Inheritance, Part 3 - Dad

For a moment, Rowan and her dad simply stared.

"I..." Rowan's dad begun, then shook his head. Rowan was still staring. "She never told us about you. I can't deal with this right now. Could you... Uh. I'm sorry, but could you wait, until the people leave? It seems rude to ask, you were her sister, I guess, so this can't be easy for you either, but... Just wait outside, the weather good, or somewhere..." he trailed off. Then he added, "So we could talk. Or I suppose you could just leave, if you don't want to stay, but I just can't... right now."

If Letitia was offended by being asked to wait outside for what would probably be a long while, she didn't show it. She sighed and nodded.

"It's fine. I understand," she said. "My existence must come as a bit of a shock. I'll give you some space. But I would like to talk with you, later. I'll be outside."

She left. Rowan stared after her.

"Wow," she finally said quietly. She didn't know how she felt about anything anymore.

"You should get back to your friends," her dad said. She stared after Letitia for a moment longer. Then she nodded.

Her friends were looking in her direction as she headed back to their table.

"You looked shocked. Who was that?" Aksa asked as she reached the table.

"Apparently," Rowan said slowly, "that was my aunt. One that I had never heard of. Because my mother never told me or my dad she had a twin." They stared at her. "I... don't want to talk about it right now."

They nodded. After a moment of possibly awkward silence they started talking about other things. Rowan nodded along but didn't really hear what they were saying.

~x~

It was a couple more hours until it got dark and everyone started leaving, and Rowan and her dad could finally head home too. As they got outside, they found Letitia, reading a book on a bench in front of the restaurant. Rowan's dad beckoned her to follow them to the car. The drive home was spent in silence, Rowan sitting in the front seat, clutching the urn that was the only thing left of her mother.

The car pulled to the driveway, and they went in. Her dad headed towards the living room from the door, and Rowan followed him, seating herself in the armchair in the farthest corner of the room. He had said earlier he couldn't deal with it at the moment. Now it was Rowan's turn to not want to deal with it. She was exhausted, and empty, and she wanted nothing more than to go to her room, close the door behind her and lay on her bed in the dark, staring at the ceiling. She just wanted to be alone. But she knew she would regret it later if she didn't listen to what Letitia had to say, so she stayed, to listen. She was too weary for talking herself.

"Do you want anything? Coffee? Tea? I think there's some cinnamon rolls or something in the freezer too..." her dad said as Letitia sat on the huge couch Rowan had picked out with her mom when they had first moved to this house.

"Just water, if you insist on getting me something," Letitia said. He left for the kitchen and she turned her attention on the room. She eyed the bookshelves, the chairs, the photos on the walls. After a minute he returned with a glass of water and handed it to her. She nodded in thanks.

"So..." he said, sitting down in an armchair next to the end of the couch Letitia was sitting on. He hesitated, at loss for words.

"How did you find us? Felicia never mentioned you, and as far as I understand... Well, I thought she didn't have any siblings. And that her parents were dead, have been since before we met." He paused. "Your parents are dead, right? We shouldn't expect any more surprise-relatives bursting through the door?"

"They are," Letitia said, with hesitation in her voice. "But they haven't been dead for that long. Dad died about fifteen years ago of lung cancer, and mom got a bad infection a few years back. Felicia really never said anything about us?"

Dad shook his head.

"Uh. Well..." Letitia paused, as if trying to remember. "Arthur, right?" He nodded. Rowan was slightly surprised she knew his name. "She had a bad falling out with our parents... over twenty years ago now. Then she disappeared. None of us heard from her for a decade. Then out of the blue she wrote me, told that she had gotten married, and had a daughter. We have been in touch a little since, but she never got in touch of our parents again. And I haven't seen her since she left either. All the communication has been letters. I considered trying to find her a few times, but... the way she wrote her letters... she felt like a stranger. And I didn't want to intrude. And truth be told, I didn't trust her. She had walked out of our lives once already, and I didn't want to get a sister back just to lose her again."

She sighed. She looked tired.

"You knew she had magic," Rowan heard the words come out of her mouth before she could stop them. Letitia turned to look at her, disbelief clear on her face.

"She didn't tell you she had magic?" she asked. She looked at Rowan, waiting for an answer, but Rowan didn't feel like answering. After a few heartbeats she gave up and turned back to Arthur. He shook his head

"Oh Felicia, what have you been doing these past two decades?" she said quietly, to herself more than to them. "Our great-grandmother had magic, she died when we were four. I don't know why she would hide them from you though. But then again, I haven't actually known her for twenty years."

She shook her head. Rowan's eyes met her dad's as he turned to her, looking like he was about to say something. Seeing her he stopped himself, and clearly started on a new thought.

"Honey, you look exhausted. You should go get some sleep." Then he turned to Letitia, and said "It's getting late, and it's been a rough day. I should go to sleep myself soon." He hesitated for a moment. "You're welcome to stay here for the night if you want."

"Thank you. I would appreciate it. I didn't have time to book a room. I figured I'd walk in somewhere and hope they have rooms available for a night," she said. "I happened to spot the obituary in the paper yesterday, that's how I knew to come. I'm sorry to appear so unexpected."

Arthur shook his head. "She was your family as much as ours."

He walked to Rowan and pulled her up from the chair. He took the ashes from her and hugged her tight. "Go sleep."

Rowan moved tiredly to her room and closed the door. The tears came again in the dark of her own bed.
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