I shake my head, and the hope of learning something new about my mom slips through my fingers.
Gia shifts at my side and leans forward. “Sofia committed suicide when Rex was five. She was found in her car, not far from her apartment, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
Milena’s face pales, and she slowly covers her mouth with a shaky hand. “Oh God.” Her eyes go distant again. “Mary.”
Gia and I look at each other quickly, and Raven rushes to her mother’s side.
“Mom, who’s Mary?”
Milena’s eyes clear, and she studies me as if she’s seeing me for the first time. “Mary was one of Dominick’s housemaids.”
My heart explodes, hammering away and rejuvenating my hope. “Yeah, she was a cleaning lady.” I nod for her to go on.
“I didn’t know her well, but I remember her. She was so beautiful. Dark hair. Dominick loved being surrounded by women with dark hair. When I was pregnant and in Dominick’s home, she was there. She always looked sad, and I would catch her absently wiping things down while she was transfixed on Dominick.”
“Why transfixed?”
“My guess? Unrequited love.” Milena shakes her head. “Dominick had a way of making a girl feel as if the earth began and ended at her feet. He poured it on so heavy you couldn’t see through it if you’d tried.” Her expression sobers. “But when he took it away, decided you weren’t worth it, the rejection was crippling. You’d go from queen of his world to less than the scum beneath his foot.”
That would make sense. All the hospital reports said that they found medication for depression all over my mom’s apartment. She was alone, raising a child that she probably thought was conceived in love and then abandoned—rejected and cast aside like garbage.
Something clicks deep in my soul, and in this moment, I know this is the answer I was looking for.
“One afternoon Dominick stopped by the house where I was living with Raven. He was in a bad mood. I could tell by the way he stomped up to my front door. I didn’t ask, but he’d taken a call. I’ll never forget it. He told whoever he was talking to that Mary died. Her son needed to be taken care of until he could figure out what to do with him.” She shakes her head. “I didn’t know Mary had a son, but looking at you now, Rex, you’re the spitting image of her.”
I drop my chin to my chest and breathe, trying to keep breathing and not give in to the lung-constricting truth.
My mom was in love with the devil.
They made a baby.
Me.
Half evil, half beauty.
“Rex,” Raven says and I nod, but don’t look up. “We’ve got an appointment to get the blood test today. Don’t get upset until you know for sure.”
I shake my head. “I’m not upset. I’m processing.”
Gia squeezes my thigh, but I keep my eyes to my lap and think about my mom. Dominick thieved her love and abused her devotion. And because of that she’s dead. The information settles like a brick in my gut.
“What time is the sibling test?” I’m ready to get this over with, get my answers, and move on.
“Two, but the lab we’re using is the same that the UFL uses, so I was able to pull some strings to get us in and give us results while we’re there. Nothing says that if we show up they won’t take us early,” Jonah says.
I nod. “Let’s go. I want answers. I think I’ve waited long enough.”
*
“The purpose of the sibling test is to see if Raven and Rex have shared genetic markers. If they do, that will result in a positive, meaning they share a parent.” The guy wearing the white lab coat explains the science behind the test as if I care. I don’t. I’m just ready to find out so I can move on.
“The test is completely painless.” He holds up a long Q-Tip. “The swab will collect a DNA sample from the inside of your cheek.”
He goes on and on talking, but I tune him out and concentrate on the woman at my side. Gia hasn’t let go of my hand all day except to hop into my truck, but as soon as I climbed into the driver’s seat she snatched it back into hers. I pull her hand into my lap, and she turns to me with a small but reassuring smile.
“Rex, open up.” The lab guy gets the sample first from me and then Raven.
It’s silent as he ushers us into a large waiting room furnished with comfortable chairs to wait for the results.
Raven and Jonah sit across the room with Sadie asleep in the stroller.
Gia and I sit down next to Milena, who insisted on coming with us. She hasn’t spoken at all since she told me everything she knows about my mom.
“Milena, thanks for giving me back a little piece of her,” I say.
She looks up and nods.
“As of about six months ago, I didn’t remember my childhood. When I remembered, none of the memories of her came back. If you remember something about her, anything at all, will you call me?”