If you are reading this, it means either I have finally found the courage to tell you the truth, or I no longer have the time.
My vision blurred.
I continued.
There’s something I should have told you eighteen years ago. Something I should have told you before you left this house.
I looked up.
Vivian was crying now.
Not discreetly.
Tears were streaming down her face.
Alyssa stared at her.
“What did you do?”
Vivian shook her head.
“I didn’t want it to happen like this.”
I lowered my eyes to the letter.
You were never the child I should feel sorry for. You were the child I was afraid of losing.
My throat tightened.
Your mother didn’t abandon you. I didn’t save you. And you were never a stranger.
I stopped.
The room
disappeared around me.
There was only Dad’s handwriting.
Only his words.
That the truth he had carried for years.
Then I reached the sentence that changed everything.
The woman you called your mother-in-law wasn’t the reason you believed you were undesirable. She was the person who helped make you believe it.
I looked at Vivian.
She covered her face.
Alyssa whispered:
” Mom… “
I continued reading.
But there’s something else you need to know about Alyssa.
My hands went numb.
Alyssa was born nine months after Vivian told me she was pregnant. I believed she was mine because I loved her. But after years of doubt, I learned the truth.
I looked at Alyssa.
She was crying silently.
Dad’s letter continued.
I am not Alyssa’s biological father.
Alyssa covered her mouth.
I read the next line.
And neither of you knows the whole truth about who your mother was before she
met me.
I stopped.
Vivian murmured:
” Please. “
I looked at her.
