Wade was sitting on the edge of the table, thinking how he should broach the subject. Ella could feel his tension, even from the moment he had set his foot in the house- she said, "Is there anything you want to tell me, Wade?"
"Would you please excuse us, Mrs. Greene. I want to talk to Ella... alone."
Mrs. Greene left the room, shutting the door with an audible click that echoed through the silence in which they sat.
"Ella," Wade began "there's something you should know."
Ella looked at him strangely; as if she could almost sense what he was about to say.
"I think it's time for you to take your grand tour. And you should start with Ireland... that's where Mother is."
Ella stood frozen in her place. Wade tried to read her face, but it had been wiped of everything. She seemed petrified. "What did you say?"
"I met Mother, on my last visit to Ireland. She lives in her own estate."
Ella's eyes grew wide, then she looked around slowly, as if searching for a reason to not believe Wade. Her knuckles went white as she clutched the back of a chair painfully. "Did... what is... " Ella cleared her throat to stop choking from tears. "What had happened?"
Wade walked over to Ella, and guided her to take a seat in a chair. Then he started relating the story his mother had told him more than a week ago.
After he finished, Ella sat silent for a few long minutes.
"What do you think, Ella? Mother asked me to take you to Ireland next time."
Ella slowly shook her head, then lifted her chin and very decisively said "No."
Wade looked bewildered. "What?"
"I don't want to see her."
"What are you talking about? You don't want to... What do you mean you don't want to see her? She's... She's Mother!"
"I don't want to meet our mother, who abandoned us to run off."
Wade looked lost. What was Ella saying?
"But she did what she had to do, I told you everything!"
"No Wade, I won't settle for that. She did what suited her. Just like always."
Wade couldn't believe his ears. Ella, this little girl whom he had known from her birth, the beautiful person, was being so... judgmental. That too about their Mother!
"Ella, will you just listen to yourself? You sound-"
"I sound rational, Wade. No, I don't feel compassion for someone who could leave her children to fend for themselves."
Ella was practically shouting by now, and Wade continued to talk in a level voice, trying to show her reason.
"Do you think life would have been easier for any of us, if she had stayed back, with a out-of-wedlock child?"
"Wade, it is easier to be spurned by the society, than being rejected by your own mother!"
"Then why are you so set against meeting her?"
"I don't forget, Wade. No matter how much she tries she could never make up for those years. And I am not going to stick around to wait and see if she does."
Then with a pause, she looked with narrowed eyes at Wade.
"What is it with you, Wade? Don't you see what has happened to you? Why have you become so impersonal to your life, with a very third party approach to it?"
Wade sighed. He felt suddenly tired.
"It is easier Ella. To let the trouble subside to an apathetic proportion. It is easier to deal."
They both stood in silence, as Wade walked over to the hearth. Staring into the fire, he spoke. "Ella, please, don't decide now. It's obviously a big news, and it'll take some time for you to-"
"No Wade! No. I don't need time. I don't need time to forget everything. I will never forget how Aunt Suellen made you work like a field hand, how she made me clean the kitchen when everyone went to sleep in the afternoon. I will never forget how much she had argued with Uncle Will, when she found out Mother left us money to be sent to school. 'That boy will be of no use, unless he works here.' she had said. Oh, yes I know it. I know why you always ate on the porch because you never had ham left in your plate after you shoved your meager share into mine. I knew every time Dilcey put compresses on your back, after Aunt Suellen beat you with Grandpa's riding crop. Oh it was heavenly of her to drive us out after Uncle Will died, otherwise she might us worked us to death. So forgive me, for not feeling very benevolent towards our precious mother for having a perfect life in God-forsaken Ireland, while we rot in inattention here."
Wade cringed inside, at the bitterness dripping in Ella's voice. Wade had successfully buried his past, busied himself with his plantations and his indifference had been his perfect weapon. But Ella was a passionate person, and her pride and passion didn't let her forget the past.
"Ella, she had to think about Cat too, you know. The little girl would have been ostracized by everyone."
"Cat, is it? So she had to leave to ensure a happy life for Cat, is that what you are saying?" The bitter smile on Ella's face, glistening with tears, cut right through Wade's heart. "What does that reduce us to, Wade? We are her children too. Or we don't mean that much, eh? Hell, Cat could have had her father to take care of her, if she had let him. But we, Wade... We are two lone souls who have been orphaned by their dead fathers and their runaway mother and I don't care what you think, Wade!"
Ella shouted the last words, at the top of her voice, her hand balled into fists. She looked like a lioness, hurt, despite her rage.
Wade walked over to Ella, and stroked her head gently. "No, Ella, don't be resentful towards me. We have been together through so much together, Ella. I am not going to let us fall apart over anything or anyone. Not Cat, not Mother."
Ella threw her arms around Wade, sobbing in his embrace. Wade kept stroking her head, and after a long time, Ella's sobs subsided.
"Wade, I am sorry I shouted at you. I am not angry at you, you know." Ella's voice was muffled as she rested her head on Wade's shoulder.
"I know."
"I feel so, angry, and I don't think it's totally about Mother either. It's... just the way our life has turned out. I think it is unfair."
"Everybody doesn't get what they want, dear. But, we have to make use of what we have. We haven't had Mother for last seven years. After we moved here in Atlanta, I don't think we weren't so miserable either. We had accepted it."
"Yes, we had. It is just difficult knowing she made a choice. She had an option."
"We'll never know if she really did, Ella."
"You know what, I wish I could have that optimism of yours, Wade. You don't see anything wrong with people."
"I assure you I am no saint. I just know, that what is wrong to me, might seem right to someone else."
Ella smiled a little. "Taught a lot of philosophy in West Point, did they?"
"And I hated every class." Ella giggled and Wade pulled her apart to see her face.
"We'll talk about this later, let's go down for dinner. Mrs. Greene probably fell asleep at the table."
*****
Wade was pulling up his boots, when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in."
"Good morning." Ella was standing at the door, holding his breakfast tray.
"Oh, good morning. What happened to Mary? You didn't have to bring it."
"No, Mary is fine. I wanted to talk to you."
"It's okay. I thought it over last night. You don't have to go if you don't want to. I'll tell Mother something."
Ella tilted her head to a side, cringed her nose a little then broke into a smile. "I think I'll give Ireland a try." Then she seriously added. "But only on one condition"
Wade wondered what new challenge lie ahead. "What is it?"
"You will have to promise that I will still be your favorite sister, right?"
Wade was still laughing when he walked into his office to reply the mails.