Page 7 of Her Italian Wedding (Sweet Treats 9)

“And?”

I take a deep breath.

“Well, it turns out that my mom was miscarrying, so it was good that they rushed her to the maternity ward. She was probably about six months along then, and they really wanted this baby. But Lulu couldn’t keep the pregnancy, and the baby died inside her. My mom was devastated, and cried buckets. She didn’t know what to do because the baby was actually still in her, but it had passed away. Imagine how terrible that is: to have the big belly of a pregnancy, but to know that the child within is already gone. Both my mom and dad were completely devastated.”

The two men nod.

“Our condolences, Melissa. This must have been very scary for yourself and your parents.”

I smile sadly at them.

“Yes, it was, but it gets worse. My mom and dad came home, and everything returned to normal, so to say, except for my mom’s big belly. It was like a giant weight that physically and mentally kept Lulu wrapped in chains. There was no more laughter, and no more happiness. The dead baby in my mother’s stomach cast a pall on our lives, and we couldn’t get out from under that shadow. At least my mom couldn’t. After a week, she pulled a gun and killed herself,” I say in a choked voice. “The pain was too much for Lulu.”

Both men jerk forward in their seats.

“What?” barks Domenico.

“What mother would leave her child motherless?” rasps Matteo, his eyes outraged. “Che diavolo!”

But I hold up my hands.

“It’s not like that,” I say slowly. “You have to remember that Lulu was carrying a dead baby within herself, and that she’d been longing for a second child for seven years now. To suffer so many miscarriages only to have another stillborn birth was too much for her. Lulu was destined for another world, and my father and I had to accept it.”

The two men still look aggrieved, but they nod at me to continue. I look out the window, dredging up these painful memories.

“My dad tried to keep it together for us,” I say in a low voice. “But Lionel was just as wrecked as my mom. He didn’t do anything as stupid as pulling a gun, but he started drinking a lot. One day, he got into a car accident. His vehicle hit a tree, and Lionel was killed upon impact. They say it was the drink, but I think it was his broken heart that did it.”

The two men take my hands in each of theirs.

“I’m so sorry, cara,” says Matteo in a low voice. “This is terrible. My apologies.”

I shoot a small smile at him.

“No, it’s okay. It’s not your fault, and there’s a silver lining from all this too because this is why Dads and Daughters means so much to me,” I say. “You see, Dads and Daughters saved me. After my parents passed, I entered the child welfare system. It was awful. I lived in a group home with dozens of other kids, some of whom were quite beastly. I tried to keep to myself most days, but it was difficult.”

The men squeeze my hands in encouragement, and I take another deep breath.

“But the best part of the group home was an older girl named Shoshanna,” I say. “She was already almost seventeen, and she looked after me. She’d brush my hair, and tie it in pigtails. Then we’d play silly little games together, like Hot-To-Trot and Princess Lullaby. It didn’t make any sense, but it meant a lot to me because I had so little. But,” I say taking a deep breath and shooting them a watery grin. “Back to Shoshanna. Basically, she was kicked out of the group home at eighteen. That’s the American child welfare system for you. There’s no transition, and no preparation either. On her birthday, she was left to find her way alone on the streets.”

The two men look aghast.

“Really?” asks Matteo, disbelieving. “I thought the Italian welfare state was bad, but it’s not that bad.”

“Certainly not in comparison to what you’ve told us,” says Domenico darkly.

“But wait, this has a happy ending,” I say with a small smile. “Because Shoshanna was picked up by a local Lodge. I don’t know how they found her, or how she persuaded them to take her. But she became an associate member, and they took good care of her. Of course, Shoshanna aged out after a few years, but she never forgot the kindness of Dads and Daughters, and when I turned eighteen, she introduced me to the club.”

The two men shoot sharp looks my way.

“And?” they ask in low voices.

“And I joined,” I say with a teary smile. “So you see, the club saved my life in a way. I had to leave the group home, and I had nowhere to go. I literally would have ended up on the streets, likely selling my body. As a result, my initiation into Dads and Daughters took place as soon as I turned eighteen, and I began going on out-calls that very week. I’m grateful to the Lodge,” I say in a trembling voice. “And that’s part of the reason why I volunteered to come to Italy. Whatever the club needs, I’ll deliver. I’ll always do my best by Dads and Daughters because of how much this group has done for me.”

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