Chapter 542 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“Who is she?” Harry asked again calmly as he took his father’s trembling hands and held them firmly to calm him.

“Your mother,” Aaron said, and immediately Harry stiffened.

“She is your mother. She is not dead as I told you. I lied to you,” Aaron said, and even though Harry’s first instinct was to stand up and move away from Aaron, he didn’t.

“I’m sorry,” Aaron said, and even though his heart was beating fast as he waited for Harry to react or speak, he felt like a load had been lifted off his shoulders.

Harry sighed as he buried his face in his hands. Perhaps it was because he had been so tense for the last two days wanting to know what his father was hiding from him, but now that he heard it he didn’t even know how to react. He just felt numb.

Seeing how his father had cried earlier and how tough things had been for him in the last couple of days to the point that he had been sick, Harry couldn’t bring himself to react harshly to his father’s revelation.

He just sat there. He didn’t say a word or let any emotion show on his face as he tried to make sense of what his father had just said.

He couldn’t say he was exactly surprised. The thought had crossed his mind but he had pushed it away because he didn’t believe that his father would lie to him about something like that for so long, but hearing this from his father now? He didn’t know what to think.

“Please say something,” Aaron said anxiously when Harry remained silent after some time.

“My mother?” Harry asked slowly as he looked at Aaron when it suddenly clicked in his head that Aaron was telling him that the woman he had met in front of the restaurant the previous day was actually his biological mother.

That woman? There had been nothing in her words or attitude to show that he was her son. She had called his name. Didn’t that mean that she knew who he was? If she was aware that he was her son why had she talked to him as though such a relationship did not exist between them? What kind of mother spoke with a son who knew next to nothing about her existence that way?

Tears gathered in Aaron’s eyes, “I’m sor…”

“Why? Why did you lie that she was dead?” Harry asked in a weary voice as he looked at his father who seemed like he was going to start crying in another moment.

He had never known his father to be so emotional. What could that woman have done to make him this way?

If he was going to be mad at his father, he needed to at least know what had spurred his usually reasonable father into making the decision to keep something like that away from him.

He knew his father. He loved his father. And as much as his father’s lie hurt him, he didn’t want to get angry without hearing him out. His father who had played both roles of father and mother deserved that much from him.

“What happened between you both? Were you married to her?” Harry asked once again, and Aaron gathered all the courage he could muster to tell him the truth.

He told him everything he had told Celsie. How he had met Sara, and how they ended up getting married when she was pregnant.

“She left us. Some days after you were born, I got back home from work one day and she was gone. You were alone in your cot and all she left behind was this note,” Aaron concluded as he reached inside his coat pocket and took out the letter that he had kept over these years hoping to never have any reason to show it to Harry.

Harry took the letter from him. It read;

[Aaron, I can’t do this with you anymore. I thought I could be content with living only as the woman you loved, but after having your child I realized that I can’t be content with this lifestyle. I’m not cut out for marriage or raising a baby. There is more out there for me, and I’m leaving to find it. I’m leaving for Italy. I’m going to pursue my dreams. If you love me as you claim you do, then do not try to find me. I need to forge ahead and put this phase of my life behind me. PS: You must have realized by now that I took all the money. I deserve that much for carrying your child, don’t I?]

Harry’s blood sizzled with anger and he clenched his teeth as he read the note. When he was done he shut his eyes against the anger and pain he was feeling in his heart as he crumpled the paper in his hands.

He didn’t know whether it was for himself or Aaron he was hurting, but his chest was feeling very tight, and breathing was almost difficult.

He didn’t want to imagine how his father must have felt to come back home to such a letter after losing one child. She had not only abandoned them, but she had also stolen from him. She had taken his father’s money as compensation for birthing him.

“I’m sorry,” Aaron pleaded when Harry stood up from the couch and moved away from him.

Regardless of how hurt Harry felt on behalf of Aaron, he was angry at him too. He was mad at his father for not just hiding something like this from him, but for making him think of his mother as an angel when in reality she was an awful and selfish person.

Aaron stood up, “I couldn’t tell you the truth.”

“This isn’t about being unable to tell me the truth. You made me believe in a lie. You made me love a person that never existed,” Harry said, trying not to raise his voice.

Aaron shook his head this time, “I’m not trying to make any excuses for lying to you, but after what I experienced growing up I didn’t want you to grow up feeling like I did…”

“You could have stopped at saying she is dead. You didn’t have to make her out to be a saint,” Harry said with tears in his eyes as he tried not to sound as upset as he actually felt.

How many times had he stayed up at night talking to the picture of his mother and telling her everything that was going on in his life? How many times had he longed for her while he was ill and even dreamt of her? How could that kind of person be the mother he had been longing for? How? Harry mused angrily.

“I’m sorry. I never expected her to show up again. I never thought we would have to face her. I did what I thought was best for you. For us,” Aaron cried as he staggered on his feet, and Harry quickly hurried to his side to steady him.

One look at his father and seeing how pale and old he looked, Harry’s heart ached, and he sighed as he placed both hands on his father’s shoulder before making him sit down.

“I know. I trust you enough to know that you did whatever you did with my best interest at heart. But I wish you trusted me enough to tell me about it. You didn’t have to let things get to this stage first,” Harry said, tears dropping from his eyes as he looked at his father.

“I’m sorry,” Aaron apologized weakly.

“What does she want now? And why did you meet with her yesterday?” Harry asked, and Aaron’s heart skipped a beat as he looked at Harry in shock, wondering how he knew about the meeting with Sara.

“I didn’t hear it from Benne or Celsie. They kept your secret,” Harry assured him, knowing that Aaron probably thought he had heard it from them.

“I want to hear everything from you. The truth, please,” Harry added, and Aaron sighed as he looked at Harry who gave him an encouraging nod, urging him to go on.

Harry listened patiently as Aaron told him how Sara had suddenly reached out to him some weeks ago, saying she wanted to meet with their son. Aaron told him how he had refused initially and how she had kept pressuring him to do so and threatened to meet with Harry herself if he didn’t do as she said.

“You mean this was the reason you were so anxious and almost had a heart attack? You could easily have told me about this and I would have handled it. Why didn’t you tell me about it?” Harry asked with a shake of his head.

“I was scared,” Aaron admitted and Harry frowned.

---