"Come on Danny" Michelle shouted into the door of the closed bathroom. "If you don't hurry, we are going to be late."
"Yes, Michelle. I am just drying my hair and don't you get on to me about being late. If you hadn't jumped in the shower with me, we would have been ready an hour ago" he said and Michelle smiled to herself.
He was right. This last month had been so wonderful and full of spontaneity filled with afternoon showers and walks in the park. Danny was the most romantic and exciting man she had ever met and the days they had spent together had been right out of a fairy tale.
They had both been so nervous after they both left the lighthouse to meet Teressa. Danny's palms were sweaty as she held his hand. He had not gone directly home but had driven them around town the long way. She knew he had been stalling but allowed him the time he needed to get used to the idea that he would be meeting his natural mother in less than an hour.
Upon arriving home, Danny had gone to take a shower while she had prepared some tea and cookies for their visitor. She was both excited and nervous for Danny. She remembered how she had felt when she had found out that Maureen Bauer was not her real mother and how she had felt cheated out of her entire life and that everything that everyone had ever told her was a lie. Thankfully, she had finally understood and she knew that her and Danny's situations were very different but still, it was a very confusing time for him.
Teressa had arrived promptly at 8:00 and Danny had been pacing the floor since 7:30 awaiting the arrival of his mother. He had answered the door and brought her into the sitting room where they had sat down and began to talk.
Michelle said nothing as they talked and sat down beside Danny, showing her support to him.
"What's in the box?" Danny asked Teressa when he noticed that she had a large shoe box in her possession.
"I brought these to show you and Michelle" she said. "They are photos that I have collected through the years" she said as she took the lid off of the box.
Michelle leaned in closer to look at the photos as Teressa lifted each one out with the utmost care. There were a variety of photos which Teressa explained were Danny's aunts and uncles and cousins.
Michelle heard Danny's intake of breath and leaned into him. This was so much for him to take in. Perhaps they should have waited for another time to do this. The funeral and Carmen's arrest was very traumatic for him and the faces from a past that he didn't even know he was a part of until recently, could very well prove to be too much for him.
"Danny" she asked quietly as he took another picture from Teressa and studied it "Are you all right?"
"Yes, baby thanks" he said and took her hand and squeezed it. She was concerned for him and his heart swelled. He leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her mouth and whispered into her ear "It's okay. I want to do this" he said and crinkled his nose and winked at her.
"Okay" she whispered back "I love you" and winked back and then went about watching him as he asked Teressa about each new photograph she unveiled.
His eyes grew wide as he recognized some photos from his own childhood and adolescence. There was a soccer photo, his high school graduation photo and one from his college graduation ceremony. Several more snapshots with him in various stages of growth were also brought out and he looked at his mother in puzzlement.
"Where did you get these?" he said. "How long have you had them?"
"I have always had them" she explained. "Your dear grandmother, God rest her soul, sent me photos periodically and some I took myself" she said and that brought about a serious look from Danny.
"When did you take photos of me?" he asked.
"Well," she began not certain how he was going to take what she was going to say. "I have been watching you from afar Daniel. I know this is a lot for you to take in but you were my son. I didn't give you up willingly. I had no choice. I wanted to take you and raise you as my own but Carmen wouldn't hear of it. She told me she would have me deported and then you wouldn't have any chance of a life at all and that she and Manny could give you the kind of life that you deserved so I reluctantly agreed. I wanted you to have the best in life Daniel and if she went through with her threats and had me taken out of the country, then you would have grown up dirt poor with no chance of a future that you have now. I did it for you, please understand" she said with sad eyes.
"Why didn't you come for me when daddy died?" he said and the question was out without him even realizing he had said it.
"I tried Daniel" she said the tears already beginning to form in her eyes. " I came and talked to Carmen and she said I was crazy and that she would have me arrested if I ever set foot on this property again. Ironic, isn't it that I am here now and she is in jail" she said.
"Yes, it is" Danny said distantly.
"What's wrong Danny?" Teressa asked.
"I just found one more reason to hate Carmen Santos" he said and Teressa shook her head.
