by Tara Rose
He smoothed out the papers in front of him, surveyed them over the tops of his glasses, and then introduced himself as Bradford Fox, one of the senior partners at the law firm. As he began to read, Carma’s thoughts wandered away from all the legalese. She didn’t understand it anyway, and she was certain she’d snap back to Mr. Fox’s droning if her name was mentioned.
She glanced at Annalise, wondering if instead of asking about BDSM, she should tell her about Michael. And why did she have these kinds of questions to begin with? She hadn’t been able to handle an intimate relationship with a man even when there was no kinky sex involved. How did she think she could be submissive to someone in the way Annalise was to Chad and Dustin? There was so much she didn’t know or understand, but she desperately wanted to.
Still, Annalise wasn’t a shrink. That’s who Carma should be talking to, only she couldn’t imagine herself doing that. She couldn’t picture telling a psychologist about her summer in Chicago any more than she could imagine telling one about her BDSM fantasies.
Tell all that to a stranger? It wasn’t her way. She’d relied on her family so much her entire life. But then, how did she justify the fact that she was in this mess due to the actions of several family members, starting with her parents?
She glanced across the table at George and Maria Mandanici, recalling the conversation they’d had when they’d insisted she go to Chicago for the summer to stay with an aunt and uncle she barely knew. They’d said that family was family, and she and Coco were the only two of their children that hadn’t stayed with Uncle Dominick and Aunt Shelly for the summer, so they were going and that was that.
Where her elders were concerned, it was all about the family, and the teachings of the Catholic church, of course. What would Aunt Rosario and Aunt Pet say about Michael’s behavior and the teachings of the church? Maybe they were the ones Carma should tell?
Their husbands were both dead, and they were the unofficial matriarchs of the Mandanici clan. If you had their approval, you were golden. If you lost it, you were toast. Had Aunt Pet known what her grandson was really like? Had Uncle Dominick known about the extracurricular activities his eldest son preferred?
“To Carmella, youngest child of my brother, George, I leave the sum of three hundred thousand dollars.”
Carma snapped her gaze to Bradford Fox’s face. Three hundred thousand dollars? Had he actually just said that? Had everyone else received that much? She glanced around the table. If the way most of her relatives were suddenly staring at her with raised eyebrows and looks ranging from incredulity to anger were any indication, the answer was “no.”
“To Annalise, only child of my brother, Anthony, I leave the sum of thirty thousand dollars.”
Bradford Fox droned on, and this time Carma listened, although she kept her gaze on the gleaming mahogany table instead of on her family members. Most of the other relatives present received anywhere from thirty to fifty thousand dollars, although some were deeded various properties as well, but no one had been willed as much money as she had.
Beads of sweat collected along her hairline. Her palms were damp, and she had to keep wiping them on her pants. Why had Uncle Dominick left her so much money? She’d barely known him. The obvious conclusion to which her mind raced sent icy slivers of fear coursing through her veins. He’d known. Somehow he’d known, and this was his way of trying to make amends from beyond the grave.
But if that were true, why hadn’t he said or done anything while he’d been alive? Had it been a deathbed revelation? Had Michael told him, or had someone else known and finally confessed it to him?
She dared to glance around the table again, and as soon as she caught Aunt Pet’s eye, she knew that she wasn’t the only one in this room wondering the same things. Aunt Pet knew something, and Carma wasn’t leaving this building today without finding out what that was.
Bradford droned on for close to ninety minutes. Carma had to pee, and she felt like she was going to throw up by the time he finally stopped and everyone started to rise out of their chairs. Annalise said something to her, but Carma ignored it. She made a beeline for the hallway and didn’t stop until she spotted a bathroom. Once inside, she took care of business, and then washed her face with cold water.
