Page 51 of They Found Us

“Who is it?” Leo asks.

“It’s Sergio and Alga’s daughter, Stephanie.”

“Tell her we are busy and to come back another day.” Leo dismisses.

“No!” I exclaim. “Leo, she has just lost her mother and father. You cannot send her away. She does know, right?”

“Yes, she knows. Marco informed her this morning,” Leo explains.

“Does she know the truth?” I ask, worrying.

“I’m not entirely sure what Sergio and Alga told their daughter. I have never met her. I do know that she is a doctor and that she visited their home on the grounds quite often. Therefore, I assume she knows who they worked for.”

“Oh yes, I remember. I did Alga’s hair for her graduation. Then I think we owe her an explanation or whatever it is she has come for.”

“I’ll speak to her in my office. You take the boys upstairs.” Leo says to me.

“No. Ask Van to watch the boys. We will both speak to her in the sitting room.”

Chapter Fifteen

Leo

Katie has made tea and coffee and placed them on the coffee table. I can see she is trying to hold back her emotions while we wait for Stephanie to be shown into the house. I’m worried about my wife’s heart with everything that has happened. Thankfully the medication the medics gave her last night have settled her blood pressure and heart, but the sooner I can get my family settled in a better environment, the better.

“Mr and Mrs Guerra.” Van introduces us to Stephanie as he leads her into the room. “Stephanie, daughter of the late—”

Katie cuts him off. “Yes, Van, thank you. Please, Stephanie, come in. Take a seat, and please call us Katie and Leo.”

“I will just stand if that’s okay. I won’t take much of your time.” Stephanie looks just like her mother, though her hair is darker and her skin more olive, but the resemblance is certain. Her eyes are glazed and her cheeks swollen with emotion.

“Stephanie,” I begin. “Please accept my sincere apologies for the loss of your parents. They were both very highly regarded, and we thought of them more as family. Whatever you want to know or anything you need, please, it is yours.”

“My only request is the cause of death on their death certificates. I don’t know if you are aware, but I am high up in the medical field, and I know they would not want anything to jeopardise my future.” Stephanies eyes fill with tears. She takes a deep breath and continues. “I’m sorry, I know it must sound very selfish of me to come here and ask for this, but my parents did everything for me. They worked so hard to give me everything I have got, and they would be heartbroken if anything they had done ruined that.”

“We understand,” Katie sympathises.

“I know who you are and what you do. And while I have never felt comfortable with my parents working for you, I know how highly they thought of you and how well you treated them. If it wasn’t for your loyalty and kindness to them, I would not be where I am today.”

This is not how I thought this conversation was going to go.

“I therefore know it will be within your power to arrange the death certificates as I wish.”

“It is something I can arrange. Have you a reason in mind?”

“Yes. My mother had terminal cancer. Twelve months ago, she was given six months to live. Obviously she surpassed that. At six months, she was still going, and she refused to stop working, as she said that was what was keeping her alive. She said her time wasn’t up until she was ready.”

“Oh, Stephanie, I’m so sorry. We had no idea.”

“That was how she wanted it. She wanted to be treated the same, not as a dying woman.”

“She was an amazing woman,” Katie agrees.

“The diagnosis broke my father’s heart. I know that he did not want to live without her.” Stephanie sobs and wipes her face with her hands.

Katie passes her a tissue and stands beside her. “I’m so sorry, Stephanie.”

“I guess what I am trying to say is, I don’t want to know any details. My mother died of her terminal illness, and my father died of a broken heart. They are both at peace together, and all I ask is that the paperwork reflects that.”

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