Chapter 8 - THE TWO WOMEN IN CALIFORNIA
Nathan's investigators traced the adoption records to a family in Santa Barbara.
The adoptive parents were deceased.
But the daughters were alive.
Emily Hart.
Thirty-three.
A pediatric nurse.
And Sarah Hart.
Twenty-nine.
An elementary school teacher.
Dante stared at their photographs.
Emily had Bianca's eyes.
Sarah had Alessia's smile.
For a moment, neither he nor Alessia spoke.
"They're alive," Alessia whispered.
Dante nodded.
"Yes."
She began crying.
He reached for her hand.
The authorities arranged contact through an independent family-reunification specialist.
Dante insisted that Emily and Sarah be given the choice to respond.
He didn't want to repeat his family's history of deciding other people's lives for them.
Three days later, Emily agreed to speak.
Sarah hesitated.
She had grown up believing her biological parents abandoned her.
The possibility that everything she'd been told was false frightened her.
Dante understood.
He'd spent his entire life believing lies about his own family.
The first meeting took place in a quiet office near the coast.
Emily entered first.
She looked at Dante.
Then at the photograph he carried.
Her eyes filled.
"That's me?"
Dante nodded.
"Yes."
She swallowed.
"And that's your mother?"
He smiled sadly.
"Our mother."
Emily began crying.
Dante stood.
"May I hug you?"
She nodded.
They embraced.
For a long moment, Dante couldn't speak.
He remembered Elena running through the garden.
Her little pink shoes.
Her laughter.
Now she stood before him as a grown woman.
Alive.
Sarah entered later.
She looked toward Alessia.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then Sarah whispered:
"Alessia?"
Alessia covered her mouth.
Sarah began crying.
"I remember you."
Alessia stepped forward.
Sarah continued.
"You used to call me Sofie."
Alessia nodded through tears.
"Yes."
They embraced.
Two sisters reunited after twenty-six years.
Later, the four of them sat together.
Dante.
Emily.
Alessia.
Sarah.
Their lives had been stolen apart by the same people.
Now they were beginning to find each other again.
Emily looked at Dante.
"Did Mom really love me?"
Dante's eyes filled.
"More than anything."
He showed her Bianca's letter.
Emily read it slowly.
Then began crying.
Sarah looked toward Alessia.
"Is Dad alive?"
Alessia nodded.
"Yes."
Sarah swallowed.
"Where is he?"
Alessia looked down.
"Prison."
Sarah stared.
"For what?"
Alessia's voice trembled.
"For trying to protect our family."
Sarah began crying.
Alessia held her.
May you like
And Dante made a silent promise.
He would not stop until Carlo Romano was free.
