Butterfly and Flame - Alina and Evan

Old Truths

Sitting there in the study she walked over to a photograph of a orange Maine Coon sitting on a tree branch. It was Evans very first professional photograph. It had never been exhibited or published but it was the first he ever took and developed by himself and so she considered it the launch of his career. Like Christian her son, he was obsessed with photography and all the camera lens could do to draw the image out he saw in his head. To be sure it was not the most spectacular photograph in the room but it was a treasure to her. She stood back and admired it and then walked toward it with purpose. She reached out with her hand and felt along the left side of it until she could feel the latch. She pulled at it carefully and it released. Pulling on the frame carefully until it opened toward her like a door she exposed the safe behind it. She worked the combination until it opened. It had been many years since she looked upon the contents that the safe held. They were painful memories mixed alongside good ones. It was time to look at them all with the experienced eye of age and the emotional strength of a lifetime of lessons learned.

She allowed herself to remember the night she discovered that the baby was missing. She immediately went looking for Christian and when she discovered that he was also missing she began to frantically make calls to those that would be discreet and effective in helping her. She had understood then just how deeply Christian needed help with the trauma of loosing his wife. The child was a constant reminder to him of all that he had lost. When a week had passed and she finally was informed that the child had been found safe and sound she contacted the only person that might save her from a horrible decision that lay before her. Save her son or save his child. Somehow she needed to do both. When her sister agreed to help they had decided that it would be best if Ashley never know the whereabouts of the child. Only her sister would know the truth and the attorney of her choice in order to give the child her inheritance once the time came. A special account had been set up to insure that even if Ashley or her sister passed on it would not effect the ability for the child to receive her share. However she was never to know from where the money had come. The problem that Ashley now faced was that her sister had died without leaving behind much of any clues. Ashely had hired the best person for the job and it was up to her to discover the truth.  She would await that time when she had all the details to then inform Christian and Evan. After that she would then have to tell Elliot. He to deserved to know and in doing that she would have to explain who he was to her grandsons. Ashley's shoulders dropped at the weight of the secret that she held. Time was not on her side and she felt the pressure of it. On January 11th her granddaughter would turn 25 years old. Ten days after that she would be contacted by the attorneys office that her sister had chosen and informed that she was the sole recipient of an inheritance left to her by an anonymous individual. Ashley had no way of knowing if the child knew she was adopted or not and how this would impact her life, relationship with her adopted family or anything else for that matter.  Suddenly the decision she had made that night almost twenty five years ago felt incredibly wrong and callous. She had stollen the birthright of her very own granddaughter and sent her out to live a life that wasn't meant for her. How would she ever face her and ask for forgiveness? How would she explain all of this to her family? It was more than she could bear. Ashley allowed her walls to come down and silently wept. She knew that it was a matter of time before she had to tell the story of her life and pray that those who listened would not condemn her for eternity.

Christian stood by the window in his room looking out over the vast property that was their estate. He was waiting for Christian to come back so they could talk and he might gauge what he was thinking. He was happy to see his brother again and he noticed that Evan seemed somehow happier, lighter and less intense than normal. He had been gone for almost four years and although they had caught up with each other during the holidays and on a couple of trips during the summer months Evan always seemed just a little too serious, too wound up unless he was drinking. It was only then that he would let loose and allow himself to be emotional. That didn't happen too often. He had asked Evan what had happened In his life that had caused a change in him but he didn't give anything up other than he was excited to be illustrating for a book that he felt had a lot of potential to help people with disabilities.  Christian was sure that there was something else but now was not the time to ask questions. There were bigger problems to deal with. As he saw Evan come up the back way through the pool house he noticed that he sat on a lounge chair and made a call. He couldn't imagine who he would be calling so late. After a few minutes he saw him enter the house. Christian squared his shoulders and waited to see what would happen between Evan and his gran and how he would need to clean up the fallout.

Ashley pulled out a box that held important papers that only she knew existed. Then she pulled out a portfolio containing photos. The safe was temperature controlled in order to protect her documents and especially the photos in perfect condition. She set the box of papers down and put the portfolio on her desk. She opened it and gazed at the photos and her hands trembled with emotion. Christian and Mia looked at the camera on the happiest day of their lives. It was their wedding photo. Mia was such a beautiful bride and Christian was so in love it radiated off him for all to see. It broke her heart to put it away like a dirty secret but the boys were completely unaware that their father had been previously married. In fact this photo and all the others with him and Mia were stored in another larger vault downstairs but she kept this one and a few more here as she used to look upon them from time to time until it hurt too much. The photos of him and Mia stayed in the home even after Christian and Serene were married. Serene knew of Mia and there love for each other and was never jealous of it. She realized it was part of what made Christian who he was. What Serene never knew was that the child Mia and Christian had didn't die with Mia during childbirth but had survived. Christian had told Serene that the child died. He had convinced himself that it had happened as he told it. The psychologist who cared for Christian during that time told Ashely that it was his way of dealing with his abandonment of the child. Ashley has paid the doctor well to keep the records and his knowledge of it to himself.  As far as anyone knew Alina Clarissa Malek died along with her mother. At the time Ashely didn't know what to do. She allowed the lie to persist and eventually it was forgotten and never brought up by Serene as she knew how painful that time had been for a Christian. In fact that was how she and Christian met. Serene was his nurse. They had become close during his time in recovery and created a bond that eventually turned into friendship and then love. It happened so quickly that just a year after Mia had died Christian had remarried and six months later they welcomed a baby. So much had happened so quickly that Ashely was only able to react and thank the heavens the Christian had regained his clarity and had moved on. He had blocked out the existence of his child and in his mind he believed her dead. It was never brought up. Ashley could not and would not expose the truth knowing what could befall her son.

The next photo she looked at was a picture of a tiny baby. A baby girl with beautiful pink lips and the darkest patch of black hair. Her lashes long and little fingers so graceful. It was the only picture of the baby she had. She looked upon the face of her granddaughter and wondered where she was in the world and how she would find her. She prayed that she was loved and that she was healthy. She asked God to forgive her and if He allowed her to find the child she would do whatever she needed to do to make it up to her. She turned the photo over and read the inscription she had written so many years ago: 

Alina Clarissa Stephenson Marooquin

Ashely had written the baby's name accurately. As it should have been rather than what was written on her birth certificate. Alina Clarissa Malek. Ashely gently touched the photo and placed it back into the portfolio. Her hands trembled with emotion and anxiety over what was coming. There was no turning back.

Evan has spent a few hours walking in the woods and sitting by the lake behind their property. He racked his brain trying to outthink his grandmother and figure out why she had decided to take such a drastic action knowing that he would fight her. He felt  it in his gut that this was a puzzle that he needed to solve. That there was more to this than just the fact that she felt her mortality slipping away and she wanted him involved in the company no matter what. He would not allow her to manage his life. It was his life and he would decide for himself. He wanted no part of the grand empire that was his families fortune. It was not his to have. He would make damn sure she understood it once and for all. He had stopped to text Alina and he relaxed a little when she sent him several pictures of Maxwell in the garden and Maxwell in the tub and finally a picture of her. To be accurate a picture of her as a baby. She had been writing about her own experience with cats as a child and included her own picture of herself with two kittens in her lap. She was about a year old. As beautiful as she was as a grown woman she was a beauty as a child. He told her he had a late meeting that he was dreading and thanked her for making him smile with the pictures as it had lightened his mood. They said good night as he walked in the house with a sigh wanting nothing more than to return to Ash.