Damn the Day I Met You

The room was silent as we all got situated. We sat around the kitchen table, waiting for someone to speak up. Finally Tristan takes the initiative and starts the conversation. He stares at my parents, “Mrs. DiGerlando, I believe the story starts with you.”

At first I thought my mom would be pissed at him for saying that or question how he knew she needed to start. But then she calmly nodded and squeezed my father’s hand before proceeding. “As you know Katie, my parents died right after I graduated from high school. Dakota sent me on a summer vacation to Italy, basically forcing me to let go and adjust to everything. I agreed and went on the trip. But to make it more adventurous I pretended to be someone else. Juliana would never let go, and I couldn’t make her do that. So I kind of changed my look and my name. I had dyed my hair, worn colored contacts, and even got a tan. I also went by my middle name Skye. Well when I arrived to Italy and started to let go I got drunk and made quite a fool of myself.”

“Fool’s an understatement,” my dad mumbles but we all still heard.

She slaps his arm, “shut-up, you don’t enter yet. Like I was saying, I’m not a very sane drunk. I started being harassed by some guys and well your father here luckily had been walking by and took care of things.” I stared at her shocked. That’s not the story they told me on how they met. Sure it was in Italy and over that summer, but there was no mention of drinking. “Side note, your father was dressed as a knight—full shining armor costume. I was so out of it that I couldn’t remember what hotel I was staying at so I ended up at the apartment with him. As days went on we spent more and more time together until eventually he had me move into the guest bedroom to make hanging out easier. We traveled around to neighboring countries, took your aunt on grand adventures, and just had a fantastic time. But we both had school and summer vacation couldn’t last forever.”

She pauses and looks over at my dad for a moment before continuing. “Your father gave me his contact information, wanting to keep in touch. I didn’t give him mine though, thinking that, though I loved him, those feelings would go away along with the summer. So I headed back to Washington to start school. That’s when I found I was pregnant, with you obviously. I knew that your dad would have dropped out and left everything to take care of you, of us, and I didn’t want to do that to him. So even though I had his number, I never called it.”

Her eyes glance over to my dad again, this time passing the story along. “Your mother was stupid by the way. But I won’t go into that. She had left and I finished up school the next few years. During that time I did everything I could to forget about Sky and move on. There was no way for me to track her down so instead I went into player mode. I cannot recall the number of women I slept with over those years, and most of the names I have pushed out of my mind. But one of the many was Stephanie Bertina, and to be honest she was more of a regular. We ended up actually dating for a few months—I was trying to see if I could do a relationship again. What it showed me was that I definitely needed to find Skye because the whole dating thing wasn’t working out. So I broke it off with Stephanie, left my job, and headed for Washington State. I know, I know, it was a stupid move. I had her picture and kind of just went around the state asking people if they knew her. They didn’t. But I didn’t want to fully give up. I had a gut feeling that I’d run into her at some point or just fate would bring us back together. So I headed to Maine where I grew up and moved in with Dakota and Finn. I got a job, settled in a bit, but still kept my eyes and ears open for Skye.”

My mom looked like she wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, and I couldn’t blame her. The story was insane, and like he said, stupid. Who would go through all that trouble for just one person? “By now you were four Katie. We were living in Washington at the time. Also, by the time Adam got to Maine it had been about three months after leaving Italy. So he had been there for a while before I showed up. It was April when Dakota sent for me. She had just gotten engaged and wanted me in town for planning. I left you with Blake and headed across the country. Adam here ended up picking me up from the airport. He didn’t recognize me, due to all the changes, and I didn’t just blurt it out.

Smirking, my dad nudges her, “You did stutter my name when you saw me,” he laughs.

“Yes,” my mom replies, “but I made up a quick excuse. Anyways, Adam found out pretty quickly that I had you back home; I just never told him you were his child. We started dating a few days later. About two months into the relationship we got a very friendly phone call from Stephanie.”

“Your mother means un-friendly. I knew that during my time away, Stephanie had given birth to Tristan. She kept trying to convince me he was my child, but I never bought into her schemes. There was a chance he was mine, but Stephanie slept around, so there was an equal chance it was some other random guy. I didn’t want to be brought into the mess while I was away, afraid that Stephanie was just using me for money. So I helped out by little bits, but nothing major. The phone call came early in the morning and your mother answered it. Stephanie was fed up with Tristan and wanted him gone. She was going to send him to an orphanage if I didn’t take custody. I didn’t want an infant to be sent to an orphanage due the fact that his mother was insane. But I also wasn’t going to drop everything I had and move back to Italy to claim a boy who most likely wasn’t mine. So I had my parents get guardianship of Tristan for the time being.”

