54. Revealed Secrets.

[Claire]
"What?"
I was so shocked I nearly fell off my chair.
"What do you mean you're not my mother, I traveled all the way and spent so much time to find you, just for you to deny me." I shook my head and got up from the chair, I was livid right now.
"You need to calm down, child." She said softly.
"Don't call me child if I'm not your daughter." I challenged her, struggling to keep my anger in check.
"The person who should be receiving the full force of your anger is your father for deceiving you." She said and I finally calmed down.
"Why are you saying you're not my mother?" I asked her.
I didn't really see any resemblance to her but then I had always thought that I bore a more akin resemblance to my father, the only thing that was different from his was the color of my hair and eyes.
Eve had brown eyes like me and she had red hair but the more I looked at her, the more I realized that something was off, her eyebrows were dark, she wasn't a natural redhead.
Natural redheads were rare and the only person I knew other than myself who had natural red hair was my nana but that was because of her Irish origins, strangely she also had brown eyes nut I never thought much of it before, until now.
"Because I'm not." She looked at me for a while and then cleared her throat. "I'd like some tea to calm my nerves, do you want anything, tea, wine?"
"Wine please." I gulped rubbing my neck nervously.
I was more than confused at this point and I did not know the can of worms she was about to unearth so I really needed some alcohol in my system to calm me.
She rang for Olga and told the older woman to bring some tea and a glass of wine.
The door opened a few minutes later and Olga came in with a cup of tea and a glass of wine in a tray, there was also a teapot and a wine bottle if we needed a refill.
"Thank you, Olga." I thanked her when she gave me the glass of wine and Eve gestured to her to leave the room.
I drank half of the wine glass quickly and when I felt somewhat calm, I turned to her to continue her story.
"I was married to your father years ago and I am still his recognized wife because we never divorced." She started after taking a few sips of her tea.
The tea had a mixture of scents like chamomile and peppermint but I could still catch a subtle whiff of honey and lemongrass.
"He has a death certificate issued in your name," I told her softly.
"Yes, it's a federal crime but I overlook it because it is a small price for my freedom, he did it to endure that I'd never go back to America or try to contact you."
"I don't understand, why contact me if I'm not your child?" I asked in confusion.
"Please let me finish my story." She dropped her teacup and placed her hands on her lap gracefully.
"Your father has always been an ambitious woman and there was never any place for love in his life till you were born. I come from a noble family in Copenhagen and met your father during one of his business trips."
"I was intrigued by him of course and he represented freedom to me because at that time my family had arranged a marriage for me, your father was very charming and persuasive and it wasn't long before I fell for him and decided to elope with him to America."
"When my family found out about it, they were livid and my father threatened to disown me, I was blinded by love so I did not care about anything, I was over the moon when your father asked me to marry him since he was a wealthy man, my family did not oppose anymore and they supported our marriage."
"The first few years of our marriage was blissful until he started to demand that I conceive, I wanted to but it was just not happening, we went to the hospital and when we found out that I couldn't have children, his behavior changed overnight, he started coming home late and he didn't pay me any attention anymore, he even stopped being nice to me." She wiped her eyes before she continued her story.
"I tried different methods to conceive but it wasn't working, then I decided on a surrogate, he didn't want to use my eggs because he felt that the child would inherit my barrenness and he didn't want to be seen at the hospital so we decided to approach one of our young maids for her help."
"She refused at first but after a lot of pleading she agreed and she started sleeping with him, I'm a few months she got pregnant and he started treating her like a queen, she gave birth to a girl, you, but when it came to paying her off, he was hesitant, it was then that I realized that he'd fallen in love with the maid."
"I was so sad I cried myself to sleep, the child was supposed to be mine and his but he pushed me out of our bedroom and brought in the maid and her child, he never let me touch you and I only did whenever he wasn't around because the maid was very kind to me."
"I loved you so much even if you weren't mine and I was happy with my life even if my husband didn't love me anymore. One day I randomly searched through his drawers when I found a contract and the contents just broke me."
"He had only married me because it was his grandfather's clause if he wanted to inherit the family business, he was to marry a Danish woman and have a child with her within the first few years of marriage or the inheritance would go to his cousin."
"No!" I gasped in shock.
I did not realize when I picked up the wine bottle and began to gulp down its contents, my head was reeling from all she had told me and I just couldn't believe how terrible my father was.
"I'm afraid it's true, that's why my sister hates him so, she had warned me against him but sadly I never listened."
"Is that why you left?" I asked her sadly.
"Yes, when I realized that he never loved me, I wanted to get a divorce and leave him forever. We never signed a prenup so he was unwilling to grant me a divorce, I called my family but my father didn't want to involve himself with divorce because it was considered scandalous and it would have soiled the family's name."
"My sister was the only one who showed me any real support but at the end of the day, I was powerless against the great Mr. Hamilton, he threatened me and then blackmailed me for my silence, he agreed to keep paying me a certain amount every month and the payments never stopped coming."
"I felt dejected when I watched in the news after I returned to Copenhagen that I had died but at that point, I knew that it would be impossible for me to go back, he paraded you as my child because his family would never have supported him marrying and having a child with a maid, I felt lonely the first few years I moved here and I really missed you, I figured he would never tell you the truth about your real mother so I decided not to let you grow up without one."
"I kept sending the letters no matter how much he threatened me, hoping one day you would find them and reply them but then one day some of the letters were returned and I realized that he had moved out from that address and that was when I lost hope and decided to start my life over again, I moved out from my apartment, bought me a spread out here and I've been living here ever since."
"I'm so sorry, I cannot believe what he had done, he's such a lier and a terrible person, I should have known that he would do anything for money and fame." Tears poured out of my eyes unchecked. "I'm very sorry for bothering you."
"No dear, I'm glad you grew up so fine, I'm sorry that I couldn't be of more help to you."
"No, you've done more than enough for me, you've told me the truth, if anything I'm really grateful to you."
"Yeah, he will be so mad when he finds out that I told you the truth and he may stop sending the payments but I don't even care, I've made a name for myself here, though I never could remarry after all I'd been through but I adopted two children, they're in college now and I have my own company." She smiled at me.
"The maid… um… my real mother, do you remember her name?" I asked her.
"Oh yes I do, her name is Fiona, I remember calling her Fifi, she was very kind to me despite how your father treated me." She smiled at me but I was so shocked I couldn't move for a while.
"By any chance do you mean this Fiona?" I brought out my phone and showed her a picture of my Nana.
"Oh yes, there she is, she has really aged beautifully, I'd recognize her anywhere."