Despite his frustration, I expressed my need for a longer conversation and rest, considering how tired I was after the whole day.
For illustrative purposes only | Source: Shutterstock Scott reluctantly agreed, masking his disappointment with a gentle kiss on my cheek before we went to bed. However, the tranquility of our lavender-scented apartment was shattered when I woke up a few hours later.
Our bed shook, and it took me a while before I opened my eyes wide enough to see Scott kneeling by the bed with the baby in his arms.
“Scott?” I gasped, confused. “What’s going on?”
He looked at me and fell silent for a moment, as if searching for an excuse. Finally, he whispered, "Everly, this is Ella." I was speechless. "She's my orphaned niece. My half-sister, Mai, is gone. I only learned of her existence a few weeks ago."
I shifted in bed, dazed. “A few weeks ago?” I repeated, frowning, trying to understand how a baby could have appeared in our room on our wedding night. “Everly, I was afraid you’d leave if you found out first,” Scott confessed, avoiding my gaze.
“How dare you, Scott? How can we start our life together with secrets and lies?” I asked, distraught. Then I took a deep breath. “Scott, what’s the plan? Are you… wait, are we adopting Ella?”
"I haven't thought about it yet, Everly. I just have to take care of her now," he replied, suggesting we postpone the conversation. I agreed, too tired to discuss it further, but I fell asleep with a terrible feeling in my stomach.
***
The next day, Ella and I returned to Scott's sprawling estate and began our lives with her as if something had been decided the night before. I felt helpless, unsure of what was happening. Holding Ella in my arms one night, I searched for answers about Scott's past and his half-sister, Maya. "Scott, if you and your family have cut ties with your half-sister, why do you insist on raising her child?" I asked.
Scott's reluctance to answer angered me.
“But she’s Ella’s mother, right? What else do you know about her?” I insisted, growing increasingly angry.
A few weeks later, curiosity led me to Scott's office while he was at work. On his desk, I found a photo that contradicted everything he'd told me. It was a photo of Scott, seemingly happy and close to a pregnant woman, presumably Maya. When Scott came home later that evening, his smile faded as he noticed my stern expression. "Everly, what happened?" he asked, concern in his voice.
I held up the photo, my voice calm but cold. “Explain this to me, Scott. This time I want the truth. You said you lost touch with your sister. But this photo says otherwise.”
Scott's attempt to respond only fueled my frustration.
"No more lies, Scott! In that photo, you're with a pregnant woman, smiling and happy. How can you claim to be detached?" I shouted.
He sighed and sank back onto the couch. "Okay, you're right. It's Maya, Ella's mother. Even though my family cut off contact with her, I was seeing her secretly... and helping her," he confessed.
“Why hide it?” “Why did you lie to me?”
"I was afraid. I was afraid you would leave if you found out the truth. I wanted you to love Ella, to see our future in her… without getting caught up in the complications of her origins," Scott replied.
“Scott, again, how can you build a life on secrets and half-truths?” I asked, crossing my arms. “I need your honesty, for Ella’s sake, for our sake.” He nodded, surprised by my next suggestion.
“Maybe we should consider giving Ella up for adoption,” I said shyly.
"Adoption? Everly, that's unthinkable. Ella is my responsibility," Scott argued.
"Maybe you should find her a loving foster home. Someone could be a better mother than me..."
He interrupted me, saying, "Is this your way of testing me? Do you think I married you just to have a mother for Ella?"
"Not!"
“You are behaving absurdly!”
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