Chapter 5 — “There’s Something I Should Have Told You”
Stellan remembered the afternoon clearly now.
Evelyn had been sitting in the mansion library.
She was already ill then, though Stellan had not known how serious it was.
He brought her tea.
They talked about Merrick’s future nursery.
Adeline was pregnant at the time.
Evelyn smiled and said:
“You’re going to be a good father.”
Stellan laughed.
“You sound more confident than I am.”
Evelyn had looked at him for a long moment.
Then said:
“There’s something I should have told you years ago.”
Before Stellan could ask what she meant, Rowena entered.
“Evelyn, the car is waiting.”
Evelyn looked annoyed.
“I’m speaking to Stellan.”
Rowena replied:
“And you’ll miss your appointment.”
Evelyn stood.
At the doorway, she turned toward Stellan.
“We’ll talk next time.”
There was no next time.
She became too sick for visitors.
Then she died.
Stellan had always believed the unfinished conversation was about her illness.
Now he knew.
He slowly looked toward Rowena.
“You knew what she was trying to tell me that day.”
Rowena said nothing.
“Didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
Stellan stood.
“You stopped her.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
His voice broke.
“Knowing that someone who loved me was my mother?”
Rowena’s eyes filled.
“From losing the only family structure you had ever known.”
“I already lost it!”
Stellan pointed toward the document.
“I just didn’t know I had.”
Adeline stepped closer but did not interrupt.
Stellan continued.
“I buried her thinking she was my aunt.”
“I stood at her funeral and wondered why losing her hurt so much.”
“I thought there was something wrong with me.”
Rowena began crying.
“She loved you.”
“I know that now.”
“But she should have been allowed to tell me what that love was.”
Rowena looked toward him.
“I was afraid.”
Stellan laughed bitterly.
“Of what?”
Rowena’s answer was barely audible.
“That you would stop calling me Mother.”
The room went quiet.
There it was.
Not protection.
Not timing.
Fear.
Rowena had loved Stellan as her son.
And somewhere along the way, she became convinced that telling him the truth would turn that love into a competition she might lose.
But Stellan still had one question.
“Did Evelyn ever ask to reverse the adoption?”
Rowena’s face changed.
That tiny reaction told him there was still more.