All the Wrong Reasons

Part 51

Chapter 51

Cassandra stared at the woman.  She looked exactly like her, but slightly older.  Her blonde hair curled around her face, her bright blue eyes shined, and the small wrinkles around her eyes did nothing to diminish her beauty.  How was this happening?  How was her birth mother standing in front of her?

“There is a chair to your right, if you would like to sit,” the woman said in a soft voice.

Cassie just stared at her.  “What do I call you?” she blurted before realizing the impact of her question.

“You can call me Ava,” the older woman said with a smile.  “I have no illusions that you will forgive me for what I did.”

Cassie finally flopped down into the seat.  “You had no choice,” Cassie defended.  “You were a great mother, and it is a true testament to your love.”

Ava let out an empty laugh.  “How does it prove my love to you?  If I were a strong woman, I would have left with you.”

“And done what?  There are not many opportunities for women.  You would have been forced onto the street, fending for food.  Do you think that is a way either of us should have lived?”

“I could have found help,” Ava muttered.

Cassie let out a tiny, humorless laugh.  “From where?  Who would you have asked to help when the one person you should be able to count on abandoned you.”

“Your father did not abandon me, he hit me.”

“It is the same in my eyes,” Cassie said while waving her hand dismissively, “and he is not my father.  My father is a kind man, someone who meddles a tad too much, but he is kindhearted.”

Ava smiled with tears in her eyes.  “They treated you good?”

“Like a princess,” Cassandra replied, remembering the words from her father’s story.

Tears flowed from the woman’s face as she nodded vigorously.  “That was all I wanted, for you to have a perfect life, one that I could not have.”

“Who is my father?”

Disgust crossed her face as she spat her next words.  “When I found out what he did to my son, I left him.  I could not let him harm any other children I may have.”

“What does your son look like?” Cassandra asked reluctantly, feeling her heart compress in her chest.  She could not give Cooper away.  She loved the lad; how would she be able to wake without the small boy just around the corner?

A dazed look crossed Ava’s face.  “He has the same color hair and eyes as we do.  He is a small lad, even though he is three.  It seems as if he never grows, but he is smart, Cassandra.  He is the smartest little boy I have ever met; I just wish he would speak.  He knows how to make you smile with a look; he does not trust easily, but once he does, he will cling to you like a vine.”

Cassandra’s eyes began to water.  There was no doubt in her mind as to whom Ava was speaking.  It was Cooper.  She had to make sure though; she had to ask her next question.  “What is his name?”

“James,” Ava said with a large smile.  “I named him James.”

Tears flowed down her cheeks.  This could not be happening, after all this time, she had to give the lad up.  She shook herself.  What was she thinking?  Of course, she would have to give Cooper back to his mother.  It was not as if the lad lived days away.  They were just in a different village.  She could do it; she would visit him every day.  Mayhap, when he grew older, he could stay with them overnight.