Ella frowned. ‘Knew what?’
‘I knew that if you figured out those clues, you’d find out that it was me who was adopted.’
She leaned forwards and set her wine glass on the table, carefully watching her mother. ‘This wasn’t a surprise to you? Everything I’ve discovered these past few weeks?’ Ella recoiled. ‘Youknew?’
‘You have to believe me when I say that I didn’t know anything about my birth mother or the story of my past, but I did know that I was adopted, and when you were given those clues—’
‘You told me to forget about the little box, because you knew I’d find out. Because you didn’t want me to know?’ Her mum had come all this way to tell her this? ‘You know, you could have told me over the phone. You didn’t have to come all the way here.’ Ella bristled.
Her mother stood and went to the window, staring out, her back turned to Ella. ‘Your grandmother told me just before she died,’ she said in a quiet voice. ‘I was holding her hand, sitting there with her, and she whispered to me that she’d adopted me when I was a baby.’
Ella folded herself back into the sofa, listening intently to her mother and trying not to be angry.
‘I wasn’t certain she was lucid, she’d been saying all sorts of strange things that day, but she kept telling me what a darling little baby I was, and that the moment she saw me, she knew I would be her daughter.’
‘Why didn’t you say anything?’
Her mother sighed and slowly turned around. ‘At first I didn’t believe it, but then some things started to make sense. Little comments she’d made over the years, and the fact that I was so different to Kate. But she gripped my hand and told me not to tell anyone, that it was a secret.’ She laughed. ‘It’s ridiculous, but even as a grown woman with an adult child, I still felt like a little girl being told what to do by her mother. I’d never disobeyed her before, and I wasn’t about to start then.’
‘So you tried to stop me from searching because you didn’t want anyone to find out the truth?’
‘In the beginning, when I first heard about the box, I wanted to stop you so I could keep Grandma’s secret.’ She crossed the room and sat on the sofa beside Ella, taking her hand and slowly looking up at her. ‘But in truth, I don’t think that was why. I didn’t want anything to change. I didn’t want to take anything else away from our family.’
Ella’s anger dissipated and turned to sadness. ‘Our family is still our family, Mum. This doesn’t change that.Nothingchanges that.’
Her mother wiped away tears. ‘I know that. Logically as a sane, intelligent person I very much know that. But to find out that Kate wasn’t my biological sister, that she wasn’t your biological aunt, I suppose I was afraid that we might lose her like we lost Harrison. I wanted to keep the secret for my own selfish reasons, to keep our family together.’
Ella laughed, even though her own eyes were brimming with tears at seeing her mother’s pain. She didn’t mean to make fun, but she couldn’t help it. ‘Kate isn’t going anywhere. I don’t think we could get rid of her if we tried!’
‘Would you think I was silly if I said that I thought she might cut ties with me when she knew she wasn’t my real sister?’ Her mum laughed too, as if she could hear how ridiculous she sounded, until they were both half laughing, half crying. ‘I’ve always felt like Kate only puts up with me because I’m her sister. I thought the minute she found out we weren’t truly related, she’d run for the hills!’
‘Mum, Kate loves you,’ Ella said. ‘She loves both of us, and she’d do anything for us, whether we’re related by blood or not. Nothing will ever change that.’
‘You truly think so?’
She patted her mother’s hand. ‘I don’t think so, I know so. Kate is stuck with us, whether she likes it or not.’
They both sighed, then laughed at their joint reaction, before sipping their wine.
‘So tell me, what is my birth mother like?’
‘She’s amazing,’ Ella said. ‘Honestly, I feel like she’s been waiting her entire life to meet you. She was forced to give you up when she was nineteen, and I don’t think she’s ever forgiven herself for having to leave you.’
‘Did you tell her how lovely my parents were? That I’d had a wonderful childhood?’
Ella smiled. ‘I think that’s something you can tell her yourself,’ she said. ‘Tomorrow morning, I’ll take you to meet her. I can’t even imagine her reaction when she discovers not only her long-lost granddaughter is in Greece, but also her daughter.’
Her mother was silent for a long moment. ‘Thank you, Ella.’
‘For what?’
‘For being brave enough to uncover the past. I don’t tell you often enough, but I’m so proud of you.’
Neither of them said anything for a moment.
‘Whatever you choose to do with your life, whatever decisions you make, I believe in you, Ella. I’m only sorry I haven’t told you that before.’
‘Thank you,’ she said, her voice cracking with emotion as she leaned into her mother. ‘I needed to hear that.’
