Chapter 5 - Aunt Helen's Secret The next morning, David drove to Aunt Helen's apartment.
His mother had always described Helen as bitter.
Jealous.
Unstable.
David had believed her.
Until Helen opened the door.
One look at his face was enough.
"You found out."
David stepped inside.
"Found out what?"
Helen closed the door.
"About Emily."
David's heartbeat accelerated.
"What happened to her?"
Helen sat down.
For a long moment, she couldn't speak.
Then she whispered:
"Your mother never accepted her death."
Emily had died as an infant.
The official explanation had been sudden infant death.
But Helen remembered things differently.
She remembered David's mother becoming obsessed with controlling every detail of the household.
Every bottle.
Every doctor.
Every room.
Every person.
"When you were born," Helen continued, "she transferred everything she felt onto you."
David swallowed.
"What do you mean?"
Helen looked directly at him.
"You weren't allowed to become your own person."
David's chest tightened.
"And Leah?"
Helen lowered her eyes.
"Your mother saw Leah as the woman who was taking you away."
Then Helen said the sentence David would never forget.
"And now you're having a daughter."
The pieces finally connected.
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His mother wasn't simply afraid of losing David.
She was afraid of history repeating itself.
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