bChapter /bb218 /b

    “Wait…” Jullian stammered out.

    Esther looked up at him and watched the confusion spread across his face, slow and obvious

    His brows furrowed deeply as he stared at the photographs, as if his brain couldn’t quite piece them together.

    11

    He held it in his hands for a long moment, his eyes scanning every detail, his lips parting like he wanted to say something but the words were refusing toe out. He looked lost.

    “What are baby pictures of Alex doing on the floor?” he finally said, holding the image up.

    His voice sounded confused, He looked at another picture, squinting as though that would make sense of it. Then he froze. His hand lingered in midair, his face pale.

    “The picture looks–” He cut himself off.

    From where she was sitting on the edge of her bed, Esther let out a short chuckle. It wasn’t a lightheartedugh. It was the kind ofugh that escaped when the heart was overwhelmed, when emotions had nowhere else to go.

    Jullian lifted his gaze, eyes wide, his confusion only deepening as he saw her reaction. “Mom, what’s going o-”

    “Those are not pictures of Alex,” Esther interrupted, her voice soft but firm. “Look at it properly.”

    Jullian son looked back down, his fingers shaking slightly as he turned the photograph in his hand. He frowned harder, inspecting it like his life depended on it.

    “They look like him but…” Jullian muttered, still lost in his thoughts. “The pictures look kinda recent.”

    Esther’s chest tightened, but she kept her eyes steady on him. “Because they are recent,” she said quietly.

    His head snapped up, his eyes searching her face. “What do you mean?” he asked, his tone a mix of confusion and dread.

    Esther paused for a moment. Her lips trembled, but she steadied herself. She knew once she said it aloud, once the words left her tips, there would be no undoing it.

    “Those are Mia’s son’s pictures,” she finally said.

    The room went quiet.

    Jullian froze, his eyes widening so much it looked like they might fall out of his head. Slowly, almost painfully, he took a step back. His chest rose and fell sharply as he stared down at the photographs again, then back at her.

    “No way,” he whispered, shaking his head like he was trying to rid himself of the thought. “No way.”

    Esther nodded slowly, her throat tightening with heavy emotions. Her heart swelled, heavy and light at the same time, her body ibuzzing /iwith feelings that almost made her dizzy

    She didn’t need anyone to tell her what her heart already knew She didn’t need proof, or some divine angel toe down and dere it. It iwas /ialready written in the pictures, in the boy’s smile, in the way the truth stared back at her.

    bR /b

    11:06 Fri, 29 Aug 2

    Mia’s son was Alex’s son.

    Her Alex had a son.

    Her brain hadn’t fully processed it yet, but her heart knew. Her whole being knew.

    48%

    +38)

    She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. She wanted tough. She wanted to run out of the house and tell the world. She had no idea what to do with herself.

    “Mom,” Jullian said, his voice cracking, disbelief still written all over his face. His eyes darted between the photo and her like he was searching for her to deny it, to tell him he was wrong, that this was all some sick mistake. “This is-”

    “Alex’s son,” Esther finished for him. The words came out broken but steady enough to hang in the air between them.

    Jullian blinked, his lips parted, his expression caught between awe and fear.

    He moved slowly, like his body was carrying the weight of the realization, and sat down on the bed beside her. His

    shoulders slumped as he stared at the photographs in his hand.

    “This is insane,” he muttered. “How does he look exactly like Alex?”

    Esther followed his gaze, her own eyes filling with tears she couldn’t control. She reached for the picture he was holding,

    her hand brushing against his before she took it gently.

    The boy was smiling in this one, a wide, innocent smile that reached his eyes.

    Alex’s smile.

    The same curve of the lips. The same spark in the eyes. The same expression she had seen so many times before when Alex was a little boy, when he stillughéd freely, before the world hardened him.

    Her lips trembled as she let out a sound that sounds like a chuckle, but broke into a sob halfway.

    “Even his smile,” she whispered, her voice cracking.

    Jullian shook his head, disbelief flooding his features. “This has to be some kind of sorcery, Mom. I mean…look at him. It’s like a copy.”

    Esther smiled through her tears, still staring at the picture. “I can’t even argue that with you,” she said softly. Her voice carried wonder, awe, and a mother’s overflowing love. “He’s so beautiful.”

    Jullian let out a breath, his shoulders dropping. He looked back down at the photos again, his eyes softer this time, almost reluctant to admit the truth that was right in front of him. He nodded slowly.

    “I can’t believe bthis/b,” he said, chuckling in disbelief. “Alex has a child. This is unbelievable.”

    Esther hummed in agreement, her eyes still fixed on the little boy’s smile, Her chest ached, but it was the sweetest ache she had ever felt. “I have a grandson,” she whispered, her lips curving upward even as tears slid down her cheeks.

    Her voice cracked on the word grandson. She couldn’t stop repeating it in her mind. A grandson. Alex’s son. Her blood, her family, right there in those pictures.

    11:06 Fri, 29 Aug bR /b

    ?? 48%

    0

    38

    Jullian nced at her, his lips twitching into a small smile despite his disbelief. “Do I even want to know how you got your hands on this boy’s pictures?”

    Esther let out a lightugh, wiping at her eyes though more tears reced the ones she brushed away. “No, iyou /idon’t want to know,” she said, her tone almost yful despite the storm of emotions. Then she added, “Oh, I got his hair too for a DNA test. Though it won’t be necessary. But I’m still going to do it, just for the satisfaction of seeing your brother is a

    match.”

    Jullian shook his head, still staring at her like she was out of her mind. “This is Alex’s son, Mom.” He said it again, slower this time, as though repeating it would help it sink in.

    “I know,” Esther said, her voice full of certainty.

    The room goes quiet….Both of them were lost in their thoughts, overwhelmed by the truth now sitting between them.

    Esther’s heart felt like it was about to burst. She wanted to organize a party, tell the entire family, call everyone she knew. She wanted to scream it to the world–that Alex had a son, that she had a grandson. She wanted to run out right now and hold the boy in her arms, kiss his cheeks, tell him she loved him.

    She couldn’t remember thest time she had felt happiness this strong. It was raw, it was overwhelming, it was everything she had been aching for without realizing it. If she died right now, she thought, she could die happy.

    She can’t let the excitement control her actions right now. She can’t let her heart jump ahead of everything. She knew she had to move carefully. Slowly. She couldn’t rush this.

    Alex. Her thoughts went straight to her son. How would Alex react?

    Her chest tightened again.

    “You think that’s why she left Willowcrest?” Jullian asked suddenly, breaking the silence. His voice was thoughtful, cautious. He was clearly trying to piece it all together, trying to make sense of why Mia had disappeared from Alex’s life

    back then.

    Esther turned her head and stared at him. Her expression hardened slightly, her lips pressing into a thin line. “I think your

    father has a hand in it,” she said.

    “Mom…”

    “I have no proof yet,” Esther cut in, her tone firm, steady. “But I’ll find out.”

    Jullian stared at her, shaking his head slowly like he wasn’t sure whether to believe her or argue.

    “What do we do now?” he asked quietly after a moment. His voice was serious, heavy with the weight of what they’d just discovered. “We have to tell Alex, Mom!”

    Esther nodded slowly, her fingers brushing over one of the photographs again. “We will. For now…” She paused, her eyes fixed on the boy’s smile. “For now, I have to find out the whole truth behind her leaving Willowcrest.”

    She turned then and looked straight at her son, her voice dropping to a warning tone. “No one must know about this. No

    one.”

    11:07 Fri, 29 Aug

    bR /b

    Jullian nodded, though his face was still clouded with shock.

    “I have to set things in ce first,” Esther added softly, more to herself than to him.