Chapter 5
Theo was asleep when we reached the cottage.
Mrs. Alder opened the door wearing a robe and confusion.
Then she saw Anwen.
Her face changed.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
Anwen pushed past me.
Not rudely.
Desperately.
Theo slept in a travel crib beside the fireplace.
Small.
Dark-blond hair.
One fist near his cheek.
I stopped at the doorway.
My son.
The first emotion was not joy.
It was anger at myself for needing eight months to know he existed.
Then Theo woke.
Anwen reached him first.
Of course.
She lifted him.
He stared at her for half a second.
Then buried his face against her shoulder.
Anwen broke.
Every fear from the car disappeared into one sound.
I looked away.
Some reunions do not belong to witnesses.
Mrs. Alder whispered:
“I thought you agreed to the transfer.”
Anwen shook her head.
“No.”
The older woman went pale.
She had been told Anwen was struggling after childbirth and had voluntarily allowed Felice to manage Theo’s care.
She believed I knew.
Of course.
Everyone believed someone else knew.
That had become Felice’s greatest weapon.
Not secrecy.
Assumption.
Mrs. Alder then looked at me.
“Mr. Wycliffe, I’m sorry. Miss Bellamy said you wanted discretion because the child wasn’t yours.”
Anwen froze.
I did too.
“What?”
Mrs. Alder hurried to explain.
Felice had told her I was supporting Theo only because Anwen once worked for my family.
A charitable arrangement.
Nothing more.
Meanwhile, Anwen had been told I secretly funded everything because Theo was mine but refused contact.
Two stories.
One caretaker.
One mother.
Neither allowed to compare notes.
Then Mrs. Alder said:
“She paid me from Anwen’s wages.”
I stared.
Every deduction from Anwen’s pay had gone straight to Theo’s caretaker.
Felice had made Anwen finance her own separation from her son.
Not because money was needed.
Because dependency feels stronger when the victim believes survival itself is costing them obedience.
I looked at Theo.
He opened his eyes.
Gray-blue.
Mine.
May you like
I did not need a test to feel the truth.
But I would never use certainty to erase Anwen’s right to define what happened next.