Her eyes were bloodshot and there were dark circles underneath them. How the hell could she go out to dinner tonight with Mateo looking like this? A knock on the door startled her, and when she opened it both Aunt Pet and Annalise stood there. Annalise merely looked concerned, but when Aunt Pet crossed herself and muttered something in Italian that sounded suspiciously like a prayer to the Virgin Mary, Carma started to cry. She couldn’t help it.
Annalise took Carma’s arm and pulled her into the hallway. She glanced around quickly, and then ducked into an empty office with Carma in tow. Aunt Pet followed, softy closing the door behind them.
Carma turned on them both. “What the hell is going on?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” said Annalise.
Annalise didn’t know. Carma breathed a sigh of relief. If she had known all these years and had never said anything, Carma wouldn’t have been able to handle that.
“Carmella, he had cancer.” Aunt Pet crossed herself again. “God cursed my son with pain for the last two years of his life. He didn’t want anyone to know.”
Aunt Pet’s voice was filled with sadness and regret. Carma knew that she had gone to Chicago to see Uncle Dominick about a month before he died, but she’d already been back in Passion Peak when they’d all received word of his death. This was the first Carma had heard about his cancer.
“Why did he leave me so much money? No one else got anywhere near that much.”
Aunt Pet shook her head. “Carmella, I’m sorry.”
Carma realized she’d been right. Someone in the family had known. But that knowledge didn’t bring her the sense of relief she’d hoped for all these years. “How long have you known what Michael did to me?” she whispered.
“My son told me before he died.”
“What?” Annalise looked thoroughly confused. “What are you two talking about? What did Michael do?” Annalise looked from Carma to Aunt Pet and back again, but Carma couldn’t focus on Annalise right now. She still had questions.
“And how long had your son known what Michael did to me?” Carma’s voice shook, but that was only because her entire body was now trembling.
“He wouldn’t tell me that,” said Aunt Pet.
Carma studied her face, but couldn’t tell if she was lying. The realization that she was this close to finally knowing the truth wasn’t helping in the way she’d always imagined it would. Dominick was dead, and if he hadn’t told his own mother the truth, no one living except Michael knew it.
Aunt Pet tried to touch her face but Carma moved away. “Carma, what’s done is done.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You weren’t there.” Tears trickled down her cheeks but she ignored them.
“Michael is gone. No one knows where he is.” She crossed herself a third time. “He could be dead. Not even his own father knew. Your uncle hadn’t heard from Michael in two years. Nadine hasn’t heard from him in over a year.”
“They knew. She and Tim knew.”
Aunt Pet shook her head. “You don’t know that. I don’t even know that.”
“Your son knew.”
“Yes, he did. But I don’t know when he found out, Carma. And now, we will never know.”
“If Nadine and Tim didn’t know, that only leaves Michael. He’s been out of touch for over a year, if what Nadine says is true. That means your son might have known for at least a year. He might have known for sixteen years, Aunt Pet.”
“Carma, I don’t know when he found out, and you will never know that either. You must accept that. You must let this go.”
“You think three hundred thousand dollars is going to help me let this go? That’s why he left me a ridiculous amount of money, isn’t it? As soon as I saw your
face in that conference room, I knew.”
Aunt Pet merely shook her head as confusion filled her dark eyes. Clearly, she hadn’t known that Dominick had put that in his will.
“He tried to rape me, Aunt Pet. Michael tried to rape me. My own cousin. Your grandson. He would have tried again if he hadn’t been arrested for auto theft and then sent to New York for the rest of the summer. Did you know that he told me he’d run away and come back to finish what he’d started? Did your son tell you that part? I was so scared. And no one cared. No one knew, or if they did, they didn’t say anything to me.”
“What?” Annalise backed away from Aunt Pet with a look of complete disgust and despair on her face. “What? Carma…why didn’t you tell anyone? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“He told me no one would believe me. He threatened me. The entire summer I was there I lived with the fear he’d follow through on his threat. And who could I tell, regardless? Aunt Shelly was never home. Uncle Dominick was never home. Nadine and Tim were wrapped up in their own lives. Coco and Nadine were as thick as thieves, and you were across the Atlantic, in Sicily. What could I do?”
