The man in the swivelly desk chair stood up and murmered "After all these years..." He looked so very familiar.
"Yes? Wait, after years, how do you know her? Whats going on?" she sounded panicky now. He ignored her and came over to me, holding my hands in front of me.
"How is your mother? Is she ok? Is she well? My bambino, is she coping?" I stepped back, bewildered. Lovinia had stopped her blabbering and swopped to a shocked face.
"Bambino? The only person you called that was ... Mom." She turned to me and said "What does Mom have to do with her?" then something clicked in our minds. The reason we looked alike. We were.. TWINS?!
"How is this possible? I am an only child, Mom and Dad say that they arent planning on having any more kids anyway-" I stopped at the confused look on Lovinias face.
"Mom? Dad? They both died when.. we were little." she whispered, not used to us being 'we' yet. I looked to, well I suppose, my grandfather. He looked a little uncomfortable.
"Actually, well, why don't I just tell you um, everything. When your mother was pregnant, they um... divorced and Felicia stayed with her mother, Lovinia with her Dad. When he died, Lovinia was left to me, she was still tiny. You were seperated for protection, from.. um .. from.. never you mind. And now you are here." Something about the way he was talking didn't seem right, but there was something bigger in my head.
"Dad is.. dead?"My world was spinning. He cant be dead, he has always been with me and Mom since I was born, but how is he dead?
"Your mother, she remarried to keep you in a normal family situation, that man you call father is like a replacement." my head was spinning, filled with what I had thought were memories, but were now lies. I sat down. Lovinia, not as worried as me, asked;
"So, if we both have different sirnames, which one is real?" she inquired."Vargas was the sirname of your father, I made up Valestro to protect you." he turned to me "Your stepfather took the sirname."
We left the office and looked at each other and both said "No one can know yet!" we stopped and I smiled and after a moment, she did too.
"So then... I do have a sister!" I grinned "I always begged my mom for a sister, when I was little I asked if she could order one from the cicogna."
Italian for stork.
"That is lovely, but not important! Did you notice the look on Grandpas face? He was lying about something, and he only does that if it is absolutley crucial."