"No, Daniel, You mustn't hate Carmen. I thought for a long time that I hated her for making me give you up but hate is a wasted emotion Daniel because even though it shattered my soul, giving you to your father to raise was the best thing for you. You were loved Danny. Manny loved you with all of his heart and even Carmen, in her own selfish way, loved you. She was willing to go up against your natural mother to keep you and that shows love misguided though it may be" she said.
"You are defending Carmen Santos?" he said incredulously. "How can you even think of defending that woman. She denied you your own flesh and blood. You lived your life without seeing me all because of her need to be in control of every situation. Excuse me but this all seems too strange to me. Are you saying that you just stepped back and played martyr while she shaped my life into the disaster it is today?" he said angrily.
"I didn't think of it as playing martyr Danny" she said calmly. " You were worth it. Your life was what was important to me. I had no idea that night that I went into your father's study to bring him coffee that he would be so heartbroken to find out Mick was Dietz's son that he would need such comfort. It wasn't a planned thing Danny and you have to understand one thing about all of this. Carmen loved Manny very much. She had a different way of defining love than most people but she loved him and only used Dietz to make her pregnant when he threatened to leave her. She was very angry when she found out I was going to have you, but once she saw you, she fell in love again. I don't think she loved Mick the way she loved you Danny. Mick was a means to an end but you were Manny's son and she claimed you for her own the minute you were born. I didn't even get to hold you. I got to see your sweet face for just a few minutes and then I cried. I cried so long and hard that I thought I would never stop."
"I came back to work and one day I decided I didn't want to live if I couldn't have you, but your dear sainted grandmother convinced me to be strong for you and that one day, she felt sure that we would be reunited, and she was right" she said wiping her eyes with the tissue that Michelle had given her.
"So she arranged for me to have a job in another household and she would tell me of times that your nanny would bring you to the park and of course I would always come to see a glimpse of you" she said and began to point to particular pictures that had already been removed from the box. "I took these each time I got to see you" she explained.
"Once, when you were ten, I went to a soccer game you were playing in. Your parents were on a trip to San Cristobel to check on some business and your grandmother told me you would be there. I stood by the fence, too excited to sit down and watch the game. My eyes stayed on you the whole time. I was fixated on each movement you made and each expression on your face. You took my breath away and I wanted to tell you that day who I was." she said remembering that day at the soccer field.
"The ball was kicked out of play and over the fence" she said and Danny's face lit up with remembrance "you trotted over to get the ball that I had retrieved" she said.
"I remember that" Danny said. "That was you?"
"Yes" Teressa said through her tears "That was me. I wanted to grab you and hold you and breathe in your scent but then someone yelled "Hey Santos" and then you thanked me for giving you the ball and then you were off to play again" she said.
"I left the game after that but had that memory of touching your hand as I passed you that soccer ball. I kept that memory close to my heart and never told anyone about it before now" she admitted.
"I thought I had seen you before" Danny said. "But I think I have seen you more than that. Am I remembering something that didn't really happen? Am I imagining this whole thing?" he asked.
"No, Danny" she said smiling "You are not imagining it. I was at your high school and college graduations and I was at your wedding" she said.
"You were outside" he said and she nodded her head. "you dropped your purse and I helped you pick it up" he said.
"Yes, yes" she said. "That was me. I was so shocked at having run into you that I dropped my purse. You must have seen my hands shaking" she said laughing.
"Well, I don't remember that but I do remember helping you scoop up your things" he said. "Wow, you were at my wedding. Did Carmen see you?" he said.
"No, she had no idea I was there. I stood in the back and only peeked in for a second. I just wanted to feel like I had a part of the ceremony. Your grandmother knew I was there and she even gave me this" she said and brought out a pressed white rose.
"That was from my boutonniere" he said and again she nodded her head.
"So you see Daniel. I have never been allowed to be with you in person, but I have always been with you in spirit" she said and he pulled her close to him and hugged her.
It was a long time before either of them broke the embrace and when they did, it was to spend the evening talking about Danny's life and Teressa's marriage to one of the staff at her new employers home. She told him about their other son and Danny's half brother.
"Where is he?" Danny asked. He was thrilled to learn he had a brother.