Annalise pulled Carma into a tight embrace, and Carma just let the tears flow. She felt Aunt Pet’s hands on her back, rubbing it the way she might have done to her own children if they’d been sick or afraid, but it was Annalise’s embrace she sought comfort from. Annalise cried too, and Carma wished now that they’d brought Chad and Dustin along. Annalise probably needed them right now.
Thoughts of Chad and Dustin forced Carma’s thoughts toward Mateo. He was so looking forward to taking her out to dinner tonight, but how could she go now? How could she ever expect to have a normal relationship with any man?
Chapter Six
Mateo clapped Brian Weller on the back. “Time for lunch.” The ewes were successfully separated from their lambs, and Mateo was ripe with the aroma and sweat of clean, hard work. It was outdoors like this, working alongside his employees, where he found his greatest joy.
He’d helped do everything on this ranch from the time he could lift a pitchfork, and he saw no reason now to stop doing so simply because he owned half of it. Pedro gave him shit all the time for the physical labor he did, but Mateo had never listened to his younger brother, and he wasn’t about to start now.
“How’s your niece doing?” asked Brian as they headed for the brick structure that served as both kitchen and dining hall for the employees and ranch hands.
“Pedro said she’s healing, but Lindsey isn’t sure Gabby will be playing this season.” Gabby was his brother’s oldest daughter, and she’d torn her ACL during a stellar play as captain of the Passion Peak Cougars girls’ lacrosse team that had taken them to the state championships this year. Lindsey Hahn was her physical therapist.
“That’s a shame. The team will miss her.” Brian’s daughter, Lori, was on the team with Gabby.
“As long as she heals. That’s what will count in the long run.”
As soon as Mateo was inside the building, he found an empty corner and checked his text messages. There was one from Carma, and at first he smiled like a lovesick puppy when he saw it, but as he read it, his smile turned to a worried frown.
Mateo, I’m sorry but I can’t go out with you tonight. Family thing has come up. I’ll be at Van and Rowena’s with Annalise most of the day. I’m really sorry.
Family thing? Had something happened at the will reading? He couldn’t imagine what that could be, but surely she wouldn’t have broken their date for any other reason, would she? Mateo remembered both Van and Rowena from school, but didn’t really know either well enough to call and ask what was going on, and he didn’t know Annalise at all. But Mateo’s cousin, Jorge, was on Van’s crew. Maybe he’d know what had happened?
Mateo punched in Jorge’s number, knowing he might not be able to answer if he was working, but it was worth a try. Jorge answered on the fourth ring.
“Hey, do you know what’s going on with Carma Mandanici?”
“No. Should I?”
“Did Van say anything about a family emergency?”
“Not that I’ve heard.” Mateo listened as Jorge called for Van, and the next voice on the phone was Van’s. Mateo explained the text message from Carma, and Van said he hadn’t heard anything about it.
“Want me to call Rowena and ask if she knows anything?”
Now Mateo felt silly. This wasn’t his business, and if Carma had blown off their date and used her family as an excuse, Mateo would look like a damn fool, but he couldn’t back out now. He was stuck. “Sure, okay. Thanks, Van.”
“No problem. Give me a few minutes and I’ll call you back.”
Mateo sauntered over to the lunch line, wishing he’d never made the call. There was no emergency. She had simply changed her mind about going out with him. But why? Did he have a dating curse on him? He’d finally pulled himself out of his self-imposed celibacy to ask Carma to dinner, and she backed out.
Women saw him as aloof, and he knew that. Or, they didn’t see past his money. They didn’t want to get to know him and have a meaningful relationship. He was thirty-six years old, and the possibility of finding a woman who would love him for who he was rather than lust after his family fortune became dimmer with each passing year.