I glance over at Tristan to see how he was holding up. It seemed like he already knew the story, or at least nothing came as a surprise to him. I’m sure everything matched up with how he saw his mother. “Time passed quickly. Katelyn and Nick met during that summer, and I also had a miscarriage during that time. That was when I had planned on telling Adam about you because he had promised to never leave me, whether I was pregnant or not. So I figured that stayed true for already having a kid. But things came up and more and more wedding distractions came about. By the day of the wedding I still hadn’t told Adam about you. He knew who you were, you guys would talk constantly on the phone, and you’d send him picture you drew in daycare for him. You came with your aunt and uncle to the wedding and I thought that it would all work out. That maybe, hopefully, Adam wouldn’t recognize you as his own daughter. You looked almost exactly like Katelyn, just like now, but I had hoped he wouldn’t notice.”

Both of my parents stayed silent for a few moments, pain in both of their eyes. “And this is when I made probably hands down the worst decision ever. When I saw you in the crowd I instantly put the pieces together. It all matched up. Once the ceremony ended I left to the kitchen, trying to scrub away my anger. Juliana found me and we fought. Dakota and Finn interrupted us and shut us up. But that didn’t take away the pain and anger I felt. After making a short appearance at the reception, I headed up to my room and booked the first flight back to Italy. Juliana once again found me. I didn’t speak at all, just listened to what at the time I convinced myself were lies. She explained the whole situation, why she did what she did and then left, carrying the engagement ring I had thrown at her out of anger”

I knew some of the story that they told me. Not even close to all of it, but bits and pieces they had told me over the years. Knowing that it ended there and that my dad just forgave her and all that I opened my mouth to speak, “Nope, we’re not finished,” my mother cuts me off. If they weren’t finished, then that means they lied to me about a lot of stuff. “So your father left me. I was devastated but I had my bakery and you so I pulled things together. Through Finn and Dakotas wedding I had become quite known internationally for my cakes. I did the majority of them local but sometimes I would travel to do something somewhere else. Two years had passed since the night your father left and I literally never forgot that look of hurt in his eyes. I swear it haunted me everywhere. One day I had gotten one of the biggest orders ever. Jacqueline DiGerlando called me for her son’s wedding cake. I remember hoping that it was a different DiGerlando, or that Adam had some brothers he forgot to mention. Neither were true, It was a cake for Adam, and a surprise at that.”

My dad rolls his eyes, “you know your grandmother, she has to have the best of everything.” My mom smiles, taking the compliment. “I don’t know what I thought I would gain by heading back to Italy, it just seemed right. I had forgotten that my parents had Tristan though, and in turn I ended up taking care of him. For the first few months Stephanie was nowhere to be found. We gave up searching and figured she would show up when she showed up. Every day that I took care of Tristan I felt more and more guilty. He obviously wasn’t my child, yet I was there in Italy acting like a father while my actual daughter was back in Maine. Nonetheless, my stubbornness got in the way and I forced myself to stay. Eventually Stephanie got back to town. She used my vulnerable state to her advantage I hadn’t really been thinking during those months, or years even. She convinced me to marry her through basically using Tristan as bait. So that is the surprise wedding cake your mom had to make.”

“So I head off to Italy, knowing that I couldn’t turn this one down. I don’t know if you remember a lot from this trip, but you came along with me, as did Finn and Dakota for support. Adam knew that I was in Italy, in his town, working on an assignment. He didn’t know that it was his own though. He spent a lot more time with you. I know you recall our adventures at the fountain you love so much. The time spent there passed by painfully slow, and by the end I had found out who Tristan’s biological father was. I wrote a letter to Adam explaining everything and left it with the engagement ring and wedding cake. I left for Maine then, leaving you with your father. Though I had hoped that once he saw everything he would have chased after me. But that didn’t exactly happen how I planned.”

