Chapter Text
Ollie wasn’t sure when he put it together, but he just knew he did. Growing up seeing the photos around Pops’s apartment and office made it obvious. Even when they all seemed to live in willful ignorance. It didn’t stop him from feeling the reality of his mother’s parentage hit him like a ton of bricks.
It was sophomore year, he’d gotten into a bit of trouble that left him sitting in the headmaster’s office, waiting for his grandfather to tell him the final verdict when he saw the photo. It was a black and white image of his mother. And she looked quite young, it seemed to be her first MACUSA portrait.
“Oliver Jacob, what am I going to do with you?” He looked up as his grandfather stormed into the room. “Detention for a week seems too light and detention for a month seems too drastic. But you cannot keep hexing bullies like this. I understand the premise of your and Noah’s goals, but-“
“Pops, when was this photo of Mom taken?”
The question seemed to throw his grandfather off his rhythm as he stepped over. A sad smile took over his face and Ollie watched as he stepped away. The man in front of him didn’t speak until after he’d settled into his chair, a soft sigh escaping. “That’s not your mom, kiddo. That would be Aunt Ariadne.”
“Mom looks just like her.”
Again a sad look panged across his grandfather’s face. One that wasn’t just sad, but also one of longing. “Yeah, Mom does.”
“Pops, what’s wro-“
“Enough,” there was a hard edge in his voice that Ollie wasn’t used to hearing. It was as if he’d stumbled onto something he wasn’t supposed to know and Ollie sat down in surprise. His grandfather leaned forward, elbows resting on his desk, changing the subject back to why he was there. “Punishments. Let’s discuss them."
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“I’m telling you, it’s weird!” Stella rolled her eyes as her brother pulled her into their grandfather’s office late one night. It felt like a gross invasion of privacy and she couldn’t believe Ollie of all people had suggested it. Jack or Ellie? Sure this was right up their alley. Noah? Another safe bet. Joe, Ollie, or Ava? Absolutely not. And how she’d let him talk her into this when Pops had been in the foulest mood she’d ever seen, Stella wasn’t sure.
But here they were, sneaking into the Ilvermorny headmaster’s office so Ollie could show her this stupid picture that he’d been swearing for weeks was proof that their mother wasn’t a Goldstein. Which was asinine. A fact she’d repeatedly told him until he’d convinced her to go with him.
“Let’s just find this picture before we get caught. Just because Pops is angry with you for always getting in trouble doesn’t mean I want to be looped in. I’m his favorite.”
Her brother rolled his eyes as he muttered, “Maddie is his favorite.”
“Oh shut up, Ollie.” Stella muttered in an annoyed tone before scouring the photos on the shelves Ollie had mentioned. She was just about to give up when she saw it. “Holy shit.” There was no mistaking the resemblance, the bone structure, the nose, the hair. The one thing different were the eyes. The woman’s eyes in the photo weren’t the rich brown of their mother’s. They seemed to be a lighter color. But the rest of it? It was all there. Sure there were some small differences, small things Mom surely got from her father, but there wasn’t a doubt in Estelle’s mind of the resemblance. With wide eyes she turned to Ollie who nodded. “We have to tell Ellie and the twins.”
“Why not just ask Pop or Mom about-“
“Do you think if Mom knew we wouldn’t know by now?” Her brow raised and Ollie seemed to realize she was right. “We talk to Ellie, Jack and Joe this weekend. I’ll tell her we need to see them for the High Pointe trip. I can make something up. But we talk to them first. Then we go to Dad or Pop. We will go to Mom about this last.”
Her older brother begrudgingly nodded before they slipped out of the room, sprinting down the halls to get back to their respective dorms. Once she had, Stella had that letter drafted to Ellie, telling her it was urgent and she and Ollie needed to call a sibling meeting that weekend. It had been sent off in the mail that next morning and the response was dropped off by her father at dinner that evening. He’d told her that Ellie had sent it via the floo minutes before.
All that was written on the small page was an affirmative that she and the twins would be there. Her sister also said Lyall would more than likely be tagging along because he “missed his favorite little sister so much.” There had been a written eye roll at that as well as a promise to have Maddie and Parker come so he’d leave them alone, but Stella had just smiled, more excited for the weekend. Even if she had earth shattering news to share.
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“What the fuck could be so urgent that we had to get our asses out of bed on a cold ass morning and come to the top of Mt. Fucking Greylock?”
Ellie hit Jack on the back of the head as they sat at the table in the tavern in High Pointe while they waited for Stella and Ollie to join them. Joe was snickering across the table as was Maddie. Lyall pressed a kiss to her head while Parker tried to hide his smirk while Jack turned to her in anger. “Go fuck yourself, Ellie.”
“That’s Lyall’s job actually.”
“Oh, please stop. I hate when you make me think about my best friend and my sister.” Joe moaned. Maddie rubbed his arm in a mock soothing pattern that had Ellie laughing loudly across the table. Her best friend winked while Joe pulled his arm from. “I hate both of you. My wife and my sister. Always ganging up on me.”
“Oh shut up, Joe. You act like you are her prime target all the time.”
