Chapter 326 Let the Past Be the Past
Natalie said, "Yeah, Mom, you weren't well before and couldn't be out in the wind. Now that you're better, you haven't visited them yet, right?"
The cemetery.
Natalie placed the flowers down and started clearing the weeds around the tombstone.
"Dad, Ryan, Mom and I came to see you," she said softly, picking a wildflower near Stanley's tombstone and putting it in her bag.
Rosalie touched the tombstone. "Ryan, I'm here."
She muttered a few words and then told Natalie, "Go get a broom from the gatekeeper. I want to clean up here."
Natalie borrowed a broom and returned to find Rosalie talking to the tombstone. She waited, not wanting to interrupt.
When she got closer, she noticed the tombstone wasn't very dusty. It seemed Rosalie just wanted some alone time with Stanley.
"Stanley, do you blame me? After all these years, are you still mad at me?"
"Take me with you. I'm alone here, sick and in pain. But don't worry, I won't be around much longer. I just want to see Natalie get married and have a child. I want to hold the baby, and then I'll come find you. I'm sorry, but did you ever do right by me?"
"Stanley, you deceived me first. Poor Ryan, such a good kid. Even though he wasn't my biological son, I raised him as my own. And you took him with you when you died."
A breeze blew, messing up Rosalie's white hair.
She looked frail and tired, like a candle about to go out.
"Ryan, I'm sorry. You were such a good kid, and I ruined you."
Ryan had called her Mom for over a decade, but a mistake on her part had harmed him.
Natalie stood at a distance, catching bits of Rosalie's words. She bit her lip, looking at Rosalie's back.
She couldn't believe Stanley and Ryan's deaths were connected to Rosalie.
Ryan wasn't Rosalie's biological son; he was Stanley's child with another woman.
And she was Curtis's daughter.
It was a lot to take in.
Natalie clenched her fists, exhaled slowly, and after a couple of minutes, walked over. Her steps were heavy, as if to signal Rosalie she was coming.
Rosalie wiped her face, the wind having dried her tears.
She combed her hair with her fingers, turned around, took the broom from Natalie, and started sweeping.
Natalie looked at her frail back, her eyes stinging. She walked over. "Mom, let me do it."
Rosalie's voice was hoarse. "I'll do it myself. It's been a long time."
"Natalie, do you think your dad and brother are doing well in heaven? Do they miss us?"
Natalie nodded. "Yes, I often dream about them."
She looked up at the clear blue sky, feeling the occasional breeze.
Rosalie trembled slightly, then said softly, "I've never dreamed of them, not even once. I wanted to talk to them in my dreams, but I haven't had the chance."
Natalie pressed her lips together, looking at Rosalie. In that moment, she felt Rosalie had aged a lot.
She felt a pang of sadness. She didn't want to think about Stanley and Ryan anymore, about her own origins, her relationship with Curtis, or the truth about Stanley and Ryan's deaths. She only had Rosalie left. If Rosalie were gone, she would be all alone in this world.
In the afternoon, on the way back, Rosalie leaned back in her seat with her eyes closed, resting. Natalie looked at her, thinking, 'I don't want to dig into the past anymore. I only have Mom left. I don't want to think about the past anymore.'
Even if there had been something between Rosalie and Stanley, let it stay in the past.
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