Page 47 of Nolan (The Doherty Mafia)
“You look exactly like my mother,” Reese said. Her lips quivered a little as she spoke. Behind her, Nolan turned to look at me.
I didn’t know what she was talking about. None of this made any sense.
“Your mother? I look like your mother? I don’t understand…”
Reese covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head.
“And every time you talk, you remind me of her again. You speak like her…your voice is exactly like hers. It’s like she’s alive again. I know I’m not imagining this.” Reese’s voice cracked with emotion and I couldn’t figure it out.
Nolan spoke from his position by the window.
“Reese is Aldo’s stepdaughter. Her mother died when she was a kid and she had to spend most of her childhood alone with him. How are you related to Aldo?”
Twenty-Four
Nolan
Things seemed to be spinning completely out of control once Reese told us what she’d come here to say.
Amelia was confused at first, while Reese tried to explain.
“I was practically a baby when mom married Aldo to get away from my dad, who had abandoned her and been abusive towards her. We were excited at first. Aldo seemed like a powerful man and he wanted to take care of us, you know? Mom was very beautiful, elegant…just like you.” Reese smiled while Amelia remained tied up in the chair.
I wasn’t ready to release her yet, and right now, it looked like she didn’t even notice. She was far too engrossed in the story Reese was telling her.
“But then, things became clear very quickly. Aldo had married her and adopted me but not because he wanted to be a family with us. He needed a wife. He needed a daughter to use as a pawn. So he kept us imprisoned. Mom got depressed very quickly, she got sick…even though I was just a kid at the time, I knew something else was wrong with her. She’d gained a lot of weight, her belly looked unnaturally big. She was pregnant. I realize that now.”
I stood in silence, watching the two girls staring at each other as the pieces started to fall in place slowly. It seemed impossible after all these years…when they didn’t even know of each other’s existence, they’d finally.
“Are you saying… I’m your sister? That your mom is my mom?” Amelia barely got the words out.
Reese quickly started fumbling in her purse. She pulled out an old photograph and held it up for Amelia to see. Amelia whimpered and started crying uncontrollably. Reese handed the photo to me and now it became clear to me. There was no denying it.
The woman staring at me from the picture was the spitting image of the slender beautiful girl tied up in my chair. The same hair. The same eyes. The same smile.
Reese turned to me with her lips shaking.
“Untie her, Nolan. Please, just untie her so I can hug my sister. Do it for me!”
I hesitated because I didn’t want to make any mistakes. But I knew I couldn’t deny them this moment. So I went over and untied Amelia.
I stood back while the two of them talked. I didn’t want to intrude on their moment, even though there was a part of me still simmering in my own rage against Amelia. How was I supposed to just forget about the fact she’d spied on us? That she’d used me.
I fell for her. She was smart and beautiful. Sexy like no other chick I’d touched before. I thought I’d finally found the girl who’d turn my life around.
They’d been hugging, laughing uncontrollably and shedding tears of joy since I untied Amelia. It was like they couldn’t even find the words to say because the story was too unbelievable.
“But why did she give me away? If Aldo is my dad…why did he want to give me away if he needed daughters to use as pawns?”
Reese took in a deep breath, clutching Amelia’s hands like they had special magical powers.
“It was her last act of love, Amelia,” she replied, smiling at her sister. “She probably didn’t want you to have to suffer what she knew I’d suffer for the rest of my life. She blamed herself for the life she’d led us into but she also knew she was helpless. Aldo had twenty-four hour security detail on me. He considered me to be precious cargo to use once I reached adulthood. And he did.”
Amelia had tears in her eyes again. I’d never seen Reese this vulnerable either but she’d done her best to stay strong.
“But she didn’t want that life for you. Maybe she figured any life other than a childhood spent with Aldo, would be better. She couldn’t get me away but she took you.”
“But Aldo…” Amelia tried.
“I remember it now, I’m piecing it all together and everything makes sense. Aldo was away for a few months on some project. We never knew what he actually did, but it seemed dangerous and important. So Mom was able to hide the pregnancy from him. Most of the men who’d watched us were way more interested in me than her, and they considered Mom to be addicted to pills and out of it most of the time anyway. She must have asked one of the housemaids for help. I remember the screaming and crying coming from her room when she went into labor. They probably just thought she had overdosed or something so they didn’t give a shit when one of the housemaids called for an ambulance and whisked her away to the hospital. I was alone for almost a week, with no idea where Mom was and if she was doing okay. Then she came back. Her belly looked different, she seemed even more depressed but I was just glad to have her with me again.”
