Chapter 4 - A Mother Who Chose Silence
Margaret did not deny the bracelet.
That frightened Natalie more than denial would have.
She simply sat at the kitchen table and stared at it.
Derek paced behind her.
Claire arrived twenty minutes later after Derek called her.
Thomas remained upstairs with his nurse.
Natalie placed the bracelet between herself and Margaret.
"Start talking."
Margaret folded her hands.
"I loved you."
"That is not an answer."
"I raised you."
"Still not an answer."
Derek pointed at the bracelet.
"Why does it say Hale?"
Margaret closed her eyes.
Claire whispered:
"Mom?"
Margaret looked at Natalie.
"Evelyn Hale was your mother."
The room changed.
Natalie heard the refrigerator humming.
A truck passing outside.
Claire breathing.
Nothing else.
"My biological mother?"
Margaret nodded.
Natalie waited for some enormous emotional reaction.
Tears.
Anger.
Collapse.
Instead she felt strangely detached.
Almost calm.
"Who was my father?"
"I don't know."
"How did I come to live here?"
Margaret looked toward the staircase.
"Thomas and I had been trying for a baby for years."
Natalie frowned.
"Derek is older than me."
"He was adopted."
Derek froze.
"What?"
Margaret immediately looked at him.
"Derek."
"No."
His face drained.
"What did you say?"
Margaret closed her eyes.
Natalie looked at her brother.
For once, his arrogance disappeared.
"You're adopted?"
Margaret rubbed her forehead.
"All of you were complicated."
Claire whispered:
"All?"
Margaret looked trapped.
Natalie understood before she spoke.
"Claire too?"
Margaret burst into tears.
Three adult children stood around the table, suddenly unsure whether any story about their childhood was true.
Derek backed away.
"This is insane."
Natalie remained focused.
"Evelyn."
Margaret wiped her face.
"She was my cousin."
Natalie stared.
"So you knew her."
"Yes."
"Why did Dad say you brought me home when I wasn't yours?"
Margaret took a long breath.
"Evelyn was unstable."
"What does that mean?"
"She had problems."
"What problems?"
"Drinking. Men. Debt. She disappeared for weeks."
Natalie did not react.
"Go on."
"When you were five, social services became involved. Evelyn asked us to take you temporarily."
"And you did?"
"Yes."
"For how long?"
"Almost four years."
Natalie's memory moved backward.
She remembered living at the Brooks house before age nine.
She remembered Margaret packing school lunches.
Thomas teaching her to swim.
Derek teasing her.
Claire toddling through the hallway.
"So I already lived here."
"Mostly."
"What happened when I was nine?"
Margaret looked at the table.
"Evelyn came back."
The photograph.
The woman reaching toward Natalie.
"She wanted me."
"Yes."
"And?"
"She had gotten sober. She had a job. A small apartment. She wanted custody restored."
Natalie's throat tightened.
"What did you do?"
Margaret's voice became defensive.
"We fought her."
"In court?"
"Yes."
"Who won?"
Margaret did not answer.
Natalie leaned closer.
"Who won?"
"Evelyn."
Derek swore.
Claire covered her mouth.
Natalie felt cold spread through her limbs.
"So the court gave me back to her."
"Temporarily."
"Stop changing words."
Margaret flinched.
"The judge ordered reunification."
"And I went with her."
"For three days."
Natalie's hand tightened around the hospital bracelet.
"What happened?"
Margaret whispered:
"You came back."
"How?"
Margaret began crying again.
Thomas's voice came from the hallway.
"Because I took her."
Everyone turned.
He stood there leaning heavily on his cane.
His nurse tried to support him.
Thomas waved her away.
Natalie stared.
"You took me?"
Thomas nodded.
"From Evelyn?"
"Yes."
Margaret stood.
"Thomas, please."
"No more."
He walked slowly into the kitchen.
"I went to Evelyn's apartment. You were sleeping. She wasn't there."
Margaret interrupted.
"She had gone drinking."
Thomas looked at her.
"You never knew that."
"She left Natalie alone."
"For twenty minutes."
"You don't know that."
"I know what she told me."
Natalie raised both hands.
"Stop."
Silence.
She looked at Thomas.
"You kidnapped me?"
His eyes filled.
"Yes."
Derek whispered:
"Oh my God."
Thomas sat.
"I convinced myself I was saving you."
"Did Evelyn call police?"
"Yes."
"Then how did you keep me?"
Margaret answered.
"Franklin Voss."
The attorney.
Natalie felt sick.
"He buried the custody order. He found a judge who issued an emergency guardianship based on allegations against Evelyn."
"Were the allegations true?"
Thomas shook his head.
"Some were exaggerated."
Margaret snapped:
"Some were true."
Natalie ignored her.
"Then Evelyn died."
Thomas nodded.
"Twelve days later."
"The accident."
"Yes."
"Was she coming here?"
Thomas said nothing.
Natalie knew.
"Was she coming here?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Thomas looked toward Margaret.
"She said she had proof."
"Proof of what?"
Margaret stood so abruptly her chair fell backward.
"Enough."
Natalie faced her.
"No. Not even close."
Margaret pointed at the metal box.
"Everything in there should have been destroyed."
Thomas whispered:
"That's why I kept it."
Margaret turned on him.
"You promised."
"I lied."
Natalie opened the box again.
Beneath the photographs was a cassette tape labeled OCT 16.
One day before Evelyn's death.
Natalie held it up.
"What is this?"
Margaret's face changed.
Thomas closed his eyes.
And Derek, who had remained silent for almost a full minute, suddenly grabbed the tape.
Margaret shouted:
May you like
"Don't play that."
For the first time since Natalie had known her, Derek agreed with his mother.
