by Robyn Steele
Chapter 18
That night I dreamt about being five years old and having a big birthday party bash. I had just received a pink two wheeler bike for my birthday. I was so excited to have a “big girl bike” finally. I couldn’t wait to learn how to ride it so I made my dad get up and take me out to teach me first thing in the morning. It must have been about 6 or 7 A.M. I was still in my pajamas and dad was in his sweats. It only took a few tries for me to learn. I was shakily riding it up and down the driveway screaming with excitement. And I made grams and momma come out to watch me.
When I woke up and went downstairs for breakfast, I told grams about my dream. “I must be really excited to have dad back home if I’m dreaming about being five again.” I said.
“Well, actually Talli, the dreams are true. At least that one is. That’s just your memories coming back.” Grams explained to me.
“I see. That’s pretty cool. The dream did seem real. I just assumed it was a dream. When do you think the other memories will come back?”
“I’m not real sure but I think they will all come back real soon.” Grams assured me. “I think the more you’re around your dad and talk to him the more they will come back.”
“Oh, well that’s pretty cool cuz I’ll be spending a lot of time with him and talking a lot to him so they will come back pretty fast. So grams, do you think we could throw kind of a welcome home party for dad?”
“That’s a great idea, Talli. It will just have to be our family and the DaMonicos. We can’t really bring other people in yet.”
“That’s okay. I’m sure dad’s not ready to deal with a lot of people right now. Just our little group will be fine. Can we make some of his favorite foods and maybe rent an old movie he liked?”
“Talli, those are all very good ideas. Let’s get together with your mom and make some plans.”
“Great! I’ll go get her.” I said.
“Go get who?” Momma sleepily asked as she entered the kitchen.
“You must have stayed up all night catching up, huh?” Grams asked momma.
“Mm.” Momma answered as she plopped down on her favorite chair.
“I was just coming to get you to tell you we want to throw a welcome home party for dad.” I filled her in. “And I got a memory back!”
“That’s awesome.’ Momma replied. “On both accounts. What did you have in mind?”
“I just thought we could fix all his favorite foods and rent some old movies he liked back before he left.” I answered. “And any ideas you might have.”
Grams and momma and I planned a spectacular but small party to welcome dad home. We had a buffet fit for a king and an all night movie marathon complete with popcorn. Dad seemed to enjoy it a lot but mostly I think he was enjoying having us and the DaMonicos around him.
The next day dad sat us all down and announced that he needed to divulge some information to us. This sounded pretty serious. I wondered what this could be. He had all of our undivided attention because we were all curious. Dad told us this was going to be alarming and to be prepared.
“First of all, I want you all to keep an open mind. None of this was warranted by me.” He began.
“Go ahead, Demetrio. No one here is going to judge or blame you. You were held captive for many years. We get that.” Grandpa urged him.
“Yes, I understand, but this information will rock your world. I’m not sure how you will all take it. I’ve had years to accept it.”
“Whatever it is, if you accepted it, so shall we.” Momma encouraged him.
“Natalia, this may hurt you the most.” Dad said as he pulled my mom into him and kissed the top of her head. “The last person on earth I can stand to hurt is you, mi caro. But you deserve to know. While the TEC had me, they took my DNA and mixed it with DNA from another Teletrian. As a result, they created a boy, my son. He has spent some time with me as they had me teach him. However, I don’t know where they keep him or where he is.”
“OMG. That is intense, dad. That means I have a… brother. Holy sibling.” I was trying to process this information. Momma looked shocked. Grandpa and grams seemed to accept it the best.
“Actually your mother had a premonition this was happening about 12 years ago. We pretty much expected this to happen.” Grandpa said. “We didn’t tell Natalia because we didn’t want to upset her.”
“Nattie, say something.” Dad begged my mom.
“I’m speechless. I’m not sure how to feel about this. Do you know who the mother is?” Mom asked. Momma was struggling with this new information and her emotions.
“No. I don’t think they have kept the mother donor apprised of their activities. The boy has no mother that he knows of. He knows me as his father. It appears that he is being raised in a controlled environment. He seems to be lacking in social skills and ways of the world. The captors just keep him in their little lab, I think. I would like to rescue him. I don’t want to see him raised that way.”
“So he’s a test-tube baby?” I concluded.
“Yes Talli, but that does not diminish his humanity. Well, I guess that’s a poor choice of words. It doesn’t make him less of a person. He’s Teletrian, but still he is a person just like you and me.”
“I want to meet him.” I said. “I’m with you, dad. We should go get him. No one should have to grow up like that.”
“Actually, we are all on board with this.” Momma said. “Now that we are over the initial shock, we can see it is the right thing to do. He is part of you, therefore, he is important to us.”
“I knew you would feel that way.” Dad said. “His name is Tio. He has brown hair and brown eyes and looks a lot like me. He is very talented in scholarly things as well as music. He plays the piano and violin fluently. He does not have his abilities yet. They had me try to teach him but they have not developed. And you are correct, mother. He was born almost twelve years ago. About nine months after my capture. He will be twelve in November.”
“Can we tell the DaMonicos about him?” I asked.
“Of course you can. Talli, Alessandro has been my best friend my whole life. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t share with him. However, he will embrace this information as you have. I know him well.” Dad explained.
“Then I say we all pack for Italy. We get Tio first and then go after your kidnappers later.” I suggested. Everyone agreed, so we filled the DaMonicos in on all dad had told us. They chose to go with us to get Tio. We all booked our flights and packed immediately.
