After the Fall

13: Tamara's Confession

I growled, no longer holding in my anger. "My father died eight years ago, and my mother died nearly fourteen years ago."

Her voice caught. "The same year of the breach when they sealed off the upper hemi?"

My eyes flickered from Tamara and Vince and back to Emily, while my mind tried to make sense of this information it had received. I had wondered if it was possible that my mother would survive that event. But Dad, his death was different. "My-my dad's a hero. He died a hero."

"Damn right he did." She inched closer, wiping the moisture from her eyes. "But he died because for years he'd been covertly trying to help me. Thanks to some friends down there, they restored an undetectable amount of power to the upper hemi without others knowing, establishing a way for me and your father to secretly communicate. I begged your dad to promise to keep our communication a secret. We knew the risks. We all did. He promised that no matter what, he wouldn't tell a soul, not one soul. Not ever. But something caused Randolph to suspect we were communicating somehow. We weren't careful enough and it cost him and his innocent colleague their lives."

"I don't understand." My mind raced. "You're my mother?"

"Emily Sara Nichols." More tears glistened her cheeks. "I gave birth to you nearly twenty-one years ago, Connor. I named you after your father's father. Damien loved to tell you stories about Refuge Inc., the good parts about Adam, Elliot, and their dog, Titan. You fell in love with that old mutt Titan." She chuckled. "You'd love to hear about how they'd fight for each other. And for years I used to think that maybe their story gave you the courage to fight for something too."

I had never thought that this woman could be my mother. I felt foolish for not connecting the dots earlier. Being told she had died in the breach from Dad and everyone around me, there had never been a reason not to believe it. Obviously, the breach had never happened, and Dad had his reasons for not telling me. She knew a lot about me and Dad, making it difficult not to believe her now. "You've been alive all this time? This whole time." It was tough to process.

"That's right." Her lips stretched into a smile, showing a row of discolored teeth. "Every chance I had to talk to your dad I'd ask about you. Every single time. He'd give me a play-by-play of your day and your duties. I'd tell him to give you a hug and kiss for me, but of course he never mentioned those particular hugs and kisses were from your mother. I used to believe that you would never know. The last time I talked to him, before he was to go on that damned Resurfaced mission, he wanted to take a piece of you with him because he was so sure he wouldn't return. Do you remember the red ribbon with the three brass bells?"

I gasped. No one knew about those but Dad, Vince, and I. "He took them?" Excitement filled my heart and I looked at Vince wide-eyed. A bit of me felt ashamed that I hadn't cherished those brass bells as much as I could have, and I would've if I'd known that would be the last part of me Dad would hold.

Emily sniffed. "I knew from the moment you removed your gasmask that you were my son. You're a splitting image of Damien. You've grown up well and so handsome. I don't believe in miracles, but by definition this meeting sure does qualify as one."