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When Uncle Sal came into the apartment, he pulled Lia into his arms. “Mija.”
“But I’m not your daughter,” Lia cried.
Uncle Sal squeezed her tight and looked right into her eyes. “You’ve always been my daughter, and you always will be. Nothing will ever change that. Nothing. Do you understand? Tú eras mi vida. Forever and always.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat as I watched Lia and her father. They may not have been related by blood, but there was no doubt she was Uncle Sal’s daughter.
“Your mother loves you too. You know that, right?”
“I do. But I don’t understand why she kept me. I must’ve been such a painful reminder of what happened.”
Sadness filled Uncle Sal’s eyes as he pushed out a slow breath. “The thought of not keeping you never crossed her mind. You have always been part of her regardless of how you were conceived. I can say without a doubt that neither one of us would want to imagine life without you.”
“But she’s always pushed me away. There’s always been this distance between us.”
My uncle offered a sad smile. “That’s not you, Lia. That’s your mother. She pushes everyone away. Me included.”
“She doesn’t push Brandy away.”
They both glanced at me, and Uncle Sal laughed. “She doesn’t push Brandy away because Brandy never gives her a chance to do so. You and me... we’re fighters, but when things get difficult, we sometimes let go.”
Lia thought about that for a moment. “Do you wish she would’ve told you before I was born?”
“It wouldn’t have changed how I feel about you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Maybe not, but it doesn’t make a difference now. On one hand, it wrecks me to think of your mother dealing with such a traumatic event on her own. I wish she would’ve told me so I could’ve done a better job supporting her. Had I known, I could’ve been more sensitive and understanding about a lot of things.
“On the other hand, I’m afraid of what I might’ve done had I found out sooner. I was young and impulsive at the time. I might’ve sought revenge and wound up in jail or dead, which would’ve made everything worse. By the time your mother told me the truth, we were older, and we’d moved on the best we could.”
“But you got a divorce,” Lia said.
Uncle Sal’s eyes softened. “We did.”
“Was it because of me?” Lia asked.
“No, of course not. What happened between your mother and me didn’t have anything to do with you.”
Uncle Sal pulled his gaze to mine. “Nor you either, Brandy. You both know that, right? Ruth Anne and I...” He shook his head. The divorce still bothered him, and my heart ached for him.
“Oh, Papa.” Lia embraced her father again.
Feeling like an intruder, I looked away. Would I ever have a relationship like that with my own father? Time would tell, I supposed.
* * *
The boys weresound asleep by the time I finally got home. I turned off all the lights and went to find Troy who was reading in the bedroom.
“Is everything okay?” he asked, closing his book and setting it on the nightstand.
I’d texted him earlier to say that the boys were next door, and I’d explain everything after I talked to Lia. Sinking onto the bed beside him, I tossed my purse onto the floor and kicked off my shoes. “You’re not going to believe what happened today.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” Starting at the beginning, I told him everything: my mom’s reaction to the home movies, learning that Dottie and Eddie had dated in high school, and Lia walking in when Aunt Ruthie told me about being raped.
“Raped. Whoa.” Troy sat up a little straighter. “The rape wasn’t addressed at the trial, was it?”
