Chapter 5 - My Mother Was Actually My Aunt
Mom finally said the name.
Marianne Hart.
Her younger sister.
I had heard about Aunt Marianne only a handful of times growing up.
The story had always been simple.
She struggled with addiction.
She disappeared.
She died young.
Except Marianne had not disappeared immediately.
She had given birth to me.
My biological mother was Victoria’s younger sister.
I looked at the woman I had called Mom for thirty-two years.
“You’re my aunt.”
Her face broke.
“I raised you.”
“I didn’t say you didn’t.”
Marianne had been twenty-one when I was born.
The father was gone before delivery.
After complications following childbirth, Marianne remained hospitalized.
Victoria took me home temporarily.
“How temporarily?”
Dad answered.
“A few weeks.”
I turned back to Mom.
“What happened after that?”
“She disappeared.”
Arthur shifted near the doorway.
Something in his expression stopped me.
“You don’t believe that.”
Mom turned sharply.
“Arthur.”
He looked at me.
“She didn’t disappear, Clara.”
The room seemed to shrink.
May you like
Arthur swallowed.
“She came back for you.”
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