AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No,” she says quietly. “Not thinking…”
Slowly it starts to dawn on me, and a whole slew of emotions churn to the surface. Happiness, sadness, anger, grief, and most of all confusion. It’s crazy, my mom died when I was too young to even remember her. But I heard correctly, didn’t I?
She came right out and said she was my mother. Staring into her green eyes, I remember wondering if my mother had looked anything like her—but that had just been foolish daydreams, wondering what would have happened if the woman who’d given birth to me hadn’t tragically died when I was just over one year old. If what she was insinuating was correct, could I have been staring at my own mother the whole time, every single day of the past five years?
My father had destroyed all the pictures of her, he’d told me that he was grief stricken, but if what she’s saying is true, it was likely to cover the fact that she was still alive.
Endless questions rise to the surface, but I’m still sitting there stunned and silent while Marge silently weeps into her handkerchief.
“I’m sorry, Marcus—Mr. Drake—I’ll leave, I should never have done this, it’s just I couldn’t think of any other way to get close to you, I…”
Her voice breaks as the tears fall.
Serena gave me a heads up a couple of weeks ago that Marge had something important to tell me and that I should listen carefully and act accordingly. This must be the thing she was referring to.
Before I know what I’m doing, I come to my feet and go around my desk to sweep her up in a bear hug. There will be time for questions later, it’s still so crazy, but rather than anger that she didn’t tell me sooner, the overwhelming emotion I’m experiencing is joy. I look up to see us reflected in the large mirror on my office wall, the resemblance between us is unmistakable, how could I have ever missed it?
“Do you see it?” I ask in a whisper.
She nods. “I do. I’ve always seen it.”
I put my arm around her shoulders.
Her voice sounds hoarse when she speaks, “Don’t you want to know what happened? Why I wasn’t there for you?”
“No,” I reply. “Maybe one day you can explain, but knowing what a gigantic ass my father was, I’m sure it had something to do with him. It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that you came back to me.”
She turns around, buries her face in my shoulder and sobs. I can tell she’s trying to speak through her tears, but her words come out broken and unintelligible. I rub her back and whisper soothing things to her. Consoling her in this moment feels right.
If I’m being honest, I feel both elated and shocked shitless right now. If it hadn’t been for Serena giving me a heads up that something big was on the event horizon, I would probably be losing my shit about now.
I thought I was alone in the world, but I’m not. I have a mother, a wonderful woman who has chosen to work side by side with me for years to build a business I could be proud of. A business we could both be proud of.
So many conflicting emotions come floating to the surface of my mind. After all the years of wondering what my mother was like, now I know. Finding out it was Marge is shocking but also like discovering my longtime friend and co-worker is so much more. I already have a soft spot in my heart for Marge. Only now it’s bigger and softer than ever.
When her tears slow, I sit her down on the sofa at the far side of my office, pull a tissue from the box on my end table and hand it to her. As she wipes at her eyes, I begin talking. “First of all, I want to tell you what an amazing surprise this is for me.”
“I’m surprised you’re taking me at my word. Don’t you want to see proof?”
“Of course. I want to see whatever proof you have to offer, but I don’t need it in order to believe what you’re telling me. I’ve known you for years and have no reason to suspect you would lie to me about something as important as this.”
“That’s really sweet of you. If you want to fire me, that’s okay, I understand. I know you want your office to be electronic and I’m still keeping all your records on paper.”
“I never thought about firing you,” I explain. “You’ve been so jumpy lately I thought you regretted us bringing on Serena and that maybe the extra workload was getting to you. I was going to tell you that if it’s too much for you to keep up with, you can hire an assistant.”
I can tell by the stunned expression on her face that she wasn’t expecting that.
I grab the tissue box and set it beside her before the waterworks start again. “But I guess now we need to have whole other conversation.”
She wipes at her tears with a new tissue. “I know. A conversation about why I was never part of your life growing up. I wanted to be, you have to believe—”
“We can talk about all that later. What I want to know is if you need anything. What’s your housing like? Do you even like working? You’re my mother. It’s my job to make sure you’re well cared for, that has to come before everything else.”
“Oh, you don’t need to worry about me. I’m just fine. I don’t need you to take care of me. I’ve always managed to get by.”
“You know that your ex-husband was worth a small fortune, right?”
She nods, blinking back tears. “Yes, I knew he came from money. He spent it as fast as he made it though.”
