Sailing With Destiny

Old Wounds

⚠️ Chapter contains content that might be triggering to some. Please stop reading if it's too much. ⚠️

I froze, I didn't know how to react or think. This was information I had never heard before, my heartbeat picked up and my throat felt awfully dry. I didn't know if it was the alcohol speaking but I didn't want to hear more yet I couldn't move.

"Really," Tía said. "When Carmen learned she was pregnant with you and Douchebag Brinson was apprehensive to accept you were his, your uncle and I offered to adopt you."

"No," I breathed and shook my head. "It can't be," I muttered to myself.

"Let's go," Mitchell placed his hand on my leg and sat forward, ready to leave.

I was glued to my seat, unable to move. I refused to believe what she said was true, neither my mom nor dad ever mentioned giving me away.

"Carmen struggled with postpartum depression shortly after you were born," Tía went on to explain. "As a doctor, you should understand how... ugly that can get sometimes."

"Carolina," Leo spoke seriously for the first time that night. "What's the point of this?"

"I'm just saying, Leonardo," Tía shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, Carmen was a wonderful mother... while she was able to be. But in the beginning, it was rough, she had a stressful pregnancy with the doubt of a present paternal figure for her child, Mama and Papa were supportive but they weren't happy with Carmen's foolishness of falling pregnant from a one-night stand."

I swallowed the lump in my throat and said in a small voice. "Tía... por favor."

"Ay, mi corazón," Tía offered me a hand to take but I kept my hands into tight fists on my lap. "Everyone loves you, Cariño. But it wasn't easy on Carmen, I imagine she was terribly overwhelmed and it reached a stage where she... kind of rejected her baby."

"You would cry and she'd end up crying, not knowing what to do. She was a mess and your uncle and I stepped in and offered to adopt you," my aunt was on a roll and didn't see how much her words affected me.

"We even got the paperwork ready. Carmen knew she'd still be part of your life but you'd become mine and Santiago's responsibility. We were so excited and happy to make you our child but," Tía's tone saddened and she took in a deep breath. "Your father refused; he wouldn't give you up no matter what. He insisted you and Carmen live with him for as long as she needed, he got your mom the best treatment and gave her all the time she needed to heal. In those months he took care of you, from night feedings, diaper changes, and even bath time."

My eyes stung with threatening tears, this was all new information and I had no choice but to believe it because my aunt had no reason to lie. My nails dug into my palms and I heard my heartbeat in my eardrums as Tía's words played on a loop in my mind.

"I think it was in those months that Carmen fell for Damien." Tía paused, clicked her tongue, and shook her head. "But he never reciprocated, Carmen mentioned that Damien was unable to love because the only woman he ever loved broke his heart and left him shattered."

Mitchell shifted in his seat and even I felt the discomfort by her one sentence. I was grateful that my aunt didn't know that the woman who broke my dad's heart was Mitchell's mother, Carly.

"So much for that though because he got married to someone else a few years down the line," Tía's tone grew bitter. "And I was glad that Carmen got ahold of herself sooner and left before the wife entered the scene."

My uncle broke the tense and deafening silence and clueless to the conversation, he just walked into, he cheerily spoke, "What are we talking about?"