Forever And Always

A MOTHER’s SECRET

“You are yet again fantasizing,” Leona told her son. They were inside his beat up old car on their way home from Brighton Mansion where she works. “I doubt if Samantha even remembers you exist let alone your name.”

Rojan hands his mother the invitation Samantha gave him. “And this is not proof that i exist in Samantha’s perspective, is it mother?”

Leona’s eyes widened. “Is this real? Did Samantha really invited you?”

“Believe it or not Mother,” he answered with a wide grin. His face beaming with excitement. “Samantha personally invited me and wouldn’t it be a shame not to go? Even if Sabine hates the idea of me mingling with high society.”

“I won’t allow you to attend Samantha’s party Rojan,” Leona said with a firm voice that shocked his son.

“But Mom…,”

“It’s not only Sabine who is not happy about your attendance to this party. Their mother Madam Brighton won’t be pleased either. You don’t belong with them. They’ll just shame and embarrass you with every opportunity they’ll get.” A pained expression crossed Leona’s face from memories of the past. The past that got not just her heart but also her family broken. She cannot allow the past to inflict the same pain she suffered to her only son. If she can stop it she will and lord knows she will do it with all her might.

She has been thinking of the right time to tell her son everything. Waiting for the moment when it is time for him to know half of his origin. Opportunity presented itself at the moment.

“Son, I have to tell you something. And please do not take it against me if what I tell you now comes as a shock.” Leona gathered all her courage. Afraid of what her son’s reaction might be.

“I know you admire Samantha,” she started in a quiet small voice. “But I am warning you now, it will bring you nothing but heartache. I don’t want you to go through what I went through. Your father and I loved each other. But love wasn’t enough to bring us happiness…

“Your father and I got married. We were happy. But his parents were against our marriage and they tried everything to separate us. You were so young back then when we parted ways.” Leona has tears in her eyes. She is trying so hard to fight it back as she continues telling Rojan her past and about his father.

“Roman, your father, and I married in secret because we know that his parents will not agree in our union. They were after all filthy rich and don’t want being associated with a lowly person like me. But they found out about us in the end. They offered me millions just to stay away from your father. I acquiesced to their wishes but took nothing with me, only you, and left everything behind me. I left willingly because I know they will never accept me or even you in their fold.”

“I have no need of their money. After all I work in a university as a professor. I make just enough to give you a comfortable life.”

The words his mother spoke rendered him speechless. Why tell him now? For what reason? Is it because of Samantha? But for whatever reason she’s telling him now, he can’t get angry at her. More than ever he admires her for her strength, her courage after life dealt her bad cards.

Taking his mother’s hand he said, “Do you have news about my father?” His eyes wondering. His voice cannot hide the longing he has felt since he was a child. Always missing a part of himself.

Leona shrugged her head as she answers her son’s question. “ No. I have no news of him. And I don’t want to know anymore. I cannot take it upon myself to go back there and suffer again.”

“Do you think he even looked for us?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore Rojan. What matters to me is we are together. You are my son! So please listen to me. Stop this nonsense about Samantha. She is not the one for you.”

Rojan quietly looked at his mother. He let silence fall between them as he processed the idea of having a father. All his life he had thought he was dead.