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The passport story is much safer.
“Alright, just make sure that she remembers. Who are you, exactly? Are you one of her Italian coworkers? ShelovedItaly the first time she went, though I’m not sure if she loves it as much while she’s working!” she jokes, instantly lifting the mood somewhat and calming my nerves.
“Oh, I’m actually more of a... fling she’s having,” I say as I grasp for the least offensive terms. “We met here and have gotten along really well, so we’ve spent a lot of time together. I promise you that she’s in excellent hands.”
“Hmm, you’d better be careful. The last time she had a fling, she ended up with twins!” the mother exclaims. “She doesn’t need another baby right now. The two she has are already a handful! I’ve gotta hand it to her, though. She does a great job of raising them without a man in the picture.”
Wait.
Twins?
I want to respond, but I can’t pick my jaw up off the floor. How the hell does June have two kids that she never told me about? How long have I been holding someone’smotherhostage?
“Oh, ha, well, I’ll make sure that we’re extra safe. Don’t you worry! No extra babies for anyone,” I reply shakily as my whole world warps before my eyes.
She sighs deep in relief. “As long as you promise to be safe and take care of her, I trust you! I’ve got to go, I’m watching the boys, and they’ve been begging to go to the park for the past hour.”
“Yeah, absolutely. It was nice to talk to you!” I stammer.
“You too. Goodbye, mystery Italian man!”
I hang up the phone and slump back down into my chair. June must be a world-class actor if she was able to hide a family from me for this long. Most women who have kids talk about them incessantly, and usually, they’d be the first thing mentioned if the woman felt like she was being mortally threatened.
You can’t kill me. I have kids at home!
Now that I have this new information to process, I have no idea how I’m going to confront June about it. What exactly has she been up to all these years? Did she think I would find her less desirable because she has kids?
It takes a few hours before I’m ready to talk to June about her children. The entire time I wait, I have to talk myself down from letting the possibilities run rampant through my mind. I’ve taken on an entirely new level of shame for forcing June to be away from her children like this, all for a stupid power play.
I have to remind myself that June would be dead if I hadn’t brought her here, but she was only endangered because her abductors knew she was affiliated with me somehow.
At around ten PM, I finally work up the nerve to confront her. She’s sitting at the kitchen island reading one of her books and sipping some tea before bed. She looks so serene, so peaceful, that I hate to disrupt her. But if I don’t do it now, I don’t know how I’ll be able to do it later.
“June, we need to have a conversation,” I say in my most authoritative voice.
She jumps from being startled, eyes wide and somewhat frightened. “Yeah, what’s going on?” she asks, guarded and suspicious.
“Your mom just called here, and she mentioned that you have twin boys at home. Is this true?” I ask, walking toward the island to sit across from her.
She freezes in place. Her face turns white, and for a moment, I’m convinced that she’s going to burst into tears or beg for forgiveness.
She doesn’t need to do that, but Idoneed to know why she withheld this information from me.
“Yes, I do. I have two little boys,” she replies, holding back tears that have now become inevitable.
“How old are they? Why didn’t you tell me about them?” I ask, trying to keep my voice from sounding accusatory. In the heat of the conversation, I’m worried that I’ll say something crass or stupid, forcing her to shut down entirely.
She exhales deeply, standing up from out of her seat. Perhaps she’s trying to feel bigger, or maybe this is the closest she’ll get from running away. As she considers her answer, I try not to stare her down. My heart is racing, and the longer she takes to answer me, the more impatient I’ll become.
“They’re five. Their names are Archer and Calvin. I didn’t tell you about them because I was afraid. I didn’t know if their existence would matter to you, and I didn’t want to give anyone any reason to go after my family. You have to understand, Marcello. You live in a very dangerous world.”
I realize that I can’t fault her for wanting to protect her family, especially after everything I’ve told her about my enemies. I scared the shit out of her when I told her that she was a target for my rival gangs, and that would have been more than enough for her to keep her mouth shut about the kids all together.
“I understand. I hadn’t thought about it like that. I’m so sorry, June. Had I known how all of this was going to pan out, I wouldn’t have been nearly as harsh with you.”
She glances at me warily as if she’s still expecting me to lash out at her. I hate to see the fear in her eyes, especially knowing that I caused it.
“I mean, you couldn’t have known what was going to happen, and I can imagine that it was stressful for you having to babysit me when you were fighting off so much opposition,” she replies, her voice soft and careful.
