Danny got up from his chair and began to pace around the study. This was all too much to take in. If everything his uncle were telling him was true, and he had no reason to doubt that it was, then his whole life had been a lie.
He and Mick were half brothers and Carmen was not even his mother. Who was his mother then?? Why didn't anyone tell them any of this? How did Dietz end up with Carmen? What did any of this mean?
Federico watched Danny pace. He let him. Danny's whole world had been uprooted in a matter of two sentences. This was a lot to take in ,but Danny had the intensitnal fortitude to absorb the information, demand the answers and then accept things as they were.
He had not wanted to be the one to tell him any of the Santos dirty secrets. Carmen had kept the truth from all of her children in a selfish attempt to hide her own guilt. Federico had always thought Danny could handle the truth, but he needed to hear it from Carmen. She should have told him the truth when Manny died and again when Mick died but she had wanted to have control over her children and if Danny had found out the truth, she would not have had the hold on him that she has.
He had never like Carmen. She had caught Manuel on the rebound and had his head and libido spinning out of control and before Manny had known what had hit him, they were husband and wife.
Manny had been engaged to a poor girl named Gabriella who he had loved with all of his heart and had intended to marry. Their father had not approved of the girl whose only crime was her fnancial misfortune. Her parents were honest workers and they had had a lot of love in their home if not money. Their father tried to buy her off with money but she wouldn't hear of it. She loved Manny and they were going to have a family she had told him. He had laughed at her and told her that Manny had women all over Spain and that she was just one of his many laisons. She hadn't belived him and had threatened to tell Manny that he had tried to buy her off and come between them. She was confident that Manny would believe her. He had laughed and told her that she didn't know who she was dealing with.
Gabriella had foolishly believed that she could go up against his father. She had laughed at him and told him that she loved Manny and nothing he could do would separate them. Two days later Gabriella had been found dead. Suicide, the cororner's report said. A bottle of sleeping pills had been found by her bedside, but no note. Manuel Santos had never been the same after that.
Federico had often wondered if his father had had anything to do with Gabriella's "suicide". He had never voiced that thought aloud though and as time went by, he let it go altogether. Carmen Santos was the daughter of a business associate of his father's and she had set her cap for Manny right away. Manny didn't resist her charms for long. He had seemed to have lost interest in most everything after Gabriella died.
It was only when their father died and left the business to them both, that Manny had come back among the living. By then, Carmen had become his shadow. She and her bodyguard Dietz had come to live in the Santos house after they had gotten married.
Dietz had become Manny's right hand man and they had become friends.Never had Manny had such a loyal employee. Carmen had started to become jealous of Manny and Dietz friendship realizing she could lose all of her power if they became allies.
Federico had met Sophia during that time and had let Manny run the business most of the time. He didn't like Carmen Santos's taste for blood and it looked like Manny had lost his desire to make the business legit.
Before long, Carmen's tight fist and short leash became too much and Manny had demanded an annullment stating he wasn't in his right mind when he married her. Carmen had threatened to bring him down if he went through with it.
Manny wasn't in the least bit worried about Carmen's threats and had told her so. He had filed the papers and presented them to her and told her he was going on a business trip and for her to be gone when he returned.
He had come back a month later expecting to see Carmen gone and the annullment finalized. Instead he was greeted by a smug Carmen who announced that they cuoldnt get an annullment becuase she was pregnant.
Manny knew it wasn't his and at first didn't suspect Dietz but Carmen had him over a barrell. He would be ruined if word got out that she was carrying another mans baby. He had stayed with Carmen and she had had the baby, Mick.
He looked enough like Carmen that noone suspected he wasn't the natural son of Manuel and Carmen Santos. He was the golden child, loved by all. Manny had learned to love Mick as his own, but then came the day that he found out that Mick was Dietz's son.
Mick had been riding his bicycle in the street. A car had come around the corner and hit him. The injuries had been life threatening and he had lost a lot of blood.
He had needed a transfusion. Unfortunately his blood type was rare and Carmen was not a match. The truth would come out in order to save Mick's life but destroy Manny's.
Manny had been devestated to find out about Dietz betraying him, more so than Carmen betraying him. He had grabbed a bottle of whiskey and retreated to his study. One of the maids, Teressa was her name, had come in to see if he had needed anything.
Manny had told him he didn't remember much about what had happened in that study but that it had resulted in her becoming pregnant with Danny.
Carmen had been furious and wanted the girl thrown out and the baby aborted. Even being a devout Catholic wasn't enough to mask her hatred of the maid who was carrying her husbands child, even if he hadn't been her husband in a long time.
