“If I didn’t know anything about my mum, I would want to know, even if I had to lie,” Walt said.
“Mum was the best. I can’t imagine never meeting her,” Franny said.
She dipped her spoon in and out of her food. Liam was too invested in this argument to tell her to stop.
“Uncle Liam, you kind of remind me of Javert,” Walt said.
“Who’s that?”
“He’s inLes Miserables.” They had watched the video of Mariel’s performance multiple times since Nathan had arrived. “Javert chased Jean Valjean for years because he stole a loaf of bread. He only stole it because he was starving, but Javert didn’t care. He only saw Valjean as a criminal. I’ve taken things from my sister’s room. I don’t think that makes me a criminal.”
“What stuff?” Franny asked.
Walt shrugged and slurped his soup.
“Walt?” she pressed.
“Am I Javert in this scenario?” Liam asked, getting them back to the topic at hand.
Walt and Franny ate a spoonful of soup at the same time. Their slurps spoke volumes.
Life wasn’t a play, no matter what they thought. Though perhaps there was a kernel of truth in there. What would Liam do to learn about his mum? What if he had secret siblings scattered around the globe? He had never been in Nathan’s situation.
But was everything a lie? The nights and mornings together? The kisses? The sex?Liam didn’t want to take a chance to find out. He had hit his limit with deception.
The outside screen door screeched open, then the front door. Pastor Fry and Brenda came inside, giving Liam a solemn look like they’d just come from a funeral.
“Where’s Mark?” Pastor Fry asked.
“In the basement,” Liam said. He didn’t know what Mark was looking for, but he dared not interrupt him.
“This is awful. Brenda has been crying the whole car ride.”
Her face was a red, splotchy mess. Liam handed her a tissue box.
“We need to talk about this.” Pastor Fry sat across from Franny and Walt. “Kids, I understand you must be in shock. You all must be.” He turned to Liam. “It’s torn us up inside for decades.”
“You knew about this?” Liam asked.
“Mariel panicked when she discovered she was with child. We were afraid she would try to terminate the pregnancy. We flew to London immediately, and she decided that she wanted to give the baby up for adoption. She believed God had given her this child, but that he was destined for another family. She knew about the members of our church who’d had trouble conceiving, and she wanted to help couples who wanted to be parents more than anything. She was very giving, your mother. She found a lovely family in London for Nathan.”
Mariel hid a secret from Mark, from Liam, from the world. All those dinners and holidays Liam had spent with her, she never revealed anything. She carried this secret to her grave.
“Our daughter was young and scared. She’d made a mistake, but she tried doing the best thing she could. And when she left London, she knew that Nathan was not her baby, that he was with his real family now.”
Franny and Walt seemed to understand as well as two kids could. Pastor Fry was trying his best with a kid-friendly explanation.
“I understand this is a great deal to take in, kids, but at least now you know what happened,” Pastor Fry said.
“Except none of that is true.” Mark emerged from the basement holding a dusty journal triumphantly in the air and one tucked under his arm. Streaks of dust covered his clothes and clouded his hair.
“Mark, what were you doing down there? You should be with your family,” Pastor Fry said. “We need to discuss this together.”
“We do. Everyone deserves to be heard.”
“Precisely.”
“Even Mariel.”
