CONTENT WARNING: This story contains incest.
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Growing up a bastard is never easy. For me it meant jealousy of the boys whose dads came to baseball games. It meant a single mom who dated douchebag after douchebag, each one weaseling their way into our home and infecting us with their rot. It meant not knowing my past, my lineage, my history. Not knowing my place in the world.
I remained stoic for 22 long years but something inside me was breaking. It didn't help that college graduation was close and I still didn't know what to do with myself. One thing was sure though, I couldn't go back home.
My mom had recently married a guy who didn't want me around. With her pregnant, he wanted to start a new family sans me. My poor mother had always struggled and was just happy to finally be with someone who could provide for her. She was only 40, she had so much life ahead of her. I couldn't blame her, but still... I was her son.....
My stress and anxiety were ratcheting higher each day. I was angry at the world, at everyone, but at the same time shrinking inside myself. Lost, afraid, helpless, alone, I longed so desperately for my dad, whoever he may be. To have him comfort me, guide me, pat me on the back and say everything would be okay. I felt like only he could save me from this drowning depression, and though I knew he probably wouldn't, I had to try.
The only thing I knew about my dad was that he was a one-night stand. To her embarrassment and my discomfort, my mother couldn't even remember his name. "It could've been any of those degenerates," my grandma would say with disgust.
I guess my mom used to be a "cocktail waitress" at a biker bar and had been around the block. I try not to think about that and instead imagine my father as a professional athlete who came through town, or a successful doctor who had an untimely death. None of the hypotheticals are perfect, but they protect me from the likely reality.
I'd tried searching for him on the internet a few times but it was useless. I had no information and prayed he'd just magically appear. But with time came scientific advancement, and one day I heard something that really piqued my interest. My history professor showed us a new website that used DNA testing to create family trees. He laughed that in this era of modern genealogy, many people were inadvertently outing their relatives' secret families. But that's exactly what I wanted to hear.
That night I ordered the kit that would hopefully reveal my past. The 3 day delivery period was unbearable, the wait for results even worse, but when the email came laying out my ancestry it turned out to be the best decision I ever made.
I knew my mother was Irish Catholic, but without this site I'd never have known I'm also 50% Italian! Adrenaline surged as I finally got to learn things about myself that most people take for granted. It meant so much to understand what I was made of, where I was from. It explained some of the differences between me and my mother, like my olive skin and lighter hair. As I reveled in my history, a follow up email arrived that truly rocked my world.
YOU HAVE A MATCH!
I instantly clicked it and entered the portal to find my relative. I was slightly disappointed to see she was female, but it was better than nothing! The website said she was from my Italian side so I eagerly began typing.
"Hey stranger! I hope this isn't weird but I saw you're a "possible cousin" and wanted to introduce myself. I'm Liam O'Connell, a 22 year old from Gary, Indiana who, to be blunt, is looking for his dad. I hope it's not asking too much, but I would love to know if you have any male relatives that might've been in the Gary area in 1992. It's a shot in the dark, but before today I didn't even know I was half-Italian so this is already fantastic news! Let me know if you'd like to chat on the phone or anything. Have a nice day!
Your relative,
Liam"
I hoped it wasn't too blunt but I needed answers, dammit! I checked my phone constantly during the three hours it took her to reply. Finally a "...":
"OH MY GOD HEY! Just read your message and I'm so happy to meet you!! I'm Julia De Luca, a 26 year old from Pittsburgh. I can't believe I have a cousin I didn't know about, this is so crazy!!!! Thank god we're not siblings LOL! That would've been drama!!
To answer your question, I think the man you're looking for is Salvatore De Luca. He's my dad's half-brother and I know he used to live in Indiana. I think he's outside Columbus now but I haven't talked to him in years.
Let me know if there's anything I can do to help. Here's my number if you want to chat....
Your cousin,
Julia"
I cried through the whole message. Even though I couldn't be sure he was my dad, in one day I learned more about my lineage than ever before.
"Salvatore De Luca. Salvatore De Luca. Salvatore De Luca."
I rolled his name off my tongue repeatedly, accenting different vowels as I wondered how he might pronounce it. Salvatoray? Salvator? When I googled it I got my answer:
"Sal's Auto body"
Sal..... That's my dad: Sal. I couldn't stop smiling. Finally I had a name, someone to look for! There were no pictures of him online but that didn't matter. I was determined to find him myself.
Too excited to think, I packed a bag and ran to my car. My heart pounded as I pulled out of the driveway and sped east towards Ohio. Questions flew through my head. Does this man already have a family? Will this ruin his life? I briefly got second thoughts but realized I would just have to approach this carefully. Even if we didn't talk, I was dead set on seeing the man I believed was my father.
I drove faster, faster, getting there in record speed. It was 2AM so I checked into a motel, figuring I could ditch Friday class, hang out around town, then go to his car shop right before closing, for his discretion.
That evening I thought I was gonna puke. My tongue was heavy and my stomach in knots as I drove towards his shop, and at every light I considered turning back. What if this didn't solve anything? Then what? That was my biggest fear. That I would go back to my shitty life, but no longer with the hope of a dad to save me. Tears flowed but I couldn't stop now. I gripped the wheel and drove faster until I saw the sign.
"Oh my god... Oh my god!"
I looked in my side mirror: "Sal's Auto Body." Fuck! This was too real. My hand shook as I opened the door and I could barely stand. Stumbling towards the garage I must've looked like a freshly bitten zombie.
It was 6PM and no one was around. There were a few cars being worked on but more prominent were the rows and rows of motorcycles. Holy shit... It really might be him! I stepped forward again, towards the clanking echoing out from a popped hood. I spied a man bent over and had to see his face.
Chest pounding, I let out a weak, "H-hello....."
The man grumbled, "damn..." then, "sorry, we're closed!"