was killed and she found mom. Trust me I know this isn’t easy but it’s the truth and we have to come to terms with it.” I was freaking out inside ever since I learned the truth but if I may say so myself I was acting pretty calm, reasonable like an adult, but I knew later after I was alone I’d let myself lash out and have a good cry.
Alissa didn’t say anything, she walked out the front door, it was like déjà vu. Erin just looked shocked then when she looked at mom her face softened. “I’m sorry.” I was surprised, I really thought Erin would scream and yell worse than I did being that she was Erin. “I can’t imagine having my baby taken away from me.”
It made sense now, Erin was having a baby, she was growing up and knew how mom felt more than Alissa and I could because we’ve never had children.
I would’ve never imagined Erin to be the one to take this the best way out of all of us. She walked over to Elena and introduced herself, I saw mom smile and I smiled, I even wanted to cry a little too.
I left them alone and went to find Alissa. “Go be with your wife.” I told Theo before walking outside. I sighed when I saw Alissa hadn’t just come outside, she left. I shook my head, I really expected more from Alissa. I went back inside and now it was my turn to sit on the sofa and watch TV.
After clicking through a few channels, Dad walked inside.