threaten to throw us out of the family. Speaking as the last person that happened to, it’s not fun.”
“We don’t have a choice,” Francesca told her. “I’m sorry about what happened before. We should have stood together. That’s what we’ll do this time.”
“You think he bothers you,” Brenna said bitterly. “Try working for him.” She took her sisters’ hands. “Come on, we’re joining them.” Zach put his arm around Katie.
The four of them walked into the living room. Her parents sat together on the sofa. Her mother was in tears. She pressed a tissue to her face with one hand and held on to her husband with the other. Grammy M huddled next to her daughter. For the first time Francesca realized her grandmother was an old woman. Pain emphasized the lines in her face and pulled at her mouth.
Grandma Tessa sat alone on a chair by the fireplace and Grandpa Lorenzo stood next to her.
They all looked up when Francesca, her sisters, and Zach entered. Grandpa Lorenzo frowned.
“This is not your business.”
Francesca ignored him and crossed to the sofa. She squeezed in next to Grammy M and took her frail hand in hers. “Are you all right?”
Her grandmother offered a trembling smile. “ ’Tis something I knew would have to come out one day. None of us meant to hurt you girls. You have to believe that.”
“Mary-Margaret!” Grandpa Lorenzo roared. “You will be silent!”
Grammy M flinched.
Francesca rose and faced her grandfather. “There has been too much silence for too many years. We are all a part of this family. You can threaten us, Grandpa, but you can’t scare us away. We want to know what’s going on.”
Her parents exchanged a look of silent communication. Grandma Tessa looked at her husband. Grammy M nodded slowly.
“ ’Tis time,” she said softly.
“I agree.” Her father stood. “It’s long past time.”
13
It took a few minutes for everyone to get settled. Francesca found herself on the sofa between Brenna and Grandma Tessa. Her mother sat next to Grammy M on one loveseat, while Katie and Zach shared another. Only Lorenzo and his son stood alone.
They glared at each other from across the living room. Tension filled the air, nearly crackling with intensity. Francesca wondered how long they had been avoiding this particular topic-how many years had they needed to clear the air. She and her sisters had always known there were secrets, but they had assumed they were silly, inconsequential bits of information that might be interesting, but would never impact their lives. They’d been wrong.
Still glaring at his father, Marco spoke first. “You girls know that your mother and I dated in high school.”
All three of them nodded. Francesca watched her father turn his gaze from Grandpa Lorenzo to his daughters. He smiled at each of them. She saw the love in his eyes, and the unspoken promise that they would survive whatever he had to say. Some of her tension eased slightly.
“We were young and very much in love.” He shifted his attention to his wife, who gave him a warm and tender smile, despite the tears in her eyes.
“What you don’t know is that our families were opposed to our relationship.”
Francesca straightened. She glanced at Brenna, then at Katie. Her sisters seemed as shocked as she felt. She turned to Grammy M for confirmation.
“You didn’t approve of Dad?” she asked.
Grammy M twisted her hands together. “It was a long time ago, darlin’. Things were different.”
Grandma Tessa shrugged. “We wanted a good Italian girl for our Marco.”
“But that was in the 1970s. Did people really care about those things back then?” Brenna asked.
Her mother gave her a sad smile. “More than you can believe. Your father and I had a lot of family pressure to stop seeing each other. We were both fighting with our parents. In the end, we agreed to keep the peace, but continued to see each other in secret.”
Grandpa Lorenzo opened his mouth to say something, but his son cut him off.
“I’m telling this story,” Marco said curtly.
Grandpa Lorenzo hesitated, then nodded.
Brenna shifted closer and took Francesca’s hand in her own. Francesca tried to give her sister a reassuring smile, but had a feeling it didn’t come out very well.
“Your mother was only sixteen when we found out she was pregnant.”
“He proposed right away,” her mother said, picking up the story. “We’d planned to get married anyway, but this moved up our timetable. Unfortunately the news didn’t please either of our parents.”
Francesca couldn’t begin to imagine what that must have been like. Two teenagers surrounded by disapproval. They must have been terrified.
“We sent her away,” Grammy M said softly, tears filling her blue eyes. “Lord forgive us.”
Grandma Tessa nodded, withdrew her ever-present rosary from her pocket, and kissed it lightly.
Colleen sighed. “I was sent to a school for unwed mothers before I could run away with your father. No one knew where I was. They thought-” She cleared her throat. “We all thought…”
Grammy M stared at her daughter. “You’ll not be takin’ the blame for what others made you do.” She turned to her granddaughters. “My Connor, God rest his soul, Tessa, Lorenzo, and myself decided it would be best if they were givin’ up the wee one for adoption. Colleen and Marco were just babies themselves. But they were stubborn and they fought us. In the end we won, though.”
She didn’t sound especially happy about that.
Francesca looked at her mother. “You had a boy?” she asked.
“Yes. I never saw him. They said it would be easier if I didn’t.” Her mother swallowed as tears returned to her eyes. “I’m not sure anything could have been harder. They took him away and I came home.” She turned her attention to her husband. “Marco was waiting for me. Our parents insisted we stop seeing each other, but we didn’t listen. When I turned eighteen, we married.”
Marco crossed to his wife and took her hand. “That’s all,” he said quietly. “Now you girls know what happened.”
Francesca wondered who was going to tell Mia, but decided that could be determined later. Next to her, Brenna caught her breath.
“So he’s out there somewhere, with no idea who is he or what’s waiting for him here?”
Francesca swung to face her sister. Brenna’s expression was stark and empty. Her twin’s pain slammed into her as if it were her own. Francesca wanted to point out that a male heir couldn’t possibly matter at this late date, that Grandpa Lorenzo would never give the winery to a virtual stranger, regardless of his connection by blood, but she knew she was wrong. It was more than possible.
“God punished us,” Grandma Tessa said. “We shouldn’t have insisted she give up the baby.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Grandpa Lorenzo snapped. “We’re not being punished.” But he didn’t sound as sure as he could be.
Francesca couldn’t absorb all she’d been told. How could events from thirty years before have such an impact on their lives? And yet in a matter of minutes-with only a few words of information-everything was different.
“Has anyone contacted him?” she asked.
“We never thought there was a need,” Grandpa Lorenzo said.
Francesca stared at him. “This isn’t about need, it’s about family. You have a grandson out there. We have a brother. My parents have a son. Does that matter to you?”
“We weren’t sure,” Colleen said quietly. “We didn’t want to interfere with his life. We didn’t know if he would be interested in hearing from us.”
We didn’t know if he would forgive us.
