Orange Blossom

Chapter 11

"Tío!" I yelled happily, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Hey, Naranja!" he said with his slight accent, picking me up and squeezing me tight.

"What're you doing here? I thought you were in Mexico?" I asked curiously once we finished our hug.

"I decided to come back to California and live here again. I was staying in Mexico for a while just to keep your abuelo company," he said, "besides that I miss you and my little sister."

"Yes! I missed you too," I said giving him another hug. I truly did miss him. I haven't seen my favorite uncle since I was seven. It's been a decade already!

"How's abuelo?" I asked letting go.

"He's doing alright. But, I have a surprise for you," he said reaching into his back pocket.

"What-"

"Happy 17th Birthday!" he yelled handing me a small box.

I opened it to find a gold ring with an engraving on it.

Outside of it read: Zagara M. Garcia

Inside of it read: Love Always, Tío

"I love it," I said breathless, "Tío, this must've cost a fortune, I-"

"I love you too," he said kissing me on the forehead.

"Mateo," my mom said strictly as she walked in the room, making me jump.

"What are you doing here?" she spat out.

"Mom, what the-"

"Go to your room. Now," she said with venom laced in her voice.

"Tío, just got here! What's your problem?"

"Zagara Marie Garcia! Leave Now!" she yelled.

I looked back at my uncle. He signaled me to leave and gave me a small reassuring smile. I gave him a small smile back before glaring at my mom while I walked out of the room.

I slammed my door shut from the outside to make it seem like I was in my room and decided to eaves drop on their conversation.

"Mateo, you are so stupid! Why would you come here? To my house! What'd you do now? Are they coming after you?" my mom said continuing, "Why would you buy that for her, if you needed the money?"

"I'm coming here to warn you! Pato, set me up! I didn't do anything! They came up asking me to do the job!"

"That's because you've done it before! And I tried to warn you about Pato, but you didn't listen! I tried warning you about A LOT and you never seemed to care! What about the money for the ring? Couldn't you have used that?" my mom asked angrily.

"No! I earned that! I bought that ring for Zagara! She's keeping it. And I tried to get him to let me do some dirty work to make up for it, but he's not letting me! And besides the money for that ring, isn't even as close to what Pato set me up with," he said quietly at the end.

"Hay, fucking shit," my mom said under her breath.

What money? What's going on?

"I just need to a place to stay for a couple of days and I'll be out before you know it," he said to my mom.

"No! I'm so tired of the lying! You said, you wouldn't go back yet you did! Now you need my help once again!" she yelled.

"You only come to me when you need money! That's all you-"

"Are you fucking serious?! I was trying to help Papa! They went to ME! It's not like I had a choice to go with them. But yes, I made the mistake of going to them in the past, I was a stupid teenager! You were too!" my uncle yelled back.

"Excuse me, I-"

"Wow, of course you still have it," he said quietly.

I peeked out to see what he was talking about.

As I looked, I noticed my mom was wearing the crest.

"And? This isn't about me! It's about-"

"Lying. I know. And we both know your lie is as big as mine or even bigger," he said cutting off my mom.

A second of silence took over.

"She doesn't know yet, huh?"

"That's none of your buisness!" my mom snapped.

My uncle laughed, "You still didn't tell her. She's 17 years old. She deserves to know."

"I will tell her when she's ready."

"Or do you mean when you're ready," I said coming into the room.

"Blossom! Get out!" my mom yelled.

"No, let her stay. You're right. There's been too much lying going on. Do you want me to tell mine or do you want to tell yours?" he said signaling his head toward me.

"Mateo," my mom said slowly.

"Tell her."

"Tell me what? Mom...?" I asked taking a step toward her.

"Hold on," my mom said shakily as she left the room.

I looked at my uncle questioningly to see if he could give me answers but he only gave me a sigh and looked down.

"Mija...," she said with tears forming in her eyes as she entered the room.

She handed me what looked like a picture. I took it from her slowly and turned it around to see who it was.

It was a picture of a young handsome looking guy with black hair and light green eyes smiling down on what looked like the younger version of my mom.

I stared at the picture for a while and looked up to my mom, keeping herself from crying.

"Mom, is this...?" I asked too scared to finish the sentence.

"Yes, that's Vincent. That's your father," she said looking down.

In all my seventeen years, I have never seen a picture of my father until now.

I remember pushing my mom to know more about him or to even to know what he looked like but she'd always turn me down with an excuse.

"He's Italian," she said looking up at me.

"What? But you said he was Mexican? I thought-"

"No, he's Italian and he was born in Sicily, Italy," she said with her eyes closed.

"Why didn't you tell me this before? Why did you have to lie about his race?" I asked continuing, "What else have you been keeping from me? Did he really die in a car accident?"

"Yes, he's gone. Stop! Okay? I don't know why I kept it from you. But, that's it. We're done talking about it!" she yelled heading to her room followed by her slamming the door shut. I looked back at Tío, watching him as he took a sip of his coffee he just made while my mom and I were yelling.

"I'm going to sit down," he said rubbing my back before leaving the kitchen. My uncle and I had a lot to talk about, but I decided to talk to him tomorrow.

Once he left the room, I looked back down at the picture. I took it in again. This guy was my father. My own blood. Half of me. I was half Italian. At this moment, I was determined to get answers. I'm tired of being lied to, I'm tired of being clueless. I was determined to do anything to find out the truth.