Catching Feelings

Chapter Nineteen: Beautiful, Curious, Naive

Chapter Nineteen: Beautiful, Curious, Naive

"Hide the book," I whisper wearily, my eyes glancing back and forth between the shelves.

Aidenn gives me a confused glance, "where?"

"I don't know, just hide it somewhere. We can't risk anyone finding what we know, got it?"

I don't give him the chance to answer before I'm on my feet and already walking away

"Adela?" I call out.

Her petit frame pokes out from behind the storage room door, her beautiful smile and pale skin reflecting off the dimming lights, "yes dear?"

I smile despite the irony of her looking exactly like Derek's mother, "I was looking around for you."

"What can I do for you?" she asks, her voice sincere.

"Why didn't you tell him?" I say suddenly.

She turns away from me, "tell who what?" she asks, but I have a feeling she knows exactly what I'm talking about.

"Derek," I say, swallowing the lump in my throat that forms from calling his name, "why didn't you tell him that his mother was pregnant with a child?"

Adela freezes, her body going completely immobile as she drops the books she was holding in her hands.

She whirls around to face me, yanking on my arm and pulling me into the storage room behind her.

My eyes go wide, "what the hell Adela?"

She shushes me, "tell me absolutely everything you know about Marianna's unborn child."

I cross my arms over my chest, "I'm not telling you anything until you answer my question."

She leans back on the table behind her, making it clear that she won't talk until after I've finished.

I fight the urge to roll my eyes, "she came to me in a dream," I explain, "I relived the night they left Derek behind and she was clutching at her stomach. When she left, Derek's father reminded her of why she couldn't tell him and then it ended. I talked to her for a while, she told me about the child and Derek, and then left the choice up to me of whether I should tell him or not."

She sighs softly and our eyes lock, "Why was I the one left with the choice to tell him or not. He's not my son, and from the look on your face, I can tell you've known for years."

I didn't want to hurt him," she says after a very long pause. "He was only seven when Marianna and Christopher died. He barely understood what happened and I didn't want to make things any worse."

"That was almost ten years ago, Adela! You've had plenty all this time to talk to him about it and tell him what actually happened. I'm sure he would've understood if you just talked to him."

She shakes her head sadly, "the years before we moved to Belmount were hard for him, you wouldn't be able to imagine what it's like. His eyes were haunted since the day I told him his parents were dead. They portrayed no light, only emptiness. I couldn't do that to him again; it would've only made things worse."

"That wasn't your choice to make. It was his family too; his parents that died, his unborn sister that he never met. Don't you think he deserved to know that he had a sister?"

"He doesn't have a sister!" she exclaims, "That's what you're not understanding. She was never born, never lived a day. She wasn't even given a name; she's not out there somewhere. She's dead, and I could not tell him that he had a part of his family that he would never ever meet."