Mafia Betrayal

Chapter Thirty Seven

Charlotte

I could tell by the look on Luca's face when my mother and I walked into the living room that he hadn't told his mom yet. We had been gone for three hours, and I would have thought that would have been enough time. I narrowed my eyes at Luca, wondering what had happened to being honest with his mom.

"Hello Carmen." My mother smiled, moving toward her cautiously. She'd always had a knack for diffusing a tense situation and I was thankful she was stepping in now. 

Everything seemed frozen for a minute, no one knowing what to say or do. Carmen looked at the two of us like she was staring at two ghosts, and technically to her, we were. After a few seconds, the shock shifted to relief. 

"Mom, I..." Luca started.

Before he could even finish, Carmen was rushing towards my mother and threw her arms around her. My mom hugged her back tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Is it really you?" Carman stuttered, clearly at a loss for words. 

My mom nodded, wiping at the tears on her cheeks. "Its so good to see you. I've missed you so much." 

"How are you... What are you..."

Luca and I stood back, watching their reunion unfold.

My mom bit her lip, unsure if she should say much more. She looked towards Luca, who nodded his head in some sort of unspoken signal to her. "Charlotte is my daughter. When we left, we moved here to the US and we started a brand new life." She breathed.

Carmen pulled back from her slowly, looking back and forth between me and my mother. "Charlotte's your daughter...She's..." I could see the wheels turning in her mind as she put the pieces together. Luca and my mother knew her better than I did, so I figured it was best to let them handle the talking. I wouldn't have the slightest idea what to say, anyway.

"Mom, Charlotte is Jocelyn." Luca said, wrapping his arm around my shoulder, holding my close against him.

Carmen turned to me now, fixating her eyes on my face, as if trying to recognize it. "My... I never thought I would see either of you again." She put her hand to my cheek, gasping softly. "You don't remember me, do you, darling? Why would you? The last time I saw you, you must have been..."

"Four." My mom said, coming to stand by us.

"Four." Carmen repeated, not taking her eyes off of me. Suddenly she turned to Luca, "And you two..."

"I met Charlotte randomly, mom. I had no idea who she was at the time, and neither did she." Luca explained. "I didn't find out until Carlo and I came out to Italy to speak with Antonio. We found out he was tracking her and when I asked him about it, he told me the truth about who she was. That she wasn't actually killed all those years ago."

"That was the secret you kept from her." Carmen bit her lip, holding back tears as Luca nodded. She was quiet, processing everything she had just been told. I knew from personal experience it was a lot.

She turned slowly back to my mother. "I can't believe it's actually you. I never thought I would see you again when you left." She sighed heavily. 

"You knew they were alive?" Luca's eyes widened. 

Carmen nodded sheepishly. "I didn't know all the details, but I knew enough, and your father made me swear never to tell anyone. Even you. And not a day went by that I didn't wonder what happened to the two of you." She turned toward my mom. "Elena, I've wanted to find you so many times, and now our children..." She gestured towards Luca and I.

"Our children have a child." My mom let out a warm laugh, slipping her arm into Carmen's. "We have so much to catch up on."

"Yes, we do."