Page 11 of In Her Blood
She opened her mouth to snap back at him, but caught herself. Her father had dabbled in local politics for several years, but he’d left that scene around the time she started high school. Claimed retirement. He’d owned a handful of properties, of course, including the main house where they were effectively trapped. She licked her lips. “Otetswas former city council, but never stood out, and eventually retired. He was a landowner. He was a widower, married to his second wife. Maybe they’d find record of two or three birth certificates of his children.” Her throat swelled, but she pushed the emotion down. “His brother died years ago, leaving behind one son, but I don’t know how much of that would come up.” The death, probably, but Pyotr had been twenty by then so it wasn’t like her father had ever adopted him.
For which she’d never been more grateful.
Otto inclined his head.
Evelina blew out a breath. She could guess what anyone would find on her mother—less. A birth certificate, marriage record, and a death certificate. Her mother had never worked, barely held a license when Evelina had been younger, and while she had a medical record, those would be sealed extra tight. At most, Annetta’s name might pop up in conjunction with Nonno’s in one or two places. Those reports would be old and vague.
Okay, so maybe I’m not finding much because someone’s buried the real answers.That did actually make sense. And, come to think of it, the youngest of her undiscovered cousins did supposedly work in a field which encompassed cybersecurity.
Her own thought reverberated back at her.
I have more cousins.Every time she thought the phrase, it caught her off-guard. If she could ever find these people, make contact with them, and prove her lineage—to herself as well as to them—she might find she had living, breathing relatives beyond Pyotr. Somehow, that wasn’t a concept she’d prepared herself for.
Evelina munched on another bite of slightly overcooked, deep-fried onion. “At least she’s probably alive, wherever she is.” As sad as it was that her own mother was gone, she also knew her mother would be happy to hear Aunt Nora was still among the living. The one smile Evelina had seen on her mother’s face when they’d talked about her aunt had revealed as much. The final words her mother had left her with only confirmed it.
Otto grunted. “I take it you weren’t able to find a phone number or an email?”
Evelina scoffed around her mouthful.
He lifted his coffee. “We could hire anactualPI. Those are real.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Keep up with your snark, see what happens.” He had a valid point. She was being stubborn trying to do it on her own when she knew this wasn’t her forte.
Instead of responding to that, Otto took a gulp of his drink and asked, “What’s your plan once you find her?”
Evelina froze. Did she have a plan? She’d been so intent on the first step of the goal of even just finding her mother’s lost sister, she hadn’t really pictured what to do if or when she succeeded. “Well … obviously, I want to meet her.”
Otto hummed. “You gonna snap your fingers and materialize your new aunt out here, buy yourself a plane ticket to go to her, maybe make a phone call first, set up a video meet, or what?”
It was her turn to scowl at his far-too-logical questions. “Fine, I don’t know, okay?” She shoved a hand into the bag and dug out her burger. Her mind spun trying to picture his scenarios, and one obvious problem glared back at her. “Aunt Nora would basically be mafia now—Italian mobster mafia—so I really couldn’t bring her here. Especially not right now, with all this bullcrap going on.” She peeled back the wrapper carefully, making sure not to let any sauce or loose food bits fall onto her clothing. “So, I guess I’d be going to her.”
“Sound logic,” Otto replied, “except you’d have the same problem.You’rebratva, remember? Why would ‘Italian mobster mafia’ types want you traipsin’ into their home?” He held up a hand before she could speak. “And you can’t exactly be rushin’ off and disappearing right now. For the exact reason you’re reluctant to bring in any questionable outsiders. The timing’s shit.”
Damn him and his sound, rudely phrased logic. Evelina frowned at him before dropping her attention back to theburger. “Well, if nothing else, we could talk over Zoom or something. I don’t know. I’m not shunning the chance to have a family. And we both know Pyotr doesn’t count.”
Otto grunted. “I’d say what he does count for, but puttin’ that into words might get me strung up.”
Her lips twitched, so she disguised her amusement by taking a large bite of her food. She couldn’t say it out loud, for so many reasons, but Otto’s presence—his unshakable support—was the only thing keeping her upright. Even his grumpiness was a comfort.
Her mind flashed back to when he’d pulled her from the shower and held her tight, as if he were holding her together while her soul was splintering. That was probably exactly what he’d done. And normally she might have been mortified to be naked in his arms in such a state, or depressed at his absolute lack of distraction, but it’d been what she needed.
They fell silent as they finished eating, but her mind continued to race. She needed a way to look deeper, a way to possibly make a connection that felt currently out of reach. A strange sense of defeat washed over her. Maybe Otto had been onto something. Maybe she did need to hire an outside party who actually did that kind of work for a living, or was at least confident in their skills. She’d wanted to keep it all close to her chest, like a treasured secret, but that wasn’t panning out.
Evelina shifted her food items to the coffee table and readjusted in order to recline on the chaise, bringing her laptop back into position over her thighs. But her fingers stalled above the keyboard.How does one search for a PI?The same way they searched for a relative they’d never met, she imagined. Blindly.
Her phone began buzzing before she could finish typing the prompt.
Evelina stretched out her arm and snatched the offending device from the table, curiosity nipping at her at the name on the screen. She’d been a lousy friend the last couple of weeks and she knew it, no matter her reason, so she ignored the part of her that wanted to pretend to miss the call. It wasn’t Kat’s fault she was feeling anti-social. Instead, she swiped her thumb across the screen and put the phone to her ear. “If this is a drunk dial, I’m hanging up.”
The effeminate voice on the other end scoffed. “Bish, that’s how you greet me after like two weeks of radio silence?”
A smile tugged at Evelina’s lips. “I’m sorry, Kat,” she said. “It’s just been … hard.”
On the other end of the phone, her best friend also softened. “I know. I just wish you’d let me be there for you.”
Guilt stabbed at her heart. Guilt she deserved. She had quite literally told Kat that she wanted to be left alone for a while, to ‘figure things out,’ after her mother’s passing. When her father had then also passed she’d only sent Kat a short text and asked Otto to respond to Kat’s concerned follow-up. She hadn’t had the emotional space. Kat had been a good friend to her for several years, so she’d complied. Evelina had doneherselfa disservice by insisting on distance.
Evelina drew a breath and projected a weak smile into her voice. “I’ll try harder.”
