Part of the Family

Chapter 31: From Hemlock Grove To Manhattan

It took weeks for the private investigator to find a relative from Catalina's adoptive parents. It was going to take even more time to find relatives from her birth parents since they were so hard to find, but Roman was willing to pay double for her. The man arrived ready to inform them both about what he found.

"Good afternoon Mr. Godfrey", he looked at Catalina, who stood beside Roman, Ms. Godfrey. They greeted the man individually.

"Please come in", Roman said as he opened the door wider for the investigator. He got straight to the point as he found a seat in the living room.

"I found some family relatives from your adoptive parents. The closest one is your mother's sister in New York, Manhattan. Her name is Lucy Jones."

"That's great", spoke Roman.

"The thing is...", he paused for a moment.

"What is it?" Catalina asked worriedly.

"She is terminally ill. She has cancer." Catalina was feeling bummed about the news. "Here's the address if you want to see her." He passed a small paper to Catalina.

"Anything else about her birth parents", Roman asked.

"Not quite Mr.Godfrey. Still working on it. Ms. Godfrey do you know you're ethnicity?"

"No", she responded as she shook her head.

"Hmm. Well, I was thinking maybe you're extended family might be from a different country. I can send you a DNA kit next week. You can mail it back after you use it. I will still try to find someone who lives in America if not then I'll expand my search." He said the last sentence as he got up. Roman lead him to the door.

"Thank you for your time", Roman said as he opened the door. The man did a slight nod and left. Roman came back and sat next to Catalina.

"I think we should visit her now." He looked at her.

"Now?"

"Yes, Catalina now. She's only three hours away from us. We can stay the night in Manhattan if it gets too late."

"Ok, I'll pack our bags."

"You don't have to. We have a maid and a butler for reason." He grinned.

"No offense but they are a bit old. I don't want them overworking." Roman rolled his eyes

"I'm paying them a lot of money." Catalina scoffed.

"I'm going to pack our bags. End of discussion."Catalina sounded firmed.

"Yes, I love it when you take control." Roman teased.

"Oh, hush up." Catalina chuckled at his comment. "For that, you pack your own bag."

"Boooo."

"You ready?" Roman closed the trunk of his expensive car.

"Yes sir", Catalina grinned as she saluted him. Catalina had the GPS on her phone ready. A smile appeared on Roman's face. He was glad that his girl was finally getting some closure about her past. The whole drive was small talk and sexual teasing from Roman.

"Roman stop. I'm already getting hot from this", she blushed. Catalina felt her ears heat up and her face hot.

"Alright, I'll stop...for now", he smirked while looking at the road. They arrived in New York while the sun was still shining.

"Fucking traffic", Roman spoke in annoyance

"Well, that's New York for you, babe." Roman smiled at the cute nickname. The GPS took them to a decent-looking neighborhood. Kids were playing outside, and neighbors chatting. It felt nice looking at a different scenery.

"Shit." Roman mumbled.

"What's wrong?"

"All the cars are parked down the street and the house is right in front of us." Roman kept driving until he found a spot at the end of the block.

"Finally." he parked his expensive automobile. The gentleman got out of the door and opened the passenger side for Catalina.

"Thank you", she spoke softly while she gave him a small smile.

"No problem", he replied as she got out of the car. "You nervous?"

"A little bit." A little bit was an understatement. They walked down the block and found Lucy's home. Catalina knocked on the door. They wanted for a moment before a man opened the door.

"Yes?"

"Is Lucy Jones here"

"Yes, she is. Why?"

"I'm Catalina Godfrey. I found out I was adopted by her sister."

"Oh my- please come in. Uh, Lucy isn't doing well. She's sick." They entered a living room. There laid a very pale woman trying to scoop up her food. "Honey, I can do it for you."

"Rick, I'm perfectly capable of feeding myself."She looked at the two standing next to her husband. "Who are they?"

"This is Catalina Godfrey and..."

"Roman Godfrey ma'am."

"Oh well how do you do", she smiled at them.

"Good, my uhhh...", he didn't know what to call Catalina.

"I would like to take a few moments and ask about my adoptive parents", Catalina intervened.

"You're Bella's baby?"

"Bella?"

"Yes, that was her name. And your father was Anthony Hernandez. Please have a seat." The two sat on a love couch next to Lucy. "So what do you want to know Catalina?"

"As much as you can give us."

"Well then...you're mother and I was very close. We would tell each other everything and I mean everything. We trusted each other with our secrets." Lucy smiled at the fond memories of her late sister. "I was the first person she went to about everything even the sad news", her smile then disappeared. "Bella and Anthony, we're having trouble conceiving a child of their own. It broke their hearts. It even broke mine as well. I was the one who suggested adopting. It took them a while to come around to the idea but eventually, they did. When they saw you they instantly knew you were coming home with them. Bella said it was love at first sight when they saw you." Lucy began tearing up. "They kept your birth name but changed your last name. I believe you were a couple of weeks old when they saw you. The process was long by the time they got you, you were already a couple of months old. During the process, my sister found out how you got there. It was a tragic story honestly. You're birth parents died in a mysterious house fire. Some of their neighbors tried to get them out but one of you're parents refused and gave you to them." This made Catalina confused. They refused, she thought. "Well, when Bella and Anthony got you, New York was getting too expensive for them. They moved to Hemlock Grove because it was very affordable almost cheap. They quickly found jobs and settled in. And- um they lived there not too long because", Lucy was starting to get more tearful, "they passed away...someone killed them. Then you were readopted." Her husband came back with some napkins. Catalina's eyes began to water as well.

"Wow, that was a lot", She spoke with a sigh.

"I know", Lucy tried to laugh it off.

"Thank you so much for your time, Mrs. Jones", Catalina got up and hugged the sick woman.

"No problem. It was nice finally meeting you Catalina." Lucy embraced back the hug.

"We should get going, it's getting late."

"Ok, have a good night, you two." Everyone said their goodbyes and the two left the house. The sun was setting and they were ready to rest. Catalina hoped that her mind wouldn't be racing with questions while she slept.