The Girl Who Finally Spoke

Chapter 4 - The Daughter They Took

Margaret confessed that afternoon.

Catherine had been unable to have children.

She had known for years.

When Elena became pregnant unexpectedly and the father disappeared, Catherine became obsessed with the idea that Elena did not deserve the baby.

Margaret tried to stop her.

At first.

Then the accident happened.

Elena was unconscious.

The baby was delivered prematurely but healthy.

Catherine made a proposal.

Tell Elena the baby died.

Let Catherine raise her.

Margaret refused.

Until Catherine threatened to expose financial crimes committed years earlier by Margaret's late husband.

If the scandal surfaced, the family company could collapse.

Thousands of employees could lose their jobs.

Margaret convinced herself she was protecting everyone.

She helped.

They falsified medical records.

Paid the attending physician.

Created a pregnancy history for Catherine.

And gave Elena's daughter to Alexander and Catherine.

"What about me?" Alexander demanded.

Margaret looked ashamed.

"You loved Catherine."

"That wasn't your decision to make!"

"No."

"Did Catherine ever plan to tell me?"

Margaret hesitated.

That hesitation answered him.

But there was more.

Three weeks before her death, Catherine contacted Elena.

She had learned Elena was returning to the city.

The guilt had become unbearable.

She planned to confess.

Margaret begged her not to.

They argued at the lake house.

Then Catherine fell from the balcony.

Alexander stared at his mother.

"Did you push her?"

Margaret looked horrified.

"No."

"Then who was there?"

Margaret whispered:

"Lily."

Alexander's blood went cold.

That explained the silence.

The refusal to eat.

The teddy bear.

The child had seen something.

They returned to Lily carefully.

This time Elena stayed beside her.

Alexander asked only one question.

"What happened to Mommy?"

Lily began shaking.

Elena held out her hand.

Lily took it.

"Grandma was yelling."

Margaret closed her eyes.

"Mommy was crying."

"And then?"

Lily looked at Alexander.

"Mommy climbed on the balcony."

Alexander frowned.

"Climbed?"

Lily nodded.

"She said she couldn't live with what she did."

The room became painfully quiet.

Margaret had not pushed her.

Catherine had jumped.

And Lily had watched.

That was why she stopped speaking.

Not because she did not have words.

Because the last important words she had heard from her mother were a confession and a goodbye.