Tell Me A Story

Chapter 16: Megan

   We both just looked at each other's faces. I was plain shocked to put it simply and mom seemed to be feeling guilty.

   "But Cathy was never married!" I said.

   "She'd an affair. That's another story."

   Cathy had had an affair? No way! Not Cathy...

   A million questions surfaced in my mind but without knowing what had happened, I couldn't proceed. I needed to know what really happened.

   "Mom, tell me... Tell me the story. I need to know what happened. It's important mom."

   She pushed away her plate and sighed. She took a few moments to compose herself before she began.

   "I joined Glory ten years ago, when you were five and Irene, two. I was going through the emotional turmoil of... of... di-divorce," she was breaking off when she mentioned it, "I just wanted to do something to get over it. I wanted to do something good, something worthwhile.

   That's why I signed up despite the migrating nature of my post. I knew Cathy from then - she was the same age as I was and we were like birds with the same feathers. She was a brilliant young woman. It was her brilliance that fetched her the position at Hope." Mom exhaled.

   I was all ears. I never expected all those.

   "Hope, as you know, is at Clistron Bridge. Once, when we were posted at Benchon, Cathy called me. She said she wanted to see me. You might remember it, it was five years ago. I went there, leaving you and Irene under the care of our then neighbors. It was a long time no see for me and Cathy." Mom smiled.

   "That day I met Swit for the first time. He'd come to adopt a child. As Cathy left for some paperwork, we'd a conversation. He told me that Cathy had a child.

   I was shocked beyond my senses. At first I thought he was lying but then he showed me the child's birth certificate, in which the mother's name was Cathy Stender. It was a girl child. Her name was Megan.

   He told me that Cathy had an affair with a man named... What was his name? Jason... Jason Harbor or something. I'm not sure... He was married but never had any children. His wife was infertile. One day, Jason met Cathy and... Cathy never knew he was married.

   But she couldn't take the child due to the conditions of her post. Jason's wife left him on learning about his affair. He raised the child himself but she had died a few months before. After her death, Jason was hit by depression which drove him to suicide.

   That wasn't the only reason for his depression; Cathy had never seen the child. She was taken away right after her delivery so that Cathy wouldn't have a tough time forgetting her." A drop of tear flowed down her face.

   "Swit was a close friend of his or so he told. When Cathy came back, I understood that he was telling the truth. They had known each other for a long time. She apologized for not telling me earlier. She was guilty of what had happened. I left to Brenchon that evening itself. That's all I know."

   I ran it all through my mind. It was all confusing.

   "What was the name of the child Swi, I mean, Mr Swit adopted?"

   "I don't know... I never looked into that."

   I wanted to tell everything to Anna right away but I knew I should wait. I got up from the table and climbed the stairs at once.

   "How do you know about Megan? Why do you want to know all this?"

   I stopped and turned to her, a hand on the railing.