1.8 Of Evading And Telling The Truth

Bellandra invited a classmate to her house with the excuse of studying to avoid a conversation like the one they almost had that morning. It had not been necessary, because by the time Bellandra returned from school her mother had already gone to work.

Ramira was a little annoyed with her sister for how she had left that morning causing her mother to stop talking.

And also because it seemed that her sister didn't notice her friend was flirting with her.

Despite inviting Mario with selfish reasons, Bellandra ended up enjoying the afternoon with him.

Zoe's work night was not going too well, there were almost no clients to serve and her co-worker didn't want to share with her the mixes he knew. Top it off, it seemed that  thinking about him all day long brought Devin to the same bar. 

Zoe made no attempt to start a conversation and he didn't ask for a drink. She felt his eyes the whole hour he was at the disco but before she could take courage to talk to him, Devin left the place. Seeing him after so long of only hearing about him in the news was strange, and to realize that she was still attracted to him after so many years? That was a Pandora's box that she didn't want to open.

But seeing him again made her realize that she couldn't keep evading her children and to make them understand that she never wanted to deny their origins.

With that purpose she organized a family outing, her children didn't seem very happy to be outdoors but that was not going to discourage her.

The first thing she did was try to have a conversation alone with her oldest daughter, that was a lesson she'd learned a few days ago when Bellandra had suddenly risen from the table.

"Come on, let's find some eggs."

Bellandra looked at her sideways and nodded slowly, Zoe put an arm around her daughter's shoulders to hug her. "I'm sorry if the other day I made you feel uncomfortable."

"It's ok, mom. It's just that you took me by surprise."

"I know, honey. I'm sorry and not only for that but also for not trying this conversation a long time ago, you and your siblings deserve the truth. First of all I'll not make the same mistake as before and believe that I know best... so the first thing I'm going to do is ask you if you want to know who your father is."

"I truly don't know. On the one hand I want to know but on the other I don't want our life changed."

Zoe gave her a sympathetic smile. "You know that whatever you do with that knowledge is exclusively your decision, right? And your siblings. I wouldn't think of doing something contrary to what you all would like to do."

"I know that, mom."

For a long time they silently picked up the eggs scattered throughout the park.

"For now I just want to know who he is and if he knows about us." Her daughter spoke after a long time.

"Let's get closer to your brother and sister so we can talk all together."

Seeing that the previous conversation had gone well while touring the park together, Zoe decided to take the same strategy and talk about it while playing a game.

The twins were given the same speech as the teen, only they have the decision of what to do with the information that she gave them.

"His name is Devin Ashton."

"The actor?!" Franco exclaimed while his twin opened her eyes in amazement and Bellandra just listened quietly.

"The very same. We met when I just arrived in this city and he was just beginning his career, we were both very young."

"Was he your boyfriend?" Ramira asked and Zoe stopped to think about how to explain to a ten-year-old girl that not all romances are formal relationships.

"Not exactly, no. We met at a time when we were both very focused on our careers and where he began to travel a lot for his films, so we really didn't have much time to test if we would work as a couple."

The explanation was more for her older daughter who looked at her out of the corner of her eye.

"He knows about us?" Whispered Bellandra.

"No, I never told him. The times I tried to do it, I was scared of what could happen and then as time passed we stopped talking as often as at the beginning and at some point I stopped trying."

Bellandra had one last question for her mother but she was afraid of the answer, Zoe knowing her daughter answered before she could speak.

"I think if he had found out that he had children he would have accepted them without reservation." And maybe that was the fear that Zoe had always had, that Devin would have wanted to have their children with him and with the precarious economic situation she had he was more likely to win a legal claim. Or maybe it was just her fear talking.

Bellandra excused herself saying she had to meet with some classmates in the library, although the reality was that she didn't want to continue talking about this. Her mother smiled at her and kissed her on the forehead.

The twins just continued enjoying the outdoors.

Although they continued talking about the topic.

"If you had the possibility, would you like to meet dad?" Franco asked trying not to  fall on his face.

"I think so. You?"

"Yes."

For her part, Bellandra did go to the library but not to meet schoolmates.

With trembling fingers, she typed the name Devin Ashton.

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When writing this chapter I realized that I didn't have good screenshots that would be useful for the conversation. So I hope that the conversation in the middle of an group outing has not been a bit out of place.