The Secret Owen Took to His Grave
Mara waited until the hallway was quiet before finally speaking.
“Owen didn’t marry me because he felt sorry for me,” she whispered.
I stared at her.
“Then why?”
She reached into her handbag and pulled out a small envelope.
“He asked me to keep this until after he was gone.”
My hands trembled as I opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
It showed Owen standing beside a much younger woman outside a hospital.
I recognized the woman immediately.
It was Mara’s biological mother.
I looked at Mara in confusion.
“Why would Owen have a picture of her?”
Mara swallowed hard.
“Because he spent years looking for her.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“After Owen learned that my mother had abandoned me, he became obsessed with finding out why. He believed there had to be a reason she left.”
She paused.
“Three years before our wedding, he finally found her.”
I looked at the photograph again.
“Then why didn’t he tell us?”
“Because she made him promise.”
Mara’s voice began to shake.
“She told Owen something that changed everything.”
“What did she tell him?”
Mara reached into the envelope again and pulled out a folded letter.
“She wasn’t supposed to have survived the night I was born.”
I felt a chill run through me.
Mara continued.
“My mother told Owen that someone had taken me from the hospital when I was a baby. She had been told I was dead.”
I stared at her.
“But you were adopted.”
“Yes.”
She looked down at her hands.
“My adoptive parents were wonderful. But Owen discovered that my adoption records had been altered.”
I couldn’t speak.
Then Mara said the words that made my stomach drop.
“Owen didn’t marry me because he wanted to protect me.”
“He married me because he believed someone was still searching for me.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Mara suddenly stopped talking.
We both turned toward the door.
Footsteps were approaching.
Then someone knocked.
“Claire?”
It was my father.
Mara quickly folded the letter and pushed it into my hand.
“Don’t tell them what I just told you.”
“Why?”
She looked terrified.
“Because Owen didn’t trust our parents.”
The door opened.
My parents stepped inside.
My mother was crying.
My father looked strangely calm.
Then his eyes fell on the envelope in my hand.
His expression changed.
And for the first time in my life, I saw fear on my father’s face.
He stared at me and whispered:
“Where did you get that?”