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“If it’s important, you can just say it here,” he said. For one moment he thought she was about to accuse him of bedding her or even worse. But the next words that came out of her mouth, left him reeling to his core.
“Nora isn’t your daughter,” she said.
Arthur stood up, his stomach dropping as memories of a cold winter night years ago washed up in his mind. But how did she… He gathered himself. “I beg your pardon? What do you have to say for your preposterous claim?”
“It’s not preposterous,” Carmen said, her chin raised. “Because it is the truth.”
Arthur’s frown deepened. What was she playing it? What could she possibly gain from this?
Carmen shook her head. “No, she isn’t. I know she’s my daughter. And I have proof too.” She held up Nora’s pendant. “This belongs to me. This was given to me by my mother when I was younger.”
“You’re mistaken,” Arthur growled but his conviction had fled, and his hands were shaking at his side, but it had little to do with anger. He was scared. He had never thought anybody would find out the truth. “Nora is my daughter, and you can’t claim otherwise. You don’t have any claim on her just because we…we—” He struggled for words but stopped before he said something too cruel to her.
Her eyes widened. He didn’t have to complete his sentence, she already knew. Arthur could see the pain and betrayal in her eyes and the first sign of tears. He knew he had to fix this somehow. He never meant to hurt her in any manner.
“Step into the next room with me please,” he almost begged. When she remained rooted to the spot, Richard stood up and spoke. “I’ll take a walk in the garden for a while.”
When he left, Carmen spoke again, “You cannot keep her from me forever.”
“I will have to if you force my hand,” he said.
He knew he was being cruel, but he couldn’t help himself. If it came down to it, he would choose his daughter over everybody else. Carmen was not an exception.
“So, it is true then?” Carmen said. “She—”
“—belongs to me but she isn’t mine,” Arthur finished. He never thought he would have to remember that terrible night again. “My wife just had another miscarriage. The physician had all but told us that we would never have a child when I found Nora on my way home.” And there he had found her, with her fist closed around the pendant tightly as if it was what had kept her alive through the snow and the cold. “She was left abandoned at the cathedral. She was barely alive, but she pulled through stronger than ever and we knew she was given to us. Our hopes and prayers were answered, and we finally had a child.”
“That’s because she was stolen away from me,” Carmen said. “And not by choice.”
“I don’t know how you came to believe that—”
“The pendant is the proof. Are you too blind to see that?”
“Even if it was, I can’t allow you to tell Nora the truth. She will absolutely loathe me if she finds out.”
Carmen scoffed. “So, it is the truth then? She is mine.”
Arthur was trying his best to fix things between them. He stepped closer to her and held her shoulder, but she shook him off herself. “You can continue to be her piano teacher. I will not bar you from seeing her. But you must not tell her anything.”
“You cannot bar me from anything,” she said in an incredulous voice. “This isn’t your decision to make.”
“You leave me no choice,” he said. His heart almost broke when he saw the tears streaming down her face. He was hurting her so much, but she had left him no choice.
Ramon appeared at the door just then which was perfect timing. “Please escort Miss Black to the guest room,” he said. “We shall speak when she is in a better state of mind.”
“Come,” Ramon said to Carmen, who was still looking at him as tears streaked down her cheeks. He wanted to beg for her forgiveness, he wanted to pull her into his arms and explain everything. But he kept silent.
“Nora is my daughter. Nothing you do will change that,” she said and then let Ramon escort her out the door.
Arthur collapsed on the chair and covered his face with his hands.
“I will not pretend to understand that I know what happened,” Richard said, entering the door a few minutes later. Arthur didn’t reply.
“It’s complicated,” he said finally shaking his head.
“Wasn’t that the piano teacher?” Richard asked. “What happened?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Arthur said. He had to choose between his daughter and her and, of course, he had chosen Nora.
