Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.
Michelle was holding Ray's journal, as Danny opened the letter with his name on it and began to read. She saw the tears forming in his eyes, and gave him a moment with his thoughts before she asked him what it said.
"Danny," she began, "what is it?"
He was still sitting beside her bed, but he was now fidgeting nervously. His hands were shaking and his breathing became so fast that Michelle feared he might hyperventialte.
"Danny," she said, a little louder this time. "Tell me."
She forced him to look into her eyes, and the love and honesty he saw in them gave him some measure of comfort. There was at least one person in his life, other than Ray, who would never hurt him this way.
Slowly, he re-opened the letter, and began reading it aloud to Michelle. He did his best to read without crying, but somethings were just too painful.
Danny,
If you are reading these words instead of hearing me speak them myself, it is because I am not able to. Please forgive me for keeping this truth from you for so long, but I did not want to put you through any unecessary pain, if I could keep from it.
Your father and my father were once the closest of brothers. They grew up together, just like you and Mick, and like you and Mick, one brother was good and genuine, and the other was ruthless. Your father was a good man, Danny. He had such good intentions where the family business was concerned, and he, being the oldest, had the power to legitimize everything. My father was jealous of his power, and did not want to give up the power and money that the illegal activites afforded the Santos family. But, the final decision was your father's, and he was determined to legitimize everything.
Carmen agreed with my father. Her greed blinded her to the detriment that the business was doing to her family. Mick's birth had not softened her heart at all. She was determined to keep the business as it was.
My mother had no idea what she was marrying into when she married my father. She could not handle being married to the mafia. She wanted out, and she found comfort in the arms of another man.
The other man was your father. They had identical visions for the Santos family. She wanted to raise me without the constant threats, and your father wanted Mick to have the childhood that he had never had. They fell in love, and had an affair.
When my father and Carmen discovered the affair, they also discovered that the affair had produced a pregnancy. Your father was unaware of this, so my mother was held captive at the vacation house in San Cristobel. Meanwhile, Carmen fake her own pregnancy, and your father was none the wiser. He was completely distraught, thinking that my mother had left him. Carmen and my father manipulated him back into the old business, and he was never truly happy again.
You were the product of that affair, Danny. My mother, our mother, gave birth to you in San Cristobel. Carmen had arranged, conveniently, to be on the island, and told your father that you were born while she was there. She came back to Springfield, showed you off as the new Santos baby, and your father did his best to make the family a happy one. Thus, Pilar was born several years later.
Our mother died, two years after your birth. No one seems to know why, but I believe it was a broken heart. She was separated forever from her two sons. Years later, when your father discovered the truth, he was killed. Dietz arranged the hit for Carmen and my father, and made it appear as though a rival family did the deed.
Our grandmother confessed everything to me, after I entered the Priesthood. She'd kept the secret for so long, out of fear of Carmen, but she had held her tongue as long as she could
My father and Carmen robbed me of a relationship with you, my half brother, and took our mother from us, Danny. And then they took your father from you. My father has been gone for years, as well, and I mourned those years for a father I believed in, whole heartedly. I know I should forgive, buts something in me will not allow it.
I only ask that you not respond with violence, for it was violence that separated us in the first place. Take this information, and free yourself of the burden Carmen has placed in you. She has no claim or control over yer. She is evil, and even if she had carried you and given birth to you, she would be no more your mother that she is now, because what is in her is not in you.
I love you, Danny. You are my blood, more so than you ever realized.
Ray
Michelle was in tears as Danny finished reading the letter. Her worst fears and expectations of Carmen were only the tip of the ice berg. Nothing could've prepared them for what they'd experienced today, because of her. The loss of their baby had been unimaginably terrible, and now Danny was dealing with the lie that Carmen had forced him to live his entire life.
The revelation of what he'd just learned came crashing down on him, and he dropped his head onto Michelle's bed, and began to cry. Not just tears and sobs, but wailing, from the depths of his soul, for the child he would never hold, the father he'd lost, the mother he'd never known, and the brother he had been deprived of.
Somewhere in the midst of Danny's cries, Frank Cooper walked in the door of Michelle's room. Danny didn't notice him as he walked toward them. He only became aware of Frank's presence when he began speaking.
"I know this is a bad time," Frank began, "but I need to ask you a few questions about what happened. You may not want to hear this, but it's quite possible that Carmen could be held criminally responsible for what happened to your baby."
Danny stood up, wiping the tears from his cheeks, and put on the hardened Santos face that was the hallmark of his protective nature.
"We definitely want to hear what you have to say, Frank," Danny said, retaliation echoing in his voice. "And we have quite a bit to tell you."
"Are you sure this is a good time? I can come back later if Michelle isn't up to this."
Danny turned to Michelle, and she reassured him with her eyes. He could tell by her expression that she was as ready as he was to nail Carmen for everything she'd done to them.
"No, Frank," Danny said, "Your timing is perfect."