“What?” Cade felt his mouth stay ajar and could not shut. He blinked multiple times, hoping that he would not hurt his eyes.
“I am…” Valerie stopped midway because the door opened and Ophelia stood there. “Is this your wife?” she asked, standing up and turning to Ophelia, who stood there. “It is so nice to meet you.” Ophelia looked at the woman, nodded without saying anything, and diverted her eyes to Cade.
Both of them were in awe at the sight they saw her. Ophelia had tin foil wraps against her hair that made her look like she came in from a cartoon; her nails were undone, and they looked strange. Cade looked at her from head to toe-the Ophelia he knew would not show up here looking like that. She would rather die than get caught looking like that outside.
“What are you doing?” Cade was standing slowly to his feet as the chair moved back with a strong screech to the back.
“Why did you not tell me you were coming here to see the culprit?’ she asked angrily, but he was not offended. He felt a bit comforted to know that she was there to see him, even though it felt like she was there because she was angry that he came here after they had agreed not to.
“How did you know that I was here? What are you doing here? Who let you?” Cade asked as he continued as he walked to her.
“You should have told me, I would have come here,” she said, entering and closing the door behind her. “With you,” she added, her eyes sparkling under the dim light.
“I just wanted to know what she wanted to say,” Cade said, like it was nothing big.
“So what does she have to say?” Ophelia asked her eyes on the woman as she walked to stand beside Cade.
“She says she is my mom,” Cade said, a laugh threatening to burst from his stomach.
“What?” Ophelia said, looking from Cade to Valerie with a quick glance. Unlike Cade, she did not know how to control herself, so she just burst out laughing. “But I thought your mom was dead? Who is this stranger who came in here to claim to be your mom?” she added after she stopped laughing.
“Why do you think I am lying?” Valerie asked, trying to reach out to them through the table.
“What do you think you are trying to do?” Ophelia asked, backing away like she was trying to endanger them.
“I can explain,” Valerie said as her heart broke into a thousand pieces. She had not wanted to do this; all she wanted was to be connected with her son, not for any other reason than that she felt this was a good time for her to reconcile with him.
“Explain what? That you are in here to defraud Cade? What did you expect that you would show up here and claim to be his mom and what? He would run into your arms and accept you? And all of a sudden you then need a huge sum of money because you have a ton of debt and put him in a position that he had to give it to you?” Ophelia had read too many books to allow this to happen to her or anyone around her.
“What are you saying?” Valerie asked with a shaky voice. “I am not here for money; I am perfectly able to afford everything I need, and I am not in any form of debt,” she added as tears lined her eyes.
“And what proof did you bring with you that would make us believe you against all facts that point to you being dead?”
“I understand that you would think that, but Charles Vale asked me to lay low like I was dead after he took the child from me. He told me to remain dead to Cade so that he would have a chance to live a normal life as a Vale,” she explained as she sniffled.
“Okay, that is a story and not a proof, and also, if you were asked to lay low, what are you doing now? Cade has been living a good life without you; what makes you think you showing up here at this age would be a good thing for him?” Ophelia asked. She had taken charge of the situation; there was no way she was going to allow this woman to feed them with lies. She was glad she had come here when her father called her to tell her.
Apparently, the station had informed her father that the culprit had requested to see Cade and that he had come in because he wanted to do so. Numerous thoughts ran through Ophelia’s mind; she was worried that Cade would get hurt or that this was just a sick plan to get him in there, so she ran from the store where she was trying to get her hair and nails done and ran down here to see him because she was worried and afraid of what could happen.
“I do not have proof that would make sense to you. ”
“If the proof makes no sense to all of these,” Ophelia said, making a circular motion with her hand between them. “All of these are bullshit,” she added with a sarcastic smile to Valerie.
Valerie threw her head back and sniffed. “Why would I joke about something like this? Only a handful of people know that Cade is a child born out of wedlock; it is a secret that everyone in that family has to take to their grave. Don’t you think the person out of the family that is expected to know should be the one who bore him?” Valerie asked, taking her bag up and taking out a picture.
“See this?” She slid the image with her younger self and a child and slid it to them. Cade bent down and took up the picture, scrutinizing it. Luckily for her, this was one of the pictures she took before Charles came on to forcefully take the child from her, claiming to give him a better life. She did not have enough for herself; how could she think of taking an extra mouth to feed and a baby at that? Letting the father’s family have him was the best she could do for her child.
“Where did you get this?”