Page 42 of Never Without You
“That’s why Dad didn’t tell us. He wanted usto have our family. He knew we wouldn’t be able to look Uncle Domin the eye if we knew all this before we were adults.”
“Do I get a free pass if I fly out there andpunch him in the face?”
God, I love my sister and her passion.
“I’m okay with it. Though I don’t know thatit’ll help heal the rift.”
Laura smiles. “You’re the mistress ofunderstatement. You know that, right?”
I grin.
Dad’s heading back to the table and Laura andI release our hands.
Damn, I’ve never seen him so upset.
He sits and lifts his palm at us before wecan say anything. “Let me finish. Then you can say what you have tosay.”
“Okay, Dad,” I whisper.
“When Connie…your mother, came home, Dominicand Merrie were waiting for us. Dominic was crying. I mean sobbing.He apologized and begged our forgiveness. We told him it wasn’t hisfault. What happened, it was a tragic accident. He couldn’t getpast it. Weeks went by and he was beating himself up. Drinking andcrying. What happened was awful, but he made it worse by openlywallowing in it. If he couldn’t let it go, he should’ve pretendeduntil he got his shit together. I couldn’t stand his guilt, andyour mother felt like she was the reason Dom and I were rippingapart.”
He pounds his fist on the table, shakes hishead, and takes a deep breath.
“After four months of Dom spiraling nonstop,I went to Dad and told him Connie and I needed to get away. Make anew start. He understood, but he hated that we were leaving.
“The vineyard and the winery were all I knew.I would’ve never gone to work for another winery or vineyard, and Ihad no idea what I was going to do to feed my family. I knewAlessandro was expanding his food import business, so I called himand asked if he had any job openings. We sold the house in RedwoodFalls and moved to Avon to the first house. You remember thathouse?”
We nod. Laura remembers it better than I do.We were there about five years.
“Alessandro Di Caro has been good to me. Hegave me a job. Nothing else. Your mother and I paid for the movewith the money we had from the sale of our house. We had enoughmoney left over to put a down payment on our first house here, andwe started our new lives.”
Dad gives us a pointed look.
“He allowed me to learn a new business on hisdime, and to pay him back for his kindness, I worked hard to growthat business into what it is today. I have no idea what he doesoutside of our business relationship, which is friendly andrespectful. Everything about Substantial is one hundred percentlegal and aboveboard. He’s never asked me to do anything but runhis company to the best of my ability.”
Dad sits back and looks like he’s bracing foran onslaught.
Then he says one more thing. “I want yougirls to cut your mother some slack. She blames herself foruprooting our lives, and she clings to her things and her rules tokeep from going off the rails. She’ll never acknowledge any ofthis, and she won’t talk to you about it. She doesn’t talk to meabout it. But she loves me with a ferocity I’ve never known. Andshe loves you. She’s become so rigid with herself, it’s hard forher to express her love. But I’ve known and loved her for nearlythirty-seven years, and I’m telling you, she loves you girls. Sheloves Baz. She knows he’s a good man who adores her daughter andtheir children. Valeria and Austen are her treasures. If anyone canloosen her up, it’s you two. For your old man, give it someeffort.”
Laura says, “Totally, Dad.”
I bobble my head. “Absolutely.”
He waits. Then he waits some more.
“That’s it. No fifty questions?”
Laura says, “I think you and Mom were moregenerous than I would’ve been.”
“How so, Laurie?”
“You let Ter and I go away every summer to bewith your family.”
“Honey, they’re your family too. You need toknow them, and they need to be in your life. None of that changes,no matter what happened between me and Dom.”
When the waiter comes over to see if one ofus finally paid the check, I notice it’s us and only one othertable with people that are left in the restaurant.
Dad’s faster on the draw and drops his creditcard into the envelope thingie.
