Chapter 5 — Celestine Met Mara Without Him
Roderick stared at his wife.
“You contacted my sister?”
Celestine’s eyes filled.
“I contacted the woman claiming to be your sister.”
“Stop changing the noun to make it sound better.”
Celestine went silent.
Roderick had used almost the same tone he used when furious at work.
Controlled.
Cold.
“What did you do?”
Celestine answered.
She created a separate email account.
She told Mara she was Roderick’s wife.
She explained she had discovered the hidden room.
Mara immediately offered to provide documents.
Birth records.
Adoption records.
Photographs.
A DNA match from a genealogy service connecting her to one of Roderick’s known cousins.
Celestine reviewed everything.
“Then?”
“I met her.”
Roderick stood completely still.
“You met her.”
Celestine nodded.
“Two weeks ago.”
“Where?”
“A café in town.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
Roderick turned away.
He rubbed both hands across his face.
“You found out my sister might be alive.”
“You wrote to her.”
“Verified her identity.”
“Then sat across a table from her.”
Celestine was crying now.
“I was trying to protect you from another family lie.”
He turned around.
“By creating one?”
Celestine had no answer.
Roderick looked toward the hidden room.
“Did she ask about me?”
Celestine nodded.
“Almost the entire time.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That you’re married.”
“That you have Eudora.”
“That you are happy.”
“That you never knew the truth.”
Roderick’s expression broke.
“What did she do when you told her that?”
Celestine wiped her face.
“She cried.”
Roderick closed his eyes.
“What did she say?”
“She said, ‘Then they made him mourn me while I was alive.’”
Roderick sat down again.
The sentence hit harder than the adoption order.
As a child he had cried for Mirelle.
He remembered being told:
Your sister went to heaven.
He had drawn pictures for her.
Asked whether she could see him.
Left a toy rabbit beside the garden tree because his mother said Mirelle would have liked it.
All while Mirelle was alive in another home.
Roderick looked toward Celestine.
“Did Mara know I mourned her?”
“Not until I told her.”
He nodded slowly.
Then asked:
“What does any of this have to do with Eudora?”
Celestine looked toward the bedroom entrance.
Her face changed.
“She found us.”
Roderick frowned.
“Us?”
Celestine swallowed.
Mara had not only met Celestine at a café.
Three days ago, Celestine secretly brought her into the mansion through the hidden passage.