Her mum put her arms around her, close in a way they hadn’t been in so long.
31
The moment Alexandra opened the door, Ella knew that she’d done the right thing in bringing her mother with her. Travelling all this way, refusing to give up on the clues, and bringing her mother to meet Alexandra—it was one of the most special moments she’d ever been part of.
Alexandra was silent as she stared at Ella’s mother, her fingers gripping the door so tightly that Ella could see her knuckles turn white. The two women simply looked at each other, not moving, until Ella spoke.
‘Mum, I’d like you to meet Alexandra Konstantinidis,’ she said in a soft voice. ‘Your birth mother. Alexandra, this is Madeline.’
‘Madeline,’ Alexandra whispered, taking a shaky step forwards and lifting a trembling hand to her daughter’s cheek. ‘All these years, I’ve imagined what you might look like.’
Her mother was silent, her jaw falling slightly open as if she wanted to speak but couldn’t find the words.
‘How about we have a coffee?’ Ella suggested. ‘Shall we go inside?’
Alexandra looked at her then as if she’d only just realised Ella was even there. Her face was devoid of all colour, and Ella took her arm, giving her mother what she hoped was an encouraging smile as she beckoned with her head for her to follow.
‘All these years,’ Alexandra repeated, clearly still in shock at seeing the daughter she’d given up over fifty years ago.
‘Come on, sit down here and I’ll make us coffee,’ Ella said. ‘Mum, sit down here by Alexandra.’
‘Your eyes,’ Alexandra whispered, shaking her head as she stared at Madeline again, as if she still couldn’t believe she was sitting in front of her. ‘You blinked up at me before you were taken, as if you were telling me that everything would be all right.’
Ella spoke when she realised her mother still hadn’t found the right words. ‘And itwasall right, wasn’t it?’ she said, prompting her mum. ‘My grandparents were wonderful. They raised my mother with love, and she has a sister who is a few years younger than her.’
Her mother finally cleared her throat. ‘I’m sorry, this is all just so hard to process. But yes, my parents were lovely people. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer family.’
‘I wanted to find you,’ Alexandra said. ‘Goodness knows, I cried myself to sleep so many nights. But Hope wouldn’t tell me where you were, even though I went there every year to ask her. I even thought about breaking into her office to see if I could find your records, but by then she’d passed away and the house was derelict. You must have been one of the last babies born there, because it shut less than six months later.’
‘And yet I had no idea you even existed,’ her mother murmured. ‘It’s seems almost cruel to know that you were in so much pain, and I was oblivious all these years.’
‘I want you to know that I didn’t willingly give you up,’ Alexandra said, tears in her eyes as she leaned forwards in her chair. ‘Now, when I look back, I know I should have fought harder. I should have been braver.’
Silence rested between them for a moment.
‘No,’ Madeline said. ‘You did the right thing. I was raised by a family who loved me, and I wouldn’t change that for the world.’
‘Mum—’ Ella murmured, seeing the way Alexandra’s face had crumpled.
‘No,’ her mother said, her voice more even now, stronger. ‘I’m so grateful to be sitting here today, meeting you, Alexandra, but you need to forgive yourself and know in your heart that your decision was the right one.’ Her voice softened then. ‘You did the right thing for your daughter, and I can only imagine the level of bravery that took.’
‘I was only nineteen,’ Alexandra whispered.
Ella watched as her mother rose and sat beside Alexandra, taking her hand in hers. ‘You were only a child. It must have been so traumatic.’
‘To lose you, to hold you for such a short time and then to have to give you up…’
Alexandra cried then, and Ella watched as her mother wiped her tears, gently using her fingertips to clear them. ‘I too know the loss of a child. My son passed away when he was only twenty-one years old, and I’ve never forgiven myself, even though in my heart I know there was nothing I could have done to prevent it.’
Ella swallowed, tears forming in her eyes now too as she listened to her mother speak. She’d never realised her mum blamed herself, but now it made sense. The way she’d changed, grieving in a way that had never ended, taking the joy from everything, even so many years after Harrison’s passing.
‘Then we both know how to stay alive while dying of a broken heart,’ Alexandra said.
‘We do. But we are fortunate enough to be sitting here together today,’ Madeline said. ‘I certainly never expected to be in Greece, meeting my birth mother, so I would like to turn today into a celebration.’
‘I wholeheartedly agree!’ Ella said, relieved at how positive her mother was being. ‘I, for one, am thrilled to have another grandma. Most especially one with a house in the Greek islands.’
‘Shall we have a glass of something special to celebrate?’ Madeline asked. ‘Champagne, perhaps, instead of coffee?’
