Chapter 2 - The Father Maya Never KnewElena did not sleep.
She sat at her small kitchen table until morning with the paternity report folded beside her coffee.
Across the room, Maya slept on the couch.
She had insisted on waiting up for her mother.
Eventually exhaustion had won.
Elena watched her daughter breathe.
For twelve years, Maya had asked about her father.
Elena had always given her the safest version of the truth.
He did not know.
He had disappeared before Elena knew she was pregnant.
He had not chosen to abandon her.
Now Elena finally knew she had been right.
That should have made the conversation easier.
It did not.
Maya woke at seven.
She immediately noticed Elena’s expression.
“Something happened.”
Elena gave a tired smile.
“How do you always know?”
“Your eyebrows do that thing.”
“What thing?”
“The worried thing.”
Elena pulled out the chair beside her.
“Maya, sit with me.”
Maya obeyed.
Elena struggled for several seconds.
Then she chose honesty.
“Remember when you asked me about your father?”
Maya became completely still.
“Yes.”
“I found him.”
Maya blinked.
For several seconds, she looked almost afraid to breathe.
“Who?”
Elena reached for her hand.
“You already know him.”
Confusion crossed Maya’s face.
Then understanding arrived so quickly that Elena saw it happen.
“No.”
Elena said nothing.
Maya’s eyes widened.
“Mr. Costello?”
Elena nodded.
Maya jumped from the chair.
“The grumpy baseball man?”
Despite everything, Elena laughed.
“Yes.”
Maya stared at her.
“He’s my dad?”
“Yes.”
The child began pacing around the kitchen.
“But he didn’t know?”
“No.”
“Did you know?”
“I knew who your father was.”
Elena swallowed.
“But I didn’t know where he had gone.”
She explained Luca’s collapse.
The hospital.
The missing months.
The fact that he had never known about the pregnancy.
Maya listened without interrupting.
Finally, she whispered.
“So nobody left me.”
Elena’s heart tightened.
“No.”
Maya looked toward the window.
“He really didn’t know.”
“No, sweetheart.”
Maya considered that.
Then she asked the question Elena had feared most.
“Does he want me?”
Elena crossed the kitchen and knelt beside her.
“He was terrified you might not want him.”
Maya frowned.
“That’s stupid.”
Elena laughed through tears.
“Maybe you got your tact from him.”
An hour later, they drove to the estate.
Luca was waiting near the baseball field.
Maya stopped twenty feet away from him.
For once, she did not run through the grass.
She walked slowly.
Luca looked more nervous than Elena had ever seen him.
Maya stopped directly in front of his chair.
“So.”
Luca nodded.
“So.”
“You’re my father.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t know.”
“No.”
“You would’ve come if you knew?”
Luca answered without hesitation.
“I would have torn the world apart looking for you.”
Maya stared at him.
Then she stepped forward.
She wrapped both arms around his neck.
Luca froze.
His hands remained at his sides for several seconds.
Then he held her.
His eyes closed.
Elena turned away.
She wanted to give them the moment.
Then Maya suddenly whispered something into Luca’s ear.
His expression changed.
“What did you say?”
Maya stepped back.
“I remembered something.”
“What?”
“The doctor who comes here.”
“Dr. Vale?”
She nodded.
“I saw him once when Mom was working late.”
Luca became still.
“He was putting something in your medicine.”
“That’s his job.”
Maya shook her head.
“No.”
She pointed toward the house.
“He looked around first.”
Luca’s eyes met Elena’s.
May you like
Then Maya added one final detail.
“And Uncle Vittorio was standing behind him.”
Related Stories