The twins started to bicker so Ellie rested her head on Lyall’s shoulder, letting him draw stars on her arm as he updated her from his trip to England. He’d gotten back late and they’d both been too tired for him to catch her up the night before. “It’s official, the first Diggory is here. Little Amos was born on November 9th, 1955. Mother and baby are doing well, Matt is currently trying to baby proof the Auror office from what Alastor told me.”
“Mmmm, we need to send them a gift. And let Nan and Grandad know. She’ll want to send Matt and Hope something too.” Lyall nodded at her response, something about already having done so was murmured against her lips as they continued to ignore the chaos erupting at the table. “And Lawrence and Alastor?”
“They’re Lawrence and Alastor. Back to pretending nothing’s happened. Despite all of us knowing something is going on.”
Ellie instantly let her eyes roll, but a head of curly brown hair made her cut off any retort. Lyall seemed to see it too because he was up before she’d fully righted herself. Luckily Jack noticed and grabbed her from behind before she fell face first into Lyall’s now vacant chair. Her brother chuckled and squeezed her arm. “You’ve been replaced, Elle.”
“Oh, shut up.” Her arm flew out to hit him, but a force barreled into her side and she turned to see her fifteen year old baby brother hugging her tightly. “You okay, Ol?”
“No. No I am not.”
Glancing up, Ellie saw Jack’s eyes darken and Joe looked at them as he took Estelle from Lyall. Concern was evident on the other twin’s face as he whispered something to the baby of the family, probably asking if the in-laws needed to go away, but Estelle shook her head and said “I think we should all be here for this.”
Ellie nodded, handing Ollie off to Jack for a hug before she and Lyall grabbed two more chairs. Then they all settled around the table, the five Scamander siblings and three in-laws. Finally Estelle whispered, “We have a theory. About Mom’s parents.” Brows rose and the twins both opened their mouths while Ellie knocked on Estelle’s mind. Her little sister glared across the table. “I’m not crazy, Ellie.”
“I never said you were. But Stella, we know about Mom’s parents. They died of dragon pox when she was ten and Pops adopted her when she was fifteen. End of story. You know as well as we do Mom doesn’t like to talk about it that much.”
“But what if Grandma and Grandpa weren’t her biological parents?”
Everything stopped. The world stopped spinning, Ellie stopped breathing, Jack froze with his cup halfway to his mouth, Joe just blinked rapidly, Parker, Maddie, and Lyall looked at their respective partners. But Ollie and Stella just met their eyes, resolute in what they were implying. Ellie cut a look at Jack and then at Joe. It seemed to kickstart the twins as Joe casted a silencing charm around their little corner of the establishment and Jack slammed his cup on the table, “Well, fuck.”
“Stella, do you understand what you’re implying?” Joe whispered as he sat forward.
Ellie watched her youngest siblings share a look while Lyall rested his hand on the small of her back. Ollie and Stella seemed to be deciding how to proceed forward when her husband garnered her attention down the bond.
What are you thinking?
That I know exactly who they are thinking. And it WILL cause a lot of heartache.
Who?
Turning in her chair, she arched a brow at him as if it were obvious. Beside her, Lyall gaped before muttering, “You don’t think it’s Elliot do you?”
Again silence ruled the table at Lyall’s words, the utter disbelief in the only plausible explanation. So Ellie looked at Ollie and Estelle, seeing their sheepish looks was confirmation enough. “Explain what you’ve got.” The youngest two among them didn’t hesitate before launching into their story. Ollie was telling how he saw the photo of Ariadne in Pops’s office, how she could pass for their mother, how Pops changed the subject when Ollie tried to ask a question when he looked upset. Then Estelle jumped in to explain how Ollie had taken her to see the photo that week and that’s why she’d written the letter. Estelle showed the twins, Lyall, Parker, and Maddie what she saw while Ollie let Ellie dig. And when she saw the memory of the picture, Ellie knew the dangerous ground they were about to be on. “We need evidence before we can even think to ask Pops about this.”
“Well, I think the damn picture is pretty convincing, Ellie.” Ollie spat from where he sat, Estelle nodding in agreement.
But the twins both shook their heads, looking at her. “Elle is right,” Joe said softly as if still reeling from the information. “We can’t go to Pops saying we know something when we have a single photo of proof. A photo that we don’t even know will prove anything.”
“So what do we do?” Jack asked, his arm wrapping around Estelle’s shoulders while their little sister leaned into him. Ollie and Joe looked at her, causing Ellie to sigh. There had always been a small part of her to wonder if her mother was adopted by her late parents. Especially as she saw photos of and heard stories about Ariadne Goldstein, but never in her life did she think Pops would have kept it a secret this long if it were true. However, here they were now, the five of them realizing this could be very, very real. And Ellie didn’t have a solution.
“We all snoop.” Her head snapped to stare in disbelief at Lyall. Lyall John Lupin, king of telling her to stop meddling, was suggesting they snoop their way into a discovery of perhaps the Goldstein/Fontaine family’s biggest secret in the last century.
I have never been more attracted to you than I am right now.
Save it for when we get home.
Oh I plan to.
