If my mother was a captive, why would she have been at a party, acting as if she was a guest?
Would she really have been allowed to mingle freely with the other guests if she was there with the man who bought her?
Did she have to sneak off to go with him?
Why would she even want to do that?
It’s so frustrating. He can’t give me those answers.
Only my mother could, and she’s not around anymore to ask.
Colleen might know something about that night, I guess.
I’m just not sure she’d appreciate me looking her up to find out.
“I know this must be strange for you,” Steve says. “It was a shock to hear your name on the news, but as soon as I saw what the story was, I started to understand why your mother never called me. She spoke about running away together, but I didn’t take her seriously. I wish I’d known. I wish she could have told me the truth. Maybe then …”
He shakes his head. “Dwelling on the past never makes anything better.”
He’s right, it doesn’t, but that doesn’t mean I can just accept his story.
“My surname isn’t uncommon,” I start, seeing his expression turn from earnest to wry.
“I know. Every time a client came along with that name I asked if they were any relation to Scarlett. There was never any resemblance or connection, but the moment I heard your name, I knew instinctively that it was connected. Then, when I looked into the story, and found out your age, the dots started to connect.” He sighs. “I can’t imagine what you’ve been through. It must have been harrowing.”
“It wasn’t so bad,” I admit, shocking him visibly.
I suppose he doesn’t know I wasn’t treated the same way my mother was.
I know the others who were rescued were Omegas like her.
They would have had an entirely different experience.
Being born a Beta saved me a lot of suffering.
“I didn’t go through the same things as the others who were rescued,” I enlighten him. “I don’t remember much from my early childhood, but I worked with the housekeeper while I lived in Ivan Hamilton’s house. I cooked and cleaned and kept the gardens looking pretty. I wasn’t harmed the way I would have been if I’d been an Omega.”
He sighs deeply and closes his eyes.
When he opens them again, they look watery.
“I’m so glad to hear that. The guilt I felt when I realized who you were … I wish I’d known about you, Robin. I should have looked harder for Scarlett. The last twenty-six years could have been so different for all three of us.” He swallows audibly and turns his head to wipe under his eye.
It feels like he means every word, and it makes my heart start to hurt.
Is that all it would have taken?
For this man who loved my mother to find us when we needed him most?
What would it have taken for him to find out my mom was a captive?
Maybe if he’d figured it out, I could have had a normal life, raised by two parents in a real family.
That sounds a bit too much like a fairy tale to me but seeing this man’s pain leak out so starkly in front of me, I can’t help but wonder if it would have made a difference.
Clearly, he cares. About my mother, and about me, too.
“It’s okay,” I tell him, as he turns back to face us. “I’m doing okay.”
