“I have a question for you and I want you to be as truthful as possible.”
“Sure, honey. What is it?”
“What do you honestly think of my mother?”
“I don’t think she’s a completely evil woman. But I do believe she was and still is, wrestling with some demons. I don’t know if she’s capable of really loving people.”
“She has no trouble loving Lourdes.”
“That’s not really love. It may seem as though it is, but it isn’t. She replaces true motherly love with buying Lourdes anything she wants and indulging her in her every whim, and in the end, that’s going to be to her detriment.” She put her hand over Sofia’s. “I don’t believe your father knew about your mother’s background. He would not have turned his back on her because of that. He would’ve been upset that she wasn’t honest but I assure you that’s not why he divorced her. You would think after all these years she would take some responsibility for her actions instead of trying to sully the memory of Mr. Valente.”
“Was the person my mother had the affair with Uncle Anton?”
Mrs. Winters was nonplused. She was not expecting to hear that question.
“Um, I-I—Sofia, I don’t think--”
“From your reaction I take it I’m right. It’s something that’s been nagging at me for the longest. Father never told me who the man was but I always suspected it was someone that he would never be able to forgive Mother for sleeping with. And when I really thought about it, the divorce and my father dissolving his partnership with Uncle Anton happened around the same time. Father tried to explain their estrangement on fights over how the business was run but I thought it went deeper than that.”
“It’s really not my place to talk about that. Besides, it’s all in the past.”
“I guess that answers my question. God help me for saying this but I don’t feel like she’s even my mother. She just gave birth to me, like a surrogate. You and Mrs. Toussaint have both been more like mothers to me. I don’t hate her but I don’t trust her nor do I want her in my life. I just wish Isabella would finally wake up. She can’t see the reality of who our mother is because it’s overshadowed by the fantasy she has of her.”
Mrs. Hopkins patted Sofia’s hand.
“You can’t talk her out of that. I know you want to protect her but it’s like you and I say all the time, there are things she will have to find out on her own. And she will. Just be there for her when she does.”
Chapter 68
Olivia picked up the phone and dialed Lourdes again.
“Yes, Mother?”
“It’s about time you answered your phone!”
“Mother, I’m on the other line with Lizzie. She’s giving me the scoop on a big soiree taking place soon up in the Hamptons.”
“Tell her you’ll call her back. I need to talk to you.”
“What’s going on? Why do you sound so serious?”
“I’ll wait while you clear the line.”
Lourdes clicked back over. “I’m back. Now tell me what’s going on.”
“Your sisters just left here. They went out to California to find out about my family. I’m just going to cut to the chase. My parents did not die years ago as I said. They’re alive.”
“What?! I thought you said they died in a plane crash?!”
“Well, I lied!” Olivia snapped. “Trust me, you’d wish they were really dead. They’re poor, shabby, classless people who you’d be ashamed to even walk on the same side of the street with. I’ve kept that part of my life hidden to protect you from it all but that fat bitch sister of yours went through some of my old papers and found out everything.”
Lourdes was taken aback not only by finding out about her grandparents but she had never heard her mother speak about Sofia with such acerbity.
“Those people made my life a living hell. They abused me physically, verbally, mentally and ever other way you can imagine. And that Sofia comes in here all in an uproar because of her so-called heritage being lied about.”
“Wait. Heritage? What do you mean?”
Olivia inhaled sharply. “I’m not Portuguese, all right?”
“W-well what are you?”
Olivia didn’t respond right away.
“Mother? What are you?”
“I’m Mestiza!”
“What the hell is that?”
“It means mixed.”
“Mixed with what? Will you just tell me already?”
“Both of my parents are from Mexico.”
“Mexico?!”
“Yes. My father’s people are Spanish and Indian and my mother’s people are…”
“Are what?”
“Black.”
Lourdes was so dumbfounded by what her mother said, she didn’t notice the light had turned red and drove through the intersection to the sound of horns blaring and tires squealing to a halt.
“Oh my God! Oh my God! OH MY GOD, NO! I can deal with the Spanish, maybe even the Indian but Mexican? And BLACK?! I can’t be part Black, I just can’t!”
“Lourdes will you get a hold of yourself? How do you think this makes me feel?!”
Lourdes pulled into a parking lot and cut off the engine. She turned the rearview mirror toward her and began to inspect her face to see if she noticed any black features that were previously overlooked.
“What about my father? Please tell me he was really Portuguese.”
“He was. I promise you that.”
Lourdes heaved a loud sigh of relief. “Oh thank goodness! And he was white, right? Not one of those dark Portuguese?”
“Yes, he was white.”
Lourdes turned the mirror back to its original position, satisfied that her features didn’t show any signs of her newly discovered ancestry. “Why would you lie to me, Mother? I can see everyone else but we tell each other everything.” For an instant Jeremy flashed across her mind. “Pretty much.”
