"Are you sure?" she asked.
Mrs. Montgomery's expression changed instantly. Pale skin and blue eyes, she flushed red as a pepper. I told her the whole story.
"Mia, forgive my reaction… it's just that this is a very unusual story."
She took a deep breath. "Mia, how have you been sleeping?"
"Badly. Sometimes I lie awake all night."
The psychologist stood up from her chair and walked slowly around me, studying my face.
"I can help you. I have a wonderful little medication."
She opened a drawer and pulled out a white bottle. "It's very mild. I can tell you're extremely wound up."
She placed the bottle in my hand.
"But don't tell anyone. I'm not allowed to prescribe this only a psychiatrist can."
I didn't really understand. I had never been to therapy before, so I couldn't tell whether this was normal practice or something personal to her. I slipped the bottle into my backpack. Soon after, the session ended.
And contrary to what people often say, I never left her office feeling lighter. Mrs. Montgomery seemed more like a reporter she asked too many questions, especially about Chad.
We went back home.
When I arrived, my father was already there.
"Dad, did you talk to Hanna?"
"Yes, sweetheart."
I went straight to the point. "And Chad?"
My father sighed.
"Honey… he's upset. He went to spend a few days at the lake house."
I went up to my room, but my father followed me and came inside. He closed the door.
"Mia, can we talk now?"
"Yes, we can. I ask, you answer."
He sat down in the armchair. "Okay. Ask."
"When did you find out that Chad is your nephew?"
"When he was about two… almost three years old."
I stared at him, incredulous.
"I didn't know at first. I was with your mother at the mall, buying your baby things. I saw Hanna with her husband. When I looked at the baby in her arms, I saw Alex. Hanna became visibly uncomfortable. Later, I went to her house. She confessed everything. She was going to tell Alex he was going to be a father, but there was no time."
"Will and Amber's father knows, right?"
"He does," my father answered.
"Why didn't he tell Chad, even after the divorce?"
"He's very attached to Chad. And Hanna said she had a card up her sleeve. Something about him."
I swallowed hard.
"Why did you say my grandparents would ruin Chad's life if they knew?"
My father sighed deeply.
"Mia, your grandparents always demanded perfection from Alex. College, an impeccable reputation… he wasn't allowed to be a child. He was trained to take over the construction company. He wanted to be an artist, a musician anything else. Every time he disappointed them, he was punished. Do you know how many times Alex was sent to boarding schools?"
I tried to imagine my uncle's suffering.
"But why?"
"I don't know. Maybe because he was the oldest. Now imagine if they found out about Chad… they would pour all the expectations they once placed on Alex onto him."
I sighed.
"And Chad's stepmother? I want to know everything."
"Hanna and Michelle studied together. Hanna was on a scholarship simple family, parents were nurses. Michelle used to pull childish schemes to separate the two. She was obsessed with your uncle, deeply in love with him. She even invented a pregnancy claimed the baby was Alex's. They had never been together."
My father shook his head, lost in memory.
"Michelle was the daughter of an influential businessman. She constantly reported Hanna and Alex's meetings to your grandparents. During a school trip to a museum in their senior year, she hid a piece of jewelry in Hanna's backpack. The cameras caught everything. Their friendship ended there. Only then did Hanna realize how far Michelle had gone."
"So my uncle and Hanna were going to run away together?"
"They were. Michelle found out and told your grandparents. They threatened Hanna's family. They moved to Texas. Alex spiraled into drugs and…"
He didn't finish. He didn't have to.
"I didn't know," he continued,"but one night when Hanna came to Florida… she found Alex. And that night, she got pregnant."
"She said they stayed in touch by email, but eventually the emails stopped. Until she found out Alex had died."
My father let out a long, heavy breath.
I couldn't stop crying. He came to me and held me, and we cried together for a moment.
"Honey… I'm so sorry. I knew Chad was an intern at the school library. I placed you there because I wanted you two to be close friends. I always knew about your love for books. Maybe that way I could see Chad more often. That day you were locked in the library… I arrived and saw how he protected you…"
He wiped his eyes.
"When he asked you to be his girlfriend, I thought it was just a teenage phase. I was wrong."
We cried together.
"Forgive me, Mia… I just wanted to protect you both. I wanted us to be a family. I miss Alex so much."
I hugged him back.
"Dad, I forgive you."
He smiled sadly.
"Mia, Michelle chased Hanna for years. She didn't give up until she took her husband away. She hates children. If she finds out Chad is Alex's son, she'll make his life hell."
"Then no one can know, Dad. I understand."
"And there's you… right in the middle of all this. If anything happens, I'll never forgive myself. Maybe that's why I was always comfortable with you living far away. But I wanted so badly to spend more time with you. When your mother said she was moving to France…"
"Dad, it's okay."
After we let go, he ran a hand over his face.
"Get some rest. Come down for dinner later."
"I think I'll take a shower and stay here."
"That's fine. If you get hungry, come down."
When he left and closed the door, I froze immediately.
My mind was racing. I remembered the pills Mrs. Montgomery had given me. When she handed them to me, they hadn't made sense… but now all I wanted was to sleep and forget everything.
I opened my backpack and took two pills. One didn't seem enough for the weight pressing down on my mind. I just wanted to sleep to forget so I went to take a shower.
The hot water made me feel lighter.
Afterward, my body felt almost weightless as I lay down on the bed. I fell asleep.
I don't remember anything after that.
Until.
Suddenly, an icy sensation consumed my entire body.
I couldn't breathe…