Page 269 of Taken Away

A tear slipped down Aubrey’s cheek.

“He made his choice,” Anne whispered.

Burke said nothing.

Anne’s voice changed then, as if the girl she’d been had finally pushed her way into the room.

“He chose her.”

Her mouth trembled.

“Every morning after that, I woke up knowing he had chosen her. Harold and Mabel.”

The names came out bitter.

“People smiled at them. Praised them. Loved them. And after a while, it was like I had never existed at all.”

Outside the door, Aubrey went still.

Bennett had imagined this moment a hundred different ways.

None of them looked like this.

He had wanted to take her gently to Harold’s study. Show her the Bible. The photograph. The proof that Harold had loved her, however imperfectly, however too late.

This was a blade.

Inside, Burke said, “And Mabel knew?”

Anne gave a soft, broken laugh.

“Mabel always knew everything.”

“What did she do?”

“She offered to help.”

“To help raise Aubrey?”

“Yes.”

Outside the door, Aubrey’s grip tightened around Bennett’s wrist.

Anne looked down at the table.

“She said Aubrey should know where she came from. She said Harold had rights. She said family had a responsibility.”

Her voice sharpened.

“Can you imagine? My sister, sitting there in that house, with that man, with that name, telling me what my child deserved.”

Burke watched her.

“And you said no.”

“I said no.”

“Why?”