“Wiona, thank goodness Aunt had a daughter,” Tyler said with a grin. “Otherwise, the Blue family would be all boys. Life would be way too dull.”
Wiona scratched her head, a little embarrassed. “So… are there any daughters in the next generation?”
Tyler shook his head. “Right now, only our oldest brother is married, and they’re still trying. No babies yet. Wiona, you’ve got kids, right?”
“Oh, wait, we haven’t even asked if you have daughters!”
“Our Aunt had a girl, so maybe you did too? Two beautiful daughters, maybe?”
Wiona let out a sigh, feeling a bit hopeless. “Sorry to disappoint… I have two sons.”
The Blue brothers all went quiet for a moment.
That’s crazy.
Mateo decided to change the subject. “Let’s talk about something better.”
“Wiona, you wanted to hear about your mom, right?”
“Let’s pick up where we left off about our Aunt.”
“She was the youngest in the family, so her three big brothers spoiled her like crazy. They would have given her anything.”
“But she never wanted to go into medicine like the rest of us.”
“From the time she was a kid, she was amazing at painting.”
Painting?
Wiona glanced at her hands, suddenly wondering if she’d gotten her talent from her mom.
Mateo kept going. “I think our grandparents figured that since all the boys went into medicine, it was fine to let their daughter chase her art. They were actually pretty supportive.”
“But your mom didn’t have the chances you did. Maybe her talent wasn’t quite as strong either. Her art career never really took off.”
“She always said she just hadn’t met anyone who truly understood her work.”
“Her brothers tried to help. They took her all over the world to find inspiration. After they all settled down, she started traveling alone.”
“And that’s when things changed.”
“No one expected her to go to a war-torn country in Eastern Europe.”
“She saw how much people were suffering, and she couldn’t just leave. She stayed to volunteer for a while.”
“And that’s when she met the person she called her soulmate.”
Mateo paused, his words hanging in the air.
Wiona pointed at herself, her heart racing. “You mean… my real father?”
Mateo took a slow breath and nodded. “That’s what we think.”
Think? What did that even mean?
“But I heard he came from a family that’s been our sworn enemy for generations.”
“So there was no way they could be together.”
Sworn enemies? Was it really something that dramatic?
Wiona’s face went pale. She felt her heart ache for her mom.
How do you move on from a love that deep?
“Back then… was Mom already pregnant with me?”
Mateo nodded. “Yeah. She was found to be pregnant not long after she came back.”
“Our grandparents wanted her to end the pregnancy. They wanted to erase her mistake, help her forget everything, and start over.”
“But our Aunt ran away.”
“She disappeared. No one could find her.”
“When we finally did, it was too late. She had died in Stonehill and was buried in a tiny grave.”
“Wiona, Aunt’s grave has been moved to our family’s cemetery now.”
“If you want, we can take you to the Blue family estate to meet everyone… and to visit your mom’s grave.”

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