“Yes, but like your fathers, my dad also passed away recently. Do either of you know the connection we have?” Jessica asked. The other two women shook their heads.
“Both of your dads went to school with my mama in California and college here in Boston.” She stopped, wondering if she should just jump right in with all the facts. “And… your fathers and my dad all died the same day.”
“Are you kidding?” Gins asked. “What was your dad’s name?”
“Robert Young, but more importantly, my mama’s name was Virginia Elizabeth Anderson—Young.”
Lizzi sat forward in her chair. That was the second time Virginia Anderson’s name had come up. Gins had said something about a Virginia Anderson.
Jessica took the small photo album out of her purse and opened it to the picture of her mom with the flower in her hair.
“That was my mama. She was a very courageous woman. She had a terrible accident when she was in her mid-twenties and sustained severe brain damage. My dad was her neurosurgeon. Little did he know he’d fall in love with her and they’d raise a family together. Although she was disabled the whole time I knew her, she was an amazing mother and an astonishing woman. If you want to see more about her, look her up on the internet. Virginia Anderson was a well-known lobbyist working with my aunt Catherine in DC. Well, she’s not my real aunt.”
“May I?” Lizzi asked, indicating she wanted to look at the other pictures in the album.
“Sure.”
Lizzi giggled. “Is this your dad?”
“Yes, Mama wanted their toenails to match. He loved her so much he’d do anything for her.”
“Sounds like a terrific guy,” Gins said.
“He was. The best.”
The three sat in silence for a moment. Lizzi flipped the photos back to the first picture. She made a small sound and put her hand on her mouth. Both the other girls looked at her.
“This is your mother?” Lizzi asked.
“Yes.”
Lizzi picked up her purse and took out her wallet. She had the same photo, Gini’s professional picture. “This is my mother, Virginia Legotti. Papa gave it to me not too long before he died. He told me she passed away when I was a baby. That was twenty-five years earlier and I could see the sorrow still in him. He loved her deeply. He had lived with the pain of her death all those years.”
“Are you kidding me?” Gins said. “My dad had that same five-by-seven picture on his dresser from the day he and my mom were divorced. They’re all the same woman.”
Jessica took out her phone and showed a picture of Robbie to both of them. “This is my brother, Rob.”
“Oh my gosh, Lizzi, he looks just like you!” Gins looked at both Lizzi and Jessica. “You two are sisters!”
Jessica slowly nodded her head. “Yes, I think we are.”
“How?” Lizzi said, finally finding her voice. “Why didn’t I know; why didn’t my papa tell me?”
Then it hit Gins. “I went to her funeral with my dad.” She pointed at Gini’s picture. “I recognize you now. I saw you that day. And my dad talked for a long time to another man afterwards out in the parking lot. Franco, yes, that was his name. They hugged each other before we left.”
“Franco Legotti, my papa.”
“Like I said earlier, your two dads and my mom grew up together and came to Boston for college. From what my dad and my mama’s nurse told me, Gini married Franco then had an affair with Ric and was pregnant by one of them when she had the accident. The babies died.”
“No, this gets more bizarre as we go,” Gins said. “So, if the babies were my dad’s, then we’d all have half-siblings.”
“What’s your full name?” Lizzi asked Gins.
“Virginia Elizabeth Santini.”
Lizzi looked at Jessica.
“Jessica Elizabeth Young. Elizabeth was my grandmother’s middle name. Gini’s mama.”
“My name, Virginia Elizabeth Legotti. Wonder why they named you Jessica rather than Virginia?”
Jessica smiled. “Oh, my mama named me even before my dad knew I was in the womb.”
Lizzi and Gins related stories their fathers had told them about Mama Elizabeth taking them in and saving their lives when they were young.
Jessica noticed the restaurant staff was preparing the other tables for dinner.
“Papa said if Mama Elizabeth hadn’t rescued him, he would have been in gangs and eventually in jail.”
“I know. My dad said his father was killed in a plane crash and Mama Elizabeth was the only one that cared about the tragedy and helped him through his depression.” Gins sat back and put her hand on her heart.
The women sat in silence for a few minutes.
“Lizzi, you said you wanted to travel. Do you want to get married and have a family someday?” Jessica asked, wanting to break the awkward quiet, with no one else in the room but the three of them.
“Don’t know, never thought about it much. I don’t really know who I am, just the daughter of a rich man who had a long braid and a dragon tattoo.”
“Really?” Jessica asked.
“He was a wonderful father, don’t get me wrong. But he wasn’t around much. When I was little, I was left with the staff in Peru while he was at drilling sites. And in boarding school, I wasn’t involved much out of class. I had to work really hard to make the grades to get into MIT. I need some social skills before I could ever date for marriage.”
“Do you go to the project sites now?”
“No, there are project managers and foremen to do that job. My papa just liked getting his hands dirty. How about you, Gins?”
Gins had an easy, soft smile; she was graceful and poised. “If I can find a man like my