“I did it all for you, Lourdes. Everything I’ve ever done, from hiding my background to marrying Gino and the others has been for you. From the time you were no more than the size of a tennis ball in my belly, I promised I’d give you the life I never had. You wouldn’t believe it if I told you of the abject poverty I grew up in. There was no way in hell I was going to subject you to that. So when your father died, I went to LA and made sure I landed a rich husband so that I could give you anything you wanted. Do you honestly think we would have the life we do if Gino and the others knew who I really was?”
“No, I guess not. What if our friends find out?!”
“They won’t. Don’t be silly.”
“What about those twins? I’m sure they’ll flap their gums.”
“It doesn’t matter. We don’t socialize in the same circles, so none of the people in our set have to know. You do understand why I did this, don’t you darling?”
“Yes, I do. And to hell with those two if they don’t. If you hadn’t done what you did, Jesus, we’d probably be on welfare or something.”
Olivia’s heart swelled with love for her daughter. She knew she could always count on Lourdes.
“That’s my precious. I think Isabella understands but you know the other one doesn’t. Do you want to know what they found out when they went out to, Fresno?”
“Fresno?”
“Yes, that’s where I was born.”
“Fresno, Black, Mexican, poor—anything associated with that I don’t want to know. Trust me, Mother. You won’t hear anymore about this from me. Ignorance truly is bliss because the less I know about the past, the better.”
“I’m glad to hear that. I’m going to work on getting a nice chunk of money from Isabella and after that we are out of here and we’ll head out to Chicago. And, if they want to play Roots, and continue to research their family tree, it’s on them but we’re not having any part of it.”
“Lizzie was telling me about this huge bash. She said the place would be swimming with tycoons. I say we go up there for a while until the party, then
to Chicago. If things go well…”
“Between you and me we’ll both have the money of tycoons at our disposal in no time,” said Olivia.
Lourdes giggled. “Oh, I love the sound of that.”
Chapter 69
Grace sat in silence as she took in what Sofia had just told her.
“Sofia,” Grace began. She paused and searched for the right words. “I know your mother is, well, is something else. But I don’t understand why she would tell this humungous lie and keep it going for all this time.”
“Neither do I.”
“What do your sisters think?”
“Isabella is making excuses for our mother as usual. I called Lourdes and as soon as I brought up the subject she said she had to go and hung up. The thing with my mother is she has a habit of telling a little bit of the truth and throwing in a bunch of lies so you have to sift through the BS to get to what’s real.”
“Still, that’s no reason for her to pull a Sarah Jane about her racial background.”
A tiny smile touched Sofia’s lips at the reference to the character from the movie Imitation of Life.
“You’re so right,” replied Sofia. “She could’ve separated herself from her parents without doing that. But what angers me more than anything was her trying to dirty my father’s name by saying he knew and that’s why he divorced her. He’s dead and gone and you’d think she’d have the decency to not pull him into her deceit, but no. She’s too low to be above that. If I’d gone to Portugal to research our so-called family like I’ve been meaning to do for the past few years I’m sure I would’ve found out sooner.”
“What about your grandmother? Are you planning on getting in contact with her?”
“Soon. Just not right now. After the encounter with my wonderful sweet grandfather I’m going to need to recover a bit before I try and get in touch with her. In the meantime I’ll try and find out as much as I can about the culture—my culture. I like to think that I’m very worldly and knowledgeable but I didn’t even know there were Black people in Mexico.”
Grace waved her hand. “Girl, we’re practically everywhere. I don’t know much about Mexico either but I do know there’s a Caribbean community there.”
“I was looking up different things last night. The only Mexican holiday I knew about was Cinco de Mayo. I found out about Posada, La Noche Buena, El Dia de Los Reyes, Dia de Los Muertos, and our Independence Day is September sixteenth. There is such rich history; I don’t know why my mother thought it was something to shy away from.”
Grace reached out and stroked her arm. “Let’s face it, in this country Blacks and Mexicans are two of the most stigmatized groups. Unfortunately, many buy into that and they lose sight of the beauty and strength of their cultures and instead of embracing them they run away screaming and turn their backs on it. As for your mother, she’s just a snobby witch—” Grace stopped herself.
“Hey, don’t hold back on my account. What is that you always say? Tell the truth and shame the devil?”
“Yes, but that’s still your mother. So out of respect for that I’ll keep my mouth closed.”
“I’m so angry with her.” Sofia blinked back tears. “And I’m the only one. Isabella and Lourdes seem to think nothing of it.”
“Listen. What is it I tell you? Wha’ noh poison, fatten. You’ll come out an even stronger and better woman through all of this. The most important thing is you’re no longer living in the shadow of untruth. You know who you are now.”
Sofia brushed away a tear as she nodded in agreement.
“And as for your sisters who continue to turn a blind eye and deaf ear to your mother—they’ll find out. Trust me.” She reached over and gave Sofia a big hug. “I’m going to get back over to the spa, okay? You just come in when you’re ready.”
“Thanks for everything, Grace. I’ll walk you to the door.”
Sofia opened the door just as Lourdes was about to ring the bell.
“What are you doing here?” inquired Sofia.
