Chapter 7 — The Promise
Stellan read aloud:
Rowena promised me that when you became old enough to understand that families can be made in more than one way, she would tell you that I gave birth to you.
He stopped.
Rowena began crying.
Stellan continued.
I never asked you to stop calling her Mother.
I never wanted to take her place.
I only wanted one place of my own that was true.
Stellan lowered the letter.
“You told me she would try to take me away from you.”
Rowena stared.
He remembered being seventeen.
After one of Evelyn’s unusually emotional visits, Stellan had asked:
“Why does Aunt Evelyn act like she’s losing me every time she leaves?”
Rowena had answered:
“Evelyn becomes attached to people and then wants more than she should.”
At the time, he thought it meant she was lonely.
Now the sentence sounded cruel.
“She wasn’t trying to take me.”
Rowena shook her head.
“No.”
“Then why did you make me afraid of her closeness?”
Rowena’s voice cracked.
“Because every time you loved her, I became afraid you’d eventually understand something before I was ready.”
Stellan looked devastated.
“So you made her love look suspicious.”
Rowena cried harder.
“Yes.”
Adeline appeared in the study doorway.
Merrick was secure in a carrier against her chest.
“We’re going to the hospital now.”
Stellan immediately stood.
The family secret could wait.
His son could not.
He folded Evelyn’s letter carefully.
Then looked toward Rowena.
“You are not coming.”
Rowena stared.
“Stellan.”
“No.”
“You do not come near Merrick.”
“Not tonight.”
“Not tomorrow.”
“Not until Adeline and I decide what happens next.”
Rowena’s face collapsed.
“It was an accident.”
Adeline stopped.
“The slip was an accident.”
Rowena looked toward her.
Adeline’s voice was steady.
“Taking him onto a balcony while using him to pressure me for a document was not.”
Rowena said nothing.
Stellan stared at her.
That distinction landed.
They left.
At the hospital, Merrick was examined again.
After observation, doctors confirmed he appeared unharmed.
Stellan cried with relief in the corridor.
Adeline held him.
For several minutes, neither mentioned Rowena.
Then Stellan whispered:
“Why didn’t you give her the document before it got that far?”
Adeline pulled back.
She looked hurt.
Stellan immediately realized how the question sounded.
But the damage was done.
And Adeline’s answer forced him to confront the difference between responsibility for Rowena’s actions and responsibility for the secret Adeline had been carrying.