“Once I found everything I pretty much just picked you up and headed to the airport. But there was an accident and I couldn’t get through. So I contacted people back in Maine to make sure she was taken care of. I knew that if I didn’t show up immediately, she would be heartbroken. Eventually we made it back to Maine. Your mother and I started dating again but it didn’t take long for us to have another fight and break up. I left for Italy for a few weeks but didn’t it make it there. On my way to the airport I got hit by a drunk driver. When I woke up I didn’t remember anything. I moved back in with you guys, and kind of started over again until my memory came back. When it did I finally proposed to your mom.”

My mother looks between Tristan and I for a moment before wrapping everything up. “It wasn’t until after the wedding, and after Max was born, that the threats really started. They weren’t just letters. We would find harmful objects on our porch, or suspicious packages coming through the mail. We spent a lot of time and money, but finally tracked most of them back to Stephanie. That’s when we got serious about security. But Stephanie wasn’t in jail for life, and eventually got out. We didn’t hear anything for a long time, but then when you were almost 13 we got a phone call from Ben, Tristan’s father. He wanted us to adopt Tristan. Your father and I talked about it for a long time and finally I convinced him that it was the right things to do. But once it came time to sign the papers, he couldn’t do it. He didn’t want to have any relationship whatsoever with Stephanie. So we didn’t adopt. After all of that, we found out that Stephanie had been pregnant, and was trying to get rid of Tristan for financial reasons. So we started sending them anonymous checks to help out with finances. But then the threats started up again, and got more and more serious over the years. They were directed specifically at you. Stephanie claimed that you were the reason for her and Adam not marrying. This time she got sent to jail for a much longer sentence.” My mother looks to Tristan and he nods, answering her silent question. “And we had found something else out. Tristan had been unknowingly helping his mother out. It was at this time that we learned he had started taking care of his sister and about everything else that had happened to him over the years. Even though he was caught red handed, we didn’t press charges. Or, well, I didn’t let your father press charges.” She gives a stern look to my dad, “this last part is definitely your fault.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He mumbles, not too proud to admit it. “When it came time for NYU, we didn’t want to scare you. We also didn’t want to draw too much attention, and having multiple body guards around you would do just that. So we interviewed potential ‘boyfriends’ that were also guards. Eventually we hired Zach. Your mother was fully against it but I convinced her it was for the best. You know the rest. But I swear to you the contract with him didn’t allow any cheating. He fucked up. I would never have let you get hurt that way with me knowing.”

I sit back in my seat letting out a long breath. I was fine up until that last sentence. I was ready to accept everything and move forward. But then my dad went and said that he wouldn’t have let Zach cheat on me, that it wasn’t part of the deal. But he knew, and I knew he knew. Tristan did too. I glance over at Tristan and I could tell he was thinking the same thing I was. Only thing is that Tristan, at this point, had more guts to speak up about it than I did.

“I’m sorry sir but I was under the impression that you knew Zach was going to cheat.” My mother gasps and I just sink lower in my seat.

Glaring at Tristan, my dad’s voice switches over to his business-man talking voice, “Excuse me?”

Tristan looks down at me and I could see a small smile wanting to form at how low I’d gotten in my seat. “Well, at one of the parties, I recall overhearing a conversation. This was a few weeks before they actually broke up. Katie needed a drink so I took her to the kitchen to get her something stronger than the wine being served. We were both there, sir. I was mixing her drink and she was leaning against the counter and then—then we heard voices. Your voice and Zach’s. You two weren’t being very quiet. Zach had admitted to you that he had fallen in love with Ana. You told him to just toss aside his feelings for her for the time being.” Tristan continued to stare at my father, not letting the intimidation get to him. “In all honesty sir, I kind of think you gave him permission to cheat on your daughter. Or you at least knew it happened and probably knew it was going to happen again.”

My mom stands up from the table, slamming her fists down on it to get my dad’s attention. “You knew!? You told me that evening you didn’t know anything. I told you to break things off. I told you. And you said everything was fine, that you didn’t know what happened but was sure it was just a silly mistake. You lied to me. You left your daughter in a terrible relationship knowingly. And then you had the guts to not believe her when she tells you directly what happened.” She takes a deep breath and looks my dad straight in the eyes with her own hurt, cold, eyes.” I don’t know what happened but this isn’t you Adam.” With that she walked out of the room, with my dad not too far behind, but not without mumbling some things in Italian at Tristan.

Tristan looked a bit scared, and I couldn’t blame him. My dad basically threatened to castrate him if he said something like that again. But for myself, I couldn’t be more thankful to have Tristan at my side right now.

That was, until I actually had to talk to him.