He didn’t believe that his desires were that different from anyone else’s. All he really wanted was someone to love. But even with Fiona, their relationship had been more about her needs than his. Mateo was more than willing to meet a woman halfway, but he had to have something in return. He was human, after all. Why had Carma blown him off?
She’d spent two years styling his hair and dancing around the issue of asking him out. Was it possible she’d simply gotten cold feet? But why? Had she heard something from a friend that had made her change her mind? That seemed unlikely. Mateo didn’t exactly air his dirty laundry in public.
He put on a neutral face and filled his plate with food, then sat with his ranch hands, the same way he did every single day he ate lunch and dinner with them. They were easy to be with, and most days he didn’t have to make conversation. He simply listened to them talk. Right now, he was grateful for that easy camaraderie. It gave him something to focus on other than Carma. He’d just finished eating when his phone finally rang. He excused himself and went outside to answer Van’s call, his pulse racing.
“Okay,” said Van. “She’s at my house with Rowena and Annalise. All I could get out of my wife was that something happened to Carma when she was eighteen, and it had to do with her cousin, Michael. He’s one of Dominick’s sons. It was her uncle Dominick’s will they were reading this morning. Carma confronted her great aunt about it, and found out that this aunt knew.”
Mateo was even more confused now. “That’s all you know?”
“That’s all Rowena would tell me on the phone. Want me to call if I find out more?”
“No. Thanks, Van.” After Mateo ended the call, he debated. They needed to start the process of selecting which rams and ewes to get ready for an upcoming sale in October. There was so much work to do, but Mateo also knew his employees could handle it without him. Still, he was torn between guilt at leaving them alone this afternoon, and wanting to be with Carma right now.
He’d had a crush on Carma for years, and now that he was this close to finally going out with her, he didn’t want to lose his chance. But more importantly, Mateo’s skin had begun to crawl when Van explained what little he knew about what had happened during the will reading this morning. He didn’t like where his mind had gone, and he needed to know if Carma was all right. It might be the worst kind of interference to go to Van and Rowena’s house right now, but Mateo had never been one to temper his impulses when they involved rescuing damsels in distress.
He strolled into the office and lied straight to Beth Chavez’s face, explaining he needed to go and help Blaine with something. Beth had been his administrative assistant for thirteen years, and she didn’t even blink when he asked her to make
apologies to Brian for him. As she told him to go take care of whatever he needed to, and that she hoped Blaine got everything straightened out, her hand was already picking up the walkie-talkie.
Mateo could just as easily have told Brian the lie himself, but Brian would have noticed the distress on Mateo’s face and asked pointed questions. Beth, however, would never do that, even if she had noticed that Mateo looked distracted or worried.
Mateo gathered his thoughts as he drove toward Arapaho Lane, playing over various possible scenarios in his head. He formulated questions and probable responses, and then he forced himself to calm down so he didn’t burst in and startle Carma. The more he thought about what Van said, the angrier he became. If Carma’s family had known something bad had happened to her sixteen years ago, why hadn’t they done anything about it?
When he arrived he didn’t see her car, but that didn’t mean anything. Her cousin might have driven this morning, or she’d simply walked here from her apartment. Like Mateo, Carma preferred walking when she had somewhere to go in town. It wasn’t unusual to see her on foot, even in the dead of winter.
He rang the bell, and it took so long for someone to answer the door that he was afraid they weren’t going to let him in. Should he have called or texted her first? Finally, Rowena opened the door. “Hi, Rowena. I was hoping to talk to Carma.”
She stepped outside. “Mateo, I don’t know if this is a good time.”
“Rowena, please. If she doesn’t want to talk to me, I promise I’ll leave without upsetting anyone. But let her decide that.”
She didn’t look convinced, but finally she moved aside and motioned him in. “Wait in there. I’ll get her. She’s upstairs.” She waved him into a room off the left, decorated just as Mateo imagined it must have looked when the home was new, near the beginning of the twentieth century. She and Van had done an incredible job restoring and decorating this stately Queen Anne house.
