Chapter 18 - MAELIS ASKS ABOUT HER MOTHER
At thirteen, Maelis asked:
“Did Mom know about fake DNA?”
“Yes.”
That answer opened everything.
We sat at the kitchen table.
No dramatic lake.
No courtroom.
Just pasta.
“She knew?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she tell you?”
“She was afraid of how I would react, and she wanted proof before turning our marriage into another fight with Grandma.”
“Was that okay?”
“No.”
I surprised myself.
“She had reasons. I understand them. But hiding something important still hurt our marriage, even if I learned after she died.”
Maelis stared.
“You can be mad at dead people?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
She had grievances of her own.
A mother she barely remembered.
An idealized photo everyone called beautiful.
I had tried too hard to preserve Elise as perfect.
That made grief harder for Maelis.
So I told stories.
Elise once forgot to pay a parking ticket for nine months.
Hated folding laundry.
Cheated shamelessly at Scrabble by inventing words.
Secret fertility treatment.
Why?
Because she was scared and private.
Not because Maelis was shameful.
Then Maelis asked:
“Was I made weird?”
I laughed.
“No.”
“Clinic?”
“Your mom used medical help to get pregnant using my stored sample.”
“So science.”
“Yes.”
“Cool.”
Generation gap solved what Odette thought would be scandal.
Then:
“Did Grandma think clinic means not real?”
“She tried to use it that way later.”
Maelis rolled her eyes.
“Old people.”
I was forty-two.
I objected.
She refused to withdraw.
Good.
The deeper question:
Why did Odette think biology mattered so much?
Because Alaric’s will said biological grandchildren.
Because Odette cared about family blood.
Because she thought Elise’s medical privacy threatened control.
All intertwined.
I told Maelis:
“Biology helped decide one inheritance rule. It did not decide whether you were my child.”
She nodded.
Then:
“If DNA said no, would you still Dad?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
That answer was finally uncomplicated.
The money would have changed.
The relationship would not.
That distinction freed me.
Then Margot told me Sabine had started asking whether she deserved her inheritance because Grandma favored her.
Another child carrying guilt.
We brought both girls to a financial educator when they were old enough.
Not to reveal account balances as status.
To explain:
Grandfather left equal shares.
No child earned them.
No child stole them.
Resources create responsibility.
Not moral worth.
Sabine cried.
Maelis hugged her.
The adults had spent years making them symbols.
May you like
They kept refusing.
Good.
