“I’m gonna make sure everything’s sorted with her. Keep watching her for a bit. Then I’ll come check on you again, okay?”
I look up at Royal, filled with nothing but gratitude that he happened to be in the hospital that day. “Thanks, Royal. For everything.”
He nods, his eyes almost looking tortured as he watches West and me, then backs away to his car.
I fall against West, clutching his shirt as new tears soak through the fabric. His arms wrap around me tightly until I feel weightless.
“Was that your mother?” he whispers. I can only offer a muffled hum of approval as the weight of everything that just happened still has me in a chokehold.
“Mum!” Aurora comes flying out the door, falling to her knees in front of me, panic written all over her face. “What’s wrong?”
I pull her to my chest, careful of her arm, and force my breath to slow as I inhale the sweet smell of her berry shampoo.
“Nothing’s wrong,” I say, smoothing her hair down. “Everything’s just right.”
“Who was that, Mum?”
I wipe my face as I consider my options. I don’t have to be scared anymore, and I don’t want lies and secrets in this new life.
“I need to tell you some things.” I tuck a piece of hair behind Aurora’s ear. “Some things that might be hard to understand, and maybe a little upsetting to hear.”
“I’m gonna give you two some privacy,” West says, watching us carefully. “Call me when you’re ready?”
I nod as West gets to his feet, offering a hand to help us off the ground. He brings an arm around each of us, kissing my head and then Aurora’s.
I thread my fingers through Aurora’s, tugging her inside, and I lead her upstairs and out onto the balcony. Settling on my lounge and bringing her down beside me, I lift her legs so they rest over mine.
“Has something bad happened?” sheasks.
I’m certain I stop and start three times before I manage to get any words out.
“That man was a police officer. I know him by the name of Royal.”
I continue spilling all the secrets of our past just like I did to Westley last week. An array of emotions, from shock to fear and sadness, paint themselves on my daughter’s face, until I reach the final part of our history.
“I knew we had to get out. That life wasn’t safe even before I saw what my father was truly capable of. When I met Royal, he said we could go to the authorities, start over with a new life, but there would always be some form of record of us, and given our ages, it was likely we’d be separated. He gave me another option, but it meant losing my sister to raise her as my daughter instead.”
Aurora’s chin wobbles as a single tear rolls down her cheek, and her hand plays with the bangles on my wrist.
“That’s why we’ve always moved around so much. I was terrified they’d somehow find us. But that won’t happen anymore. We can finally stop hiding and just be free.”
I wipe away the tears as they continue to fall from her eyes. “Do you regret it? Taking me with you and having to raise me when you were still a kid?”
I shake my head vehemently. “No! Never!” I grip her cheeks in both my hands. “Being your mum is the best thing I’ll ever be in my entire life.”
She closes her eyes, nodding gently as the tears fall.
“I’m so sorry I never told you. I was so terrified of how you’d react. Worried you wouldn’t understand what they were like and want to find them. And I couldn’t bear the thought that… you wouldn’t want me as your mum.”
Aurora throws her good arm around my neck, sobbing into my chest. “You’ll always be my mum.”
“I love you so much,” I whisper.
I don’t know how long we sit together, wrapped in our own little bubble, just like we’ve always done, but by the time I open my eyes, darkness surrounds us.
“Hey,” West calls out softly in the distance.
I lift my head slightly, seeing him leaning over on his balcony.