"He is a junior at the University of Southern California" she said proudly. He will be out for the semester soon and he always comes home for a few weeks and you can meet him then. His name is David and he will be so excited to meet you finally" she said.
"He knows about me?" Daniel said. This was so strange having a family that he had never known about but had known about him.
"Yes, he does. He had always known. We told him everything once he was old enough to understand. He has all the scrapbooks in his room" she explained.
"Scrapbooks?" he asked.
"The scrapbooks of all your accomplishments. David is very proud of his big brother you see" she said.
"When can I meet him?" he said and Teressa smiled. "Soon" she answered "Very soon."
*******************************************************************
Finally Danny got his hair dried and finished dressing and they were on their way. They were finally going to meet Danny's younger brother David. Pilar had been shocked at first to find out about Carmen not being his mother and that he had another sibling, but Danny had taken her one day and spent the day with her and told her that she would always been his little "peanut" and that he would always love her. She had accepted the story without any protest and said she was glad that he didn't belong to Carmen. He was now free of her and could do whatever he wanted to with his life and that included first and foremost, having a life with Michelle.
Sadly not everything had turned out to as well. Carmen had refused to see Danny or Pilar during their attempts to go and see her and she had finally sent two letters through Ben to her children in which she told them that she wished no further contact with them ever. She was prepared to face the consequences for her actions and she wanted nothing further to do with her family.
After Ben had dropped off the letters, he had simply disappeared as the delivery of the letters was his last official act as the Santos attorney. Danny had been quiet and sullen for a few days after the receipt of the letter and one day had said he never wanted to speak of her again and so far they hadn't.
Dietz had not made much improvement in the last months and had been transferred to a private nursing facility where Danny still made semi-weekly visits to the former faithful Santos employee.
Pilar and Bill had gotten engaged and would be getting married the following year once he got his career in computers established and she finished college at Springfield University.
Soon, Danny was maneuvering his car into the driveway of his mother's home. There were many cars here for the gathering. Not only was he to meet his brother for the first time but would also be meeting aunts, uncles and cousins he had only seen in the photographs shown to him by his mother.
Danny looked over at Michelle and took her hand and placed it to his mouth and kissed it. "Well," he said and let out a breath he didn't realize her had been holding "Time to go in."
"Yes" she said and got out of the car. Teressa met them at the door and pulled Danny and Michelle both into an embrace. "Come children" she said speaking to both of them. While Carmen Santos had loathed Michelle and plotted to break up her and Danny's marriage and had even planned to cause her bodily harm, Teressa Rodriguez adored Michelle and openly welcomed her into the extended family. "Let's go in and meet the others" she said and pulled both Danny and Michelle into the house that was filled with love.
*******************************************************************
Danny and Michelle both lived to have many happy years together. They fought like any other couple and made up like any other. They had four children, all boys and had decided to stop trying for that elusive female Santos child when Michelle simply exclaimed that there was no female Santos sperm to be found in Daniel Santos.
They raised their four sons in the way that Manny Santos would have been proud with the oldest Manuel, his grandfather's namesake, taking over the family business from Danny once he retired.
The second son Christopher became a semi professional soccer player, taking his love of the game from his father and even had a stint on the United States Soccer team and competed in both the 2020 and 2024 Olympics.
Third son Samuel, or Sammy for short, followed his mother and uncle Rick into the medical field but decided to specialize in research and had worked in the breakthrough discovery of isolating a gene that contributed to the aids virus and had written some articles that had been published in the New England Journal of Medicine. He had fallen in love and married Jesse and Drew's daughter Melissa and Michelle and Drew were each grandmother to wonderful granddaughters Anna and Alicia.
The youngest son Joseph Santos, who never had been able to sit still since infancy, had enlisted in the United States Air Force and was a mechanic who traveled all over the world servicing all of the newest flying machines.
Michelle died in the spring of 2049 and Danny followed the following summer proving that they indeed had found the right lifetime as well as anyone else who has found their true soulmate and this writer hopes that each person who has read this series will understand that as long as there is love and trust, then it is never the WRONG LIFETIME.
The End