By 10:00 am the next day, William was deep in conversation with the Inspector on sorting out the mayhem that occurred over the weekend. A package arrived for him that he assumed was about Julia's young patient. Since his next assignment was a set of interviews near where Julia worked, he decided to take the package with him to her and drop it off.
When he arrived, he was disappointed to find Julia was not there, but out with another patient. Instead he was directed to where Ruby was. Going down the hall to the girl's room, he heard Ruby reading aloud what sounded like a children's story. He peered into the room. The girl was sitting next to Ruby and listening intently to an adventure involving a girl and boy in exotic lands. Ruby looked up, but continued reading until the story was done. She handed the book to Mina and came over to William.
"She never gets tired of that. It is one of the books her mother wrote. It's all about what it would be like to travel on the Silk Road, visit Pompeii, or Easter Island, or Tibet ….."
William studied the child. "She does seem comforted by the story…. I have this package for you and Julia." He kept his attention on what Mina had in her hands.
Ruby opened it and scanned. "Yes. It includes her date of birth—so now we know how old she is." She frowned. "That's odd. She was born March 1, 1899. They only met the end of July and were married August 3rd on board the ship." Ruby paused. "Unless Mina was 2 months premature, Sara was already pregnant when she met and married Karl." Ruby looked up. " Karl so doted on Mina. There are other documents in here, and a copy of one of Sara's articles." Ruby was vaguely aware that William had approached the child and was looking at the book in her lap and the wooden toy she was playing with. Ruby sorted the contents of the package.
William was transfixed. "May I see your toy?" he asked Mina. She hesitated and then slowly held it out. He examined it carefully for a long while. "Did you get this from your mother?" he questioned gently. Mina looked down and nodded, putting her hand out to get it back. He ran his hands over the curved wood and slowly gave it back. He sat down next to her on the bed and looked at the storybook cover, then to Mina's face and over to Ruby.
"Please tell Julia I will be home promptly at 6:30 tonight," he said evenly. When she turned around, he was gone. Ruby shrugged and went back to Mina.
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Julia was pacing the house, not looking forward to telling William and Ruby what she had discovered. Thinking about the letter from Mrs Whitley lead her to thinking about the widow's family, and then the photographs of her sons. That nagging feeling she had drew her to examining the photographs from Missouri more closely, this time with a magnifying glass. The profile of Sara and the photographs of Karl indicate they both had attached ear lobes. Mina does not. That, combined with her coloring indicated Mina could not be their biological daughter, or at least she is not Mr Van de Vere's natural child. She was starting to believe either Ruby was pulling something over on them or Ruby herself was the victim of some kind of hoax or scam. Someone passing off the child as the Van de Vere's for monetary gain, perhaps.
She was so distracted in her pacing she did not hear William come in. He looked tense and he wore that closed face that usually indicated something difficult was going on underneath. He took off his hat and put it in the table carefully. As much as she did not want to add to his troubles, she thought it might be better to tell him her information soon, before Ruby came home, so they could decide what to do about it together. Might as well jump in.
"Good evening, Julia."
"Good evening, William"
"I have something I need to tell you," they both said in unison.
"Oh," he said. "Maybe we could sit down."
They both moved to the couch. He deferred to her to begin. She suspected he was giving himself more time to organize his thoughts. She took in a breath and explained her findings and reasoning. He took it in with the same expression on his face.
When she had finished, he appeared to hesitate and then said, "Yes. I know. Julia….." His mouth was dry. "Julia…. I."
Julia was surprised by this statement and frustrated at his demeanor. "What do you mean, you know? What do you know?," Julia interrupted.
"Mina is not Karl Van der Vere's daughter." He stated.
"That is what I just told you. Really, William, were you listening? Maybe here is a just a resemblance between this child to the pictures of the real Mina Van de Vere that someone used to get money out of Ruby…"
"No. That is not what I mean. I also mean Sara Van der Vere is not Sara Van der Vere."
He got up, paced away, came back and sat down again, rubbing his hands on the front of his trousers. "Julia… when you and I were apart, I mean when you were married to Darcy and we were not together… We never talked about …that was in the past…." He stalled. He took her hand and tried again. "Julia, when you were with Darcy I was not… completely…celibate."
Now Julia was thoroughly confused about the change of subject. "What are you saying? I never assumed you should have been. I gave you up so you could…" Julia saw the odd look on his face and waited for him to continue.
He said simply, "Julia…I am not ashamed. I think Mina is my daughter."
She was speechless. Julia started at his head. At his ears. William. Wilhelmina…Mina! Her eyes narrowed and then widened suddenly. She grabbed the picture of the woman in the motor-car and then looked at him. She remembered that day and the casualness and intimacy she read between them in the morgue. And the jealousy I felt.
"Sara Bristol was Anna Fulford," she said, making eye contact with her husband.
William nodded and rushed on. "I went to your office today to give you the information I received, and it included Mina's birth certificate. Ruby was reading a book with Mina. The stories were just like the ones Anna dreamed of undertaking. And the title of it: 'Midnight on the Steppes of Tibet.' I will never forget her telling me about that particular desire of hers." He gestured. "Mina is not playing with a wooden toy—it is a clock case that I made with my own hands as a gift for Anna." He smiled sadly, remembering. "So she would know the time in Tibet where there are no clocks… Between Anna and I, well it was good and comforting and…and…" he straightened. "She could not stay and I…did not want to leave. We never expected to communicate ever again, that had to be the plan." He looked at Julia. "I had to let her go. She was to adopt another identity and take her freedom wherever her imagination lead her. She probably did not even know she was pregnant when she married Van de Vere. The timing of Mina's birth, though, fits."
Her heart went out to him.
He was standing again, apparently in agony. She came over and gently put her arms around him. "William. My goodness. You have a child of your body. How marvelous!" Julia reflected on the child's features, the fringe of eyelashes so like William's. "No wonder I have been falling a little in love with her!" She smiled and was a shocked to feel herself crying. "This is perfect! You can claim her." She was confused at this unabated level of distress in him. He was not relieved at all. She tried again to get through to him. "William, we can be her family…I harbor nothing against you or Anna, and certainly not Mina…"
He took her arms from around his body and held her away so she could see his face clearly. "No. No we can't. She is legally another man's daughter. And the deal I had with Mr Falcone was that I owed him as long as Anna was alive. He is terribly clever, and utterly ruthless. His criminal organization is stronger than ever. If we can figure out she is mine, so can he. That would mean I lied to him. So at the very least I would be beholden to him and at the worst it would put her, and you and me in mortal danger. I will never let that happen again. No one can ever know."
Julia understood more clearly now what his pain entailed. "William. Whatever happens, I love you. We will figure this out together, do you hear me?" She brought him back to hold her.
He nodded mutely, grateful for this woman in his arms.
End