Chapter 15 - THE MORETTI FAMILY MEETING
Vincent asked whether I wanted to meet extended family.
“No.”
A month later:
“Still no?”
“Yes.”
He stopped asking.
Good.
Then Aunt Teresa contacted me directly.
Carlo’s younger sister.
Seventy.
She wrote:
You don’t know me. I knew Sofia. I owe you an apology.
I agreed to one meeting.
Teresa admitted family knew “there might be a girl.”
Not who.
Not where.
Carlo refused to disclose.
Some relatives resented the secret trust.
Why?
Money.
Governance.
Old family politics.
No one had targeted me.
No one sent Derek.
Important.
Teresa said:
“Your father loved secrecy.”
“Sounds healthy.”
She laughed.
“Nothing about us was.”
She gave me photographs.
Carlo cooking.
Vincent as a child.
Sofia at the restaurant.
No criminal history lesson.
Human images.
That helped.
I declined family holiday invitation.
May you like
Maybe later.
Choice.