Manuel had snapped out of his despression after seeing Daniel for the first time. After that day at home,( Carmen had insisted she not give birth at a public hospital) Manny had gone to see his priest and had prayed to put all of this behind him and to love Mick and Danny equally and to reconcile with Carmen.
Carmen had fallen in love with Danny despite herself. They had paid the maid a substantial amount of money and had secured her employment in another household. Noone had ever spoken of it again. Carmen had been a real mother to Danny and she and Manny had put aside their differences and agreed to make their marraige work.
They had had Pilar and things were going all smoothly. Manny had begun to talk about legitimizing the business and he and Federico had begun to work together.
Then tragedy occured. News of their attempted legitimization leaked out and Manny was ambushed one night at the docks. Amazingly similar to the way that Dietz had died. He had been ambushed by a rival family and had died at the hospital two days later.
Carmen had mourned her lost husband. Federico believed that somewhere down deep, she had loved Manny and that he had loved her. THey had made their marraige work and had made a family for their children.
Mick had begun to show signs of aggressive behaviour and Carmen had done nothing to curb it. Mick had been on his way to the path of destruction that would eventually end his short life.
Federico finished telling Danny his tale. Danny sat in stunned silence and never opened his mouth.
Federico was relieved, It was all out on the table. Everything now. Danny knew the truth. Dietz had absolution now. He had died trying to tell this secret and now Danny knew. May Dietz rest in peace.
Aunt Sophia came into the room and Federico tried to wave her away with a loving hand. Danny still needed time to absorb everything he had just told him.
"I'm sorry, Federico, but I must interrupt you" she said. "Carmen just called from Springfield. Grandmother Santos has had a heart attack and is not expected to live".
*****************************************************************************
Setting: The airplane ride to Springfield. Danny and Federico are headed back after receiving the news that Grandmother Santos has had a heart attack.
Danny went over the list of things to do once he returned to Springfield in his head again. He looked at Federico who was asleep. Thank goodness he was able to sleep. He had turned as white as a sheet at Aunt Sophias announcement. He had sunk in his chair and Danny had quickly helped him pack and then they were on their way.
The jet lag was getting to Danny. He had just been on a plane barely 6 hours ago and now he was on one again. He hadn't even had time to unpack his traveling bag or take a shower and he knew he looked like hell.
He had called Carmen and she had told him that they couldnt wake up Grandmother this morning and she had called 911. They had taken her to Cedars but Carmen had insisted that she be transported to another hospital. She was not going to let a hospital where a Bauer was a doctor anywhere near her mother in law. She had told Danny that she was being transported to New York where specialists could give her the best care available. She had given Danny the name of the hospital where she was admitted.
Danny would have to make a stop a Springfield though. He had to get clothes, money, make sure the manager would hold his sorry excuse for a home, indefinately. There was so much to do.
He thought of Dietz then. Who was taking care of his arrangements? Would Carmen make a big public show of mourning her lost employee? Yeah, that would be typical Carmen Santos. SHe would feign concern and demand to know what had happened even if she already knew in her non existant heart what had occured last night on the docks. Danny added getting a newspaper to the list of things to do once they landed.
He went through his list once more. He would get to New York sometime this evening. He would stay with his grandmother for as long as it took. Damn, that meant putting his plan on hold and he and Michelle would have to wait even longer until they could be together.
Michelle, how he needed her. He needed to be enveloped in her embrace. He was so scared he was going to lose his grandmother and he needed someone to turn to. Someone to hold him and comfort him. He loved his grandmother so much. He had never thought about her leaving him. He was borrowing trouble and he knew it. He would wait until he got to the hospital and talked with the doctors to decide what he would have to do next.
He would be seeing Carmen again. He would never refer to her as his mother again. True, she had loved him and raised him as her own, but she should have told him the truth. Wow, He know knew how Drew had felt that night when she had found out she was adopted. He finally understood her desperate attempt to belong to someone if only for one night.
He was the product of a drunken night with a Santos employee. He forced that out of his mind for now. He was going to concentrate on his grandmother now and would settle things between he and Carmen later.
Federico began to stir. The airplane would make its decsent soon. He filled him in on the things that he would have to do in Springfield and then they would make the drive to New York to meet with the rest of the family. HIs family, what a joke. If there ever was a word to describe the Santos clan, family certainly wasn't it.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Danny took care of things at his hotel, emailed Frank quickly detailing his need to be gone longer than expected and checked his bank account. He made some transfers and then shut the computer off, totally oblivious to the little mailbox at the far left of the screen that indicated that he had mail.