“I’m looking for Isabella. She was supposed to have met me over two hours ago! I called her cell phone and her office phone and kept getting her voice mail!”
“Where was she supposed to meet you?”
“Jimmy Choo at Phipps.”
Sofia let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. “She’s not here. As a matter a fact she said she had an important meeting in Doraville and I’m sure that’s where she is so I don’t why she told you she’d meet you.”
Lourdes folded her arms like a petulant child.
“Girlfriend!” exclaimed Grace. “You’re not going to say hi to me?”
Lourdes cut her eyes to Grace. “Hi,” she replied in a dry tone.
“I heard the news! So, you’re a sista, at least in part anyway. Isn’t that something?”
Lourdes looked at her, aghast.
“Honey, you should come to the Juneteenth celebration with me on Friday.”
“Juneteenth?”
“Yes! That’s when we celebrate the day our people were released from slavery in America. My people were from Jamaica and yours from Mexico but we all started in the same place—Africa!”
Horrified, Lourdes quickly turned on her heels and rushed back to the car. Grace and Sofia burst into laughter.
Chapter 70
“Mother, I’m back!” shouted Lourdes. She placed the bag on the table and dishes out from the cabinet.
“I’m famished,” Olivia announced as she slowly entered the kitchen still a bit stiff from surgery. Her new breasts were healing nicely but the soreness hadn’t completely left. She was about to attempt to open the kitchen window but thought better of it.
“Lourdes, can you open the window for me? I want some fresh air in here.”
Lourdes went over and opened the window. They both sat down at the table.
“Mother, I got prosciutto wrapped melon, eggplant parmigiana, quiche Florentine, fruit and cheese. This should hold us over until the chef can come in later and whip something up.”
“It all sounds delicious. I do believe I could eat it all.”
“Careful, one Sofia is enough.”
“Don’t mention that sow’s name.”
“No problem there.”
As Lourdes placed the food on her mother’s plate, she paused when she noticed her mother staring at her.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing,” Olivia replied softly. “You just remind me so much of…of your father sometimes.” She reached out and stroked Lourdes’s locks.
“You really loved him, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did. I’ve never loved anyone else like I did him. One came close but still...”
“Tell me some things about him. What was he like? What were his interests? I know you told me before but I never tire of hearing of him.”
“Hmm, let’s see. He was the type of man that when he walked into the room or down the street, heads turned. He just had that spark that drew people to him. Oh, and he loved the arts—music, films, paintings. He was crazy about fado music. That’s a form of music popular in Portugal. He loved that singer Amàlia Rodrigues. Of course you know you were named after his favorite artist Lourdes Castro. And he was so stylish! He looked and dressed like a movie star. You know how you always tease me for wearing Chanel No. 5?”
“Yes, I remember you wearing that even as a kid. No matter how many perfumes you get as a gift, you never give up that one.”
“It’s because it was his favorite fragrance and he loved for me wear it.”
“Mother, you should see your face as you’re talking about him.”
“He was quite a man. He’s the one who showed me that I could get out of the circumstances I was living in and have a much better life. I did and haven’t looked back since. I don’t have as much money as I want but I’m in no way hurting financially so I think I’ve done pretty well for myself and for you.”
“And you will be doing even better after the twins’ birthday that’s c
oming up next week,” Lourdes added.
“Yes indeed. Do you know I’ve convinced Isabella to give me five million dollars?”
Lourdes choked on a bite of eggplant parmigiana.
“Are you serious?!”
“Oh yes. I appealed to the businesswoman in her. I told her I was interested in starting my own upscale clothing line. I even had my friend Charles draw up a business plan to show her. Of course, after I’ve stalled enough without this clothing line coming into fruition, I’ll say something like a big bad accountant ran off with the money to the Cayman Islands or something.”
“So you may not even have to go to Chicago to stake out that old coot.”
“Says who? I’ve had access to millions in my lifetime but now I’m aiming even higher.”
Lourdes’s eyes widened with excitement. “Billions!”
“Exactly!”
“I get chills just thinking about it. If things go as I hope we’ll get up in that billion-dollar range. Please hurry and get that money from Isabella so we can get out of here,” Lourdes pleaded.
“I don’t want to up and leave right after she releases the money to me. That would be too obvious. I’ll stick around for a few days. But after that, it’s wide open. Spending some time in the Hamptons sounds like just what I need before heading to Chicago.”
“I know it’s been a chore for you to have to play the loving mother to her.”
“It really has been draining,” Olivia said with a sigh.
Lourdes and Olivia both jumped at a nearby sound. Startled, they looked up to see Isabella standing near the doorway of the kitchen. She’d tossed a Tiffany box onto the counter. Tears streaming down her face let Olivia know her daughter heard what had just transpired between her and Lourdes.
“Sofia and everyone were right about you!” Isabella screamed; her voice nearly choked with emotion. “They tried to tell me but I refused to listen! A drain, Mom?! Spending time with me and getting to know me was a drain?!”
“Isabella, I think you may have misunderstood what I meant by that.”
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