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“Dario.”
“I told you to stay away from me,” I bark at him without stopping.
Chapter 27
Viewing The Past
Dario
I sit on the plane, awaiting takeoff. The memory from earlier clinging to my brain. Why have I never put one and one together before?
I don’t remember much about Papa Esposito before Mama disappeared. He became a presence in my life, even more so after the fact. One of the reasons I was surprised and a bit shocked he approached Carleen after our playground wedding.
“You should open my gift. We have a long flight. I can explain it while we’re in the air,” Nonno says.
I bob my head and reach for the bag in the seat next to me. Nonno sits across from me, watching me closely. I take the box out and place it in front of me. Removing the lid, I reveal what looks to be a picture album.
I remove it from the box and push the box out of the way. When I flip to the first page, I smile. At first, I think it’s a picture of me and Dante. However, one of the babies has blond hair.
I look at the hospital bands beneath the photo and lift a brow.
“Gio and Jace?”
“Yes,” Nonno says with a smile in his voice.
“My first extended stay to the States was for their birth. Your mother was so happy for her friend and his son. You would have thought Jace was her own boy. From that day, the two have done everything together.”
I flip the page. It’s like a few years have passed by. Gio stands between Jace and a little brown girl with knobby knees. Gio has an arm around each of their necks.
“He’s always been a protector. Those two were his to protect. You messed with them, and he’d declare war on everything you hold dear.
“I’ll never forget their first summer in Italy. The three were so adorable. Jace has always been the quiet one. His life started hard and only got harder. Well, some of the kids in town were picking on Jace.
“That little one there”—he taps another photo of Gio, Jace and the girl—“she’s as protective as Gio. She beat up a few of the boys, but one made the mistake of placing a hand on her.
“Gio was already angry about Jace, but when he saw Ny’s lip. I learned my grandson was an entirely different person from the sweet boy we thought him to be. We had to send them all back to the States while I smoothed things over—”
I froze and look down at the picture more closely. Then cut him off. “Wait, Ny as in Nyla?”
Nonno nods and his eyes twinkle as he looks back at me. “Yes, this is the same girl. Do you not remember her?”
“No, I…Oh shit. The skinny girl with the Goth makeup. That was Nyla?”
“Yes, my boy. Beth’s oldest daughter.”
I lick my lips as my curiosity burns. A million more questions fill my head.
“I remember Beth. How does she fit into all of this? What happened to her?”
“Not yet, first you have to understand the lies, then I can unwrap the rest of what you seek.”
I keep flipping through and find page after page of pictures of Gio, Jace, and Nyla. With each picture, they seem to grow closer. However, once I get to the back of the book, something has changed. Nyla is missing and the happiness is gone.
Gio and Jace look to be about sixteen. I note this must be around the time my ma disappeared. The anger in Gio’s face is palpable. I remember that time. He was so full of rage, it’s why he left to begin with.
I look up from the album into Nonno’s eyes. “I never asked before because I’ve only known him to be like a brother and a part of our family, but what happened to Jace’s family? How did he end up with us?”
Nonno nods and thins his lips. He gives a nod before he speaks. “Emil, the Dane. He, your mother, and Beth were as tight as those three.” He nods at the album. “The year you were born. I received a call one night. I thought your mother was calling with news about you boys. The way my daughter screamed over the phone.
“It broke my heart. Ava was so strong. To hear her sob that way wasn’t right. She loved Emil and Jace…”
“This one is hard. The memories are still fresh as if not from thirty-five years ago. Jace watched the murder of his father and mother. He then walked over ten miles barefoot in the rain to your home. Not one of them would allow Jace to be raised by anyone else. So he became ours. That night sealed all our fates.”
“Wow, I didn’t know any of that.”
“Yes, well, there is a lot you don’t know. Riccardo told you all the things he wanted you to know, but none of the truth.”
