His skin was on the pale side now, and his hands trembled slightly when he took a sip of coffee. “Our names were written on the front of the envelope in Andrew’s handwriting. I read the letter and…”
“And what?” Cecelia asked.
Werner gave her a ghost of a smile. “Learned about you, Nietita. You and your mother. That my son was in love, and she was having his baby, and he’d never been happier.”
“You just found out about me last week,” Cece said.
“Yes,” Werner said. “When I read his letter. He had written it before he died in the car accident, and left it at the house for Adora and me, but Adora, she…”
“She hid the letter from you,” Cece said. “Why?”
Red infused his cheeks, and there was a note of bitterness in his voice. “Because your mother was an apprentice witch and Adora didn’t want…”
“To sully the bloodline,” Briggs said.
Looking a little ashamed, Werner nodded. “Yes. I knew she didn’t have much respect for apprentice witches, but I didn’t realize how important it was to her to maintain the blood witch line in our family until…”
“Until she tried to kill Cece’s mother,” Briggs said.
Werner scowled at him. “Adora may have her faults, as we all do, but she is not a murderer.”
He turned to Cece. “I’m sorry, Nietita, but what your aunt told you is simply not true. Adora would never try to kill you or your mother, and she would certainly never hurt our boy. She loved Andrew deeply. His death nearly destroyed her.”
“Did you tell her you found the letter?” Cece asked.
Werner nodded. “Yes, that night. I’ll admit I didn’t go about it the right way. I was angry and hurt that she had kept this information from me, and we argued. Quite badly. Especially when I found out that Alistair, our youngest son, knew about you as well.”
He lapsed into silence, staring at the coffee cup in front of him before sighing. “I went to a hotel for a few days, but I just needed time to… to wrap my head around the fact that you existed and that my wife and son had kept this secret for so many years. Once I calmed down, I returned home, and Adora explained to me why she’d kept you a secret.”
“Oh, I can’t wait to hear her reason,” Briggs said.
Werner frowned at him before turning to Cece. “She found the letter the day after Andrew died. He’d left it in her home office the day before his car accident, but she hadn’t seen it. She didn’t tell me because I was… well… I didn’t handle Andrew’s death very well. I was not myself for months, I fell into a deep depression, and she didn’t want to make it worse.”
“She thought knowing you had a grandchild, that a piece of your child existed, would make your depression worse?”
Cece could hear the skepticism in Briggs’s voice, and Werner could too because his body stiffened and he gave Briggs a defensive look. “She thought she was doing what was best for me. After Andrew died, Adora found out where your mother lived and went to talk to her and…”
“And what?” Cece asked.
“It went badly,” Werner said. “Your mother was angry and blamed us for Andrew’s death. She said he was so worried about what we would think that he wasn’t sleeping, and that’s why he fell asleep at the wheel that night and drove off the bridge. Your mother didn’t want us to have anything to do with you, Cecelia, and she swore that if Adora tried to force the issue, she would spread lies and gossip about our family. Adora was terrified that it would cost me my job at the WWC and damage her charities. She agreed to leave you and your mother alone.”
He sighed deeply and took another sip of coffee. “Adora made the decision not to tell me. She believed she was making the right decision, Cecelia. I was devastated over the loss of Andrew, and Adora believed that also losing his child would be too much for me to handle. Alistair was there when she found the letter, and she swore him to secrecy as well.”
“So, not telling you about Cece had zero to do with Adora hating apprentice witches,” Briggs said.
Werner flushed. “That was a part of it, yes, but as I said, Adora is not perfect. None of us is.”
“So, is that why she isn’t here with you now?” Cece asked.
“No,” Werner said quickly before slumping in his chair. “Maybe it has a little to do with it. I don’t want to make excuses for her, but Adora’s father was a very powerful blood witch, and he had strong feelings about apprentice witches and their place in the world. Adora grew up believing that apprentice witchcraft was below us.”
“It sounds like you’re making excuses,” Briggs said.
Werner’s hands glowed a bright red, and Briggs immediately growled in response, moving his chair closer to Cece’s.
“Shh, honey, I’m fine,” Cece said.
Werner took a deep breath, visibly steadying himself before staring at Cece. “Your grandmother does not know I’m here, Nietita. After discussions with her and Alistair, I agreed not to contact you. Agreed it was best if we continued to live our lives separately, and that our meeting would do more harm than good.”
