Chapter 2 - “IS HE REALLY MY DAD?”
Elena did not tell Maya that night.
She tried.
Three times.
Each time, she found her daughter doing something completely normal.
Brushing her teeth.
Searching for a missing sock.
Trying to convince herself that unfinished math homework might disappear if she closed the notebook long enough.
Elena could not bring herself to break the world open.
The next afternoon, Maya came through the hedge as usual.
Luca was waiting on the porch.
She stopped when she saw him.
“You look extra sad today.”
“I’m beginning to think you say that whenever you don’t understand my face.”
“No.”
She climbed the steps.
“Sometimes you look annoyed.”
Luca almost smiled.
“Good to know.”
Maya dropped her backpack beside the chair.
“Where’s my mom?”
“Inside.”
Maya immediately noticed something was wrong.
Her eyes moved from Luca to the house.
“Am I in trouble?”
“No.”
“Did Tommy break the window?”
“What window?”
Her face changed.
“Never mind.”
Luca looked at her.
Maya looked at the grass.
“I should probably go.”
“Elena wants to talk to you.”
“That sounds bad.”
“It isn’t bad.”
Maya studied him.
“Then why do you look nervous?”
Luca had been threatened by men who killed for less money than he spent maintaining the estate grounds.
None of them had ever made him feel what he felt in that moment.
Elena stepped onto the porch.
“Maya.”
Her daughter looked at her.
Then at Luca.
“What happened?”
Elena sat beside her.
“Maya, remember what I told you about your father?”
Maya’s expression changed immediately.
“He didn’t know about me.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t know where he went.”
“That’s right.”
Elena reached for her hand.
“I know where he went now.”
Maya went very still.
Luca said nothing.
Elena continued.
“Actually, you know him.”
Maya looked at Luca.
Then back at her mother.
Her eyes widened.
“No.”
Elena squeezed her hand.
“Yes.”
Maya stared at Luca.
“You?”
Luca’s throat tightened.
“Yes.”
“You’re my dad?”
“Yes.”
Maya jumped off the step.
Luca expected anger.
Maybe confusion.
Instead, she walked in a small circle.
Then another.
She pressed both hands to her head.
“This is weird.”
“That’s fair,” Luca said.
“This is really weird.”
“I agree.”
Maya pointed at him.
“You knew?”
“For a few days.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I wanted your mother to decide when you should know.”
Maya looked at Elena.
Elena nodded.
“I asked him to wait.”
Maya processed that.
Then she turned back to Luca.
“Did you leave us?”
There it was.
The question that mattered.
Luca could have softened it.
He didn’t.
“I left your mother without knowing she was pregnant.”
“Why?”
“Because my life became very complicated very quickly.”
“That sounds like an adult answer.”
“It is.”
“I hate adult answers.”
Luca looked at Elena.
She gave him nothing.
Honest when it costs you something.
Luca looked back at Maya.
“Someone hurt me.”
Maya glanced at his wheelchair.
“The person who made your legs sleep?”
“Yes.”
“I collapsed a few weeks after I last saw your mom.”
“I spent months in hospitals.”
“By the time I understood my life again, I didn’t know how to find her.”
Maya looked at Elena.
“Did you try finding him?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t know his last name.”
“You dated a guy and didn’t know his last name?”
Elena closed her eyes briefly.
“It made more sense when I was younger.”
Maya frowned.
“That still sounds dumb.”
“It was.”
Luca looked away to hide a smile.
Then Maya asked the question he had been afraid of.
“If you knew about me back then, would you have wanted me?”
Luca answered immediately.
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
No explanation.
Just yes.
Maya stared at him.
Then she stepped closer.
“You missed a lot.”
“I know.”
“My kindergarten play was terrible.”
“I’m sorry I missed it.”
“I forgot all my lines.”
“I’m less sorry now.”
Maya laughed unexpectedly.
Elena covered her mouth.
Maya moved closer to Luca.
Then stopped.
“Can I hug you?”
Luca had no idea why the question hurt.
“Yes.”
Maya wrapped her arms around him.
Carefully at first.
Then tighter.
Luca closed his eyes.
His daughter smelled like shampoo and grass.
He placed one hand against the back of her coat.
For twelve years, men had feared Luca Costello.
For the first time, fear meant absolutely nothing to him.
Maya pulled back.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“You can start now.”
Luca swallowed.
“Start what?”
“Being my dad.”
Then she looked over his shoulder toward the driveway.
Her smile disappeared.
A black sedan had stopped outside the front gate.
An older man stepped out.
Maya pointed.
“I know him.”
May you like
Luca turned.
Salvatore Bellini was walking toward the house.
