119 Echoes of Judgment
By the time I was a teenager, I had stopped trying. The rejection had hurt too much.
Taking a deep breath, I gathered my purse and stepped out of the car. I was no longer that vulnerable child or that insecure teenag I was a grown woman building a life on
her own terms.
“You’re so much like your mother,” Erin had continued, her voice soft but pointed. “So stubborn. So unwilling to forgive.”
I started the engine, needing to escape the weight of these memories. As I drove through the darkened streets of Baumond, my mind continued its relentless journey
backward.
As I unlocked my front door, my phone chimed with a text from Julian: “You handled yourself perfectly tonight. Don’t let them make you doubt yourself.”
Elara’s POV
“Who do you want to live with, sweetheart?” my father had asked, his voice gentle.
My father had knelt before me. “No, sweetheart. That’s not possible anymore.”
“Half–sister,” I had corrected automatically, parroting words I’d heard my mother say.
“Your father misses you terribly,” she had said. “It breaks his heart that you won’t visit.”
As I climbed the stairs to my bedroom, her words echoed in my mind once more: “So stubborn. So unwilling to forgive.”
His simple support brought a small smile to my face. At least now, I wasn’t facing my ghosts alone.
“I’m fine,” I said automatically.
I had chosen my mother. Not because I loved her more, but because she had seemed more fragile, more in need of me. My father had resources, strength. My mother had only me.
The hurt in my father’s eyes had haunted me for years.
119 Echoes of Judgment
For a while, I had believed her. But as months passed, I noticed how she subtly created distance between my father and me. How conversations would end when I entered rooms. How plans would change when I was supposed to visit.
Erin’s smile had frozen. “Family is family, dear. Blood is blood.”
I sighed. “It’s not them. It’s the memories the bring up.”
Erin’s words from all those years ago still had the power to wound: “So stubborn. So unwilling to forgive.”
I pulled into my driveway and sat in the silent car, struggling to regain my composure. I had promised myself I wouldn’t let these people affect me anymore. Yet here I was, shaken by a brief encounter in a parking lot.
Was she right? Was I really just an ungracious child?
Erin’s attention had shifted immediately, her face transforming with genuine warmth. “Of course he will, darling. He can never say no to you.”
I nodded politely but offered no verbal response.
A year later, he had brought Erin and nine–year–old Vivienne to visit. I had hidden in my room, refusing to come out. My mother had eventually coaxed me into the living
room.
He understood, giving my shoulder a gentle squeeze before walking toward his own
vehicle.
Sitting behind the wheel, I didn’t immediately start the car. Instead, I stared at my reflection in the rearview mirror. The woman looking back at me seemed composed, professional–nothing like the confused little girl who had once agonized over impossible choices.
Yet inside, that girl’s doubts still echoed. Had I been unfair to my father? Had my loyalty to my mother cost me a relationship I should have treasured?
I remembered sitting in my grandmother Clara’s living room after my parents‘ divorce was finalized. I was eight years old, clutching a stuffed rabbit, as my parents stood on opposite sides of the room.
Before Alistair could respond, movement caught my eye. Erin Dubois approached with measured steps, Lilian Shaw trailing behind her.
119 Echoes of Judgment
As she stepped back, memories flooded my mind–unwelcome and sharp. Lilian had always maintained the perfect appearance of a stepmother trying to bridge difficult family relationships. Yet there had always been something distant in her manner, something that made it clear I was an unwanted reminder of my father’s previous life.
Lilian stepped forward, her gaze sharp and assessing. The elegant woman who had replaced my mother in my father’s life had al s been perfectly polite and utterly
cold.
I shook my head. “Not tonight. I need to process some things alone.”
I blinked, realizing I’d been lost in thought. Oscar and Alistair were now discussing something about mutual investments. Vivienne had joined her father, her arm possessively linked through his.
“Elara, dear,” Erin called out, her voice carrying that familiar false warmth.
The contrast had been stark and painful. Was I really just an ungracious child?
I remembered the day my father had introduced me to Lilian. She had been beautiful, poised, and perfectly cordial. She had brought me a gift–a delicate silver bracelet that I had loved immediately.
I had looked between them, my young heart breaking. “Can’t we all live together?”
“Thank you,” I replied simply.
“How lovely to see you again, Elara,” she said, her voice smooth as glass. “You’re looking
well.”
Later, when my father and mother were discussing logistics in the kitchen, Erin had found me alone.
“Elara,” Erin had said, her smile practiced and perfect. “Vivienne has been so excited to
meet her sister.”
“I hope we can be friends, Elara,” she had said.
I had remained silent, picking at a loose thread on my dress.
Her words landed like small daggers. To anyone listening, she sounded reasonable and kind. Only I could feel the calculation behind them,
119 Echoes of Judgment
“Elara?” Julian’s voice pulled me back to the present. “We should go.”
My mother’s face had been pale with anxiety. My father looked equally strained.
My father had never seen it. Or perhaps he simply hadn’t wanted to.
“Some pasts are harder to leave behind than others,” I said quietly.
Alistair and Vivienne Dubois stood conversing with Oscar Fletcher in the parking lot. Julian remained a few steps away from me, his posture rigid with tension.
Lilian’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. “That’s a choice we make, isn’t it?”
Had I truly been stubborn and unforgiving as Erin claimed? Or had I simply been a child protecting herself from more pain?
We reached my car, and Julian paused. “Want to talk about it over coffee?”
“Yes,” I agreed, relieved for the interruption. “We have that early meeting.”
I had stared at the floor, uncomfortable and wishing I could disappear.
Erin touched my arm as I turned to leave. “Do give Clara my regards at her party. We were friends once, you know.”
Lilian’s perfectly manicured hand touched my arm briefly. “I hope you won’t let old family grievances color your relationship with Alistair and Erin. The past should remain there, don’t you think?”
Alistair glanced between Julian and me with interest. “Not working together tonight, Ms. Vance? Unusual for business partners.”
As Julian and I walked away, I could feel Lilian’s calculating gaze on my back. The past never truly stayed where it belonged. It followed, lingering like a shadow, coloring every present moment.
“Are you okay?” Julian asked once we were out of earshot.
I nodded stiffly. “I’ll tell her.”
Vivienne had appeared then, twirling in a new dress. “Mom, do you think Daddy will buy me that necklace we saw?”
Inside my quiet house, I kicked off my shoes and poured a glass of water. The evening’s
119 Echoes of Judgment
encounter had dredged up painful questions I had avoided for years.
Now, years later, seeing Lilian again reopened wounds I thought had scarred over. The- familiar ache of not being enough–not enough for my father to fight for, not enough for Lilian to accept, not enough for Damien to love–washed over me with surprising
force.
Vivienne had rolled her eyes, clearly not excit
at all.
Julian’s expression made it clear he didn’t believe me. “Those people have a gift for getting under your skin.”
“Different responsibilities require different approaches,” I replied evenly.
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