"Since the day I learned she wasn't my birth mother."
To shield the children from a tainted childhood, those privy to the truth were silenced about their father's remarriage. Given William and Ella's tender age at the time, the incident faded into obscurity and the secret remained buried.
"When did you find out?"
William laid it all out. "Grandpa, I've kept in touch with my birth mother."
"What? Has she visited you?"
"Grandpa, don't worry," William reassured, sensing Byron's apprehension. "She has indeed visited me, but always discreetly, observing from a distance without causing any trouble. Moreover, she's never said a bad word about Mila in my presence all these years."
As Byron reflected on the woman in question, he realized she wasn't so bad; she just faded from memory over time