A snort escaped him as Lyall moved his arm to wrap around her waist, tugging her a smidge closer to him. Before either of them could elaborate, Maddie was rolling her eyes and spoke up. “Ignoring the not at all subtle flirting coming from Mr. and Mrs. Lupin over there, Lyall is right. We will need to do a deep dive and sneak around to find what we need.”
“Okay, so where do we start,” Ollie leaned forward, seemingly excited about joining in on the infamous detective work she, their brothers, and their spouses were expert at. Too bad she wasn’t letting Ollie and Stella anywhere near this.
Luckily, the other adults at the table seemed to agree as they shook their heads. “You two will not be involved in the snooping from here on out.” Parker’s voice was authoritative, but herself and the twins nodded in agreement. The youngest Scamanders seemed to be sitting up, ready to voice a disagreement, but her best friend shook his head, ready to defend that comment. “Fontaine is smart. If you two start snooping around at Ilvermorny, he’ll know. Hell, he’s going to know when we all start snooping. But we need to keep this a secret for as long as possible.”
“So you two, let us handle it.” Joe said as he ruffled Ollie’s hair, Jack nodding in agreement, squeezing Estelle again.
But all four of her siblings looked to her as if waiting for confirmation that she agreed with the plan even though they all knew sneaking around to gather information was her happy place. To Ellie, getting to the bottom of this was no question. Too bad, two certain people prevented her from sharing that.
Waving her hand, she nullified the silencing charm much to the confusion of her siblings, but her best friends and husband saw who approached the table and weren’t surprised when she plastered on her best smile and said, “Pops! Daddy! Hi!”
Her father’s brow rose immediately and she knew she’d laid it on too thick. She only ever resorted to calling her father ‘Daddy’ anymore when she was up to something and she didn’t want to look suspicious. Fortunately, Pops was so distracted by the sight of them that he didn’t give Newt Scamander a minute to process her words. “Ellie Bear! Jack Attack! JoJo! How are my oldest grandchildren? And of course, Park, Ly, always a pleasure to see the grandson-in-laws.” No one corrected him that Parker wasn’t technically married to Jack. The grins on Jack and Parker’s faces at Pops’s reference to them being as good as married was all that mattered to her. Then she watched him wink at Maddie. “Hello, favorite in-law.”
“Hey!” Parker and Lyall said while her father looked at his father-in-law in betrayal.
Pops ignored them all though as he rounded the table to her, pressing a kiss to her head. “Glad to see you in one piece, sweetie. Your mom told me you got hit by a nasty hex this week.”
“You did?” Ellie cringed at Lyall’s tone, knowing she was about to get a very long winded rant about her safety and telling her husband things. So she just reached over to grab his hand and sent a promise to tell him later down the bond before she glanced up at her grandfather.
“I’m okay. Wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.”
All she got in response was a quirked brow before her father stepped over, studying her as well. Then the two men pulled up chairs, effectively ending any conversation they’d been having about their mother’s parentage. But Ellie saw Joe’s look and immediately weaseled her way into his head
You think it’s true don’t you?
Her eyes flew to Pops as he told a story, but she wasn’t listening, she was studying. The chin was the same so was the smile. The smile she’d inherited too. It was as if the possibility of Pops being their biological grandfather opened her eyes to the similarities he and her mother bore that she’d always written off. But they were there, plain as day.
I do.
Joe seemed to be sighing in his mind as their eyes met again. Her little brother’s hand tightened where it held Maddie’s and Ellie watched her best friend lean over, offering comfort to Joe despite not knowing the exact cause of his frustration. Beside her, Lyall did the same, his arm moving her closer as he set his chin on top of her head. Leaning into it, Ellie decided to loop Jack into her conversation with Joe.
Joe, Jack’s here now.
Oh joy.
I hate you both.
No.
You don’t.
Jack seemed to be contemplating an eye roll before asking her: Game plan?
Ly and I have been caring for Pops’s plants so we can dig at the apartment.
I’ll look at Mom’s birth records in Rupert’s and Aunt Ariadne’s death certificate.
Are we not going to ask about why the two black thumbs are caring for the plants?
Jackal.
Jack, please focus before Ellie kicks your ass.
Their brother did roll their eyes this time before he changed the subject and responded,
Why look at-
The old story is she died before Mom was born. And unless Pops, the notoriously content widower, got someone else pregnant then convinced his brother-in-law and best friend to raise his child for him, I’m willing to bet he’s lied about when she died.
What I don’t get is why this is a secret? It’s not like she doesn’t love him and wouldn’t understand he did what he did most likely out of love.
Jack, her eyes bore into the elder twin’s as she explained to her brothers. Mom felt betrayed when she found out he didn’t fight to get them back at first after Grandma and Grandpa died. How the hell do you think it would be if she learned he gave her up long before that whole mess? No matter his reasons.
Before either of the twins could say a word, Pops’s voice broke through. “Ellie Bear? Are you alright?”
No. She was the furthest thing from alright. He’d been lying to them for years and she wanted to know why. At the moment, Ellie didn’t care if whatever happened may have been done due to a complete and deep love for her mother, she wanted answers. But first they needed proof.
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Joe felt dirty. Even if he wanted to get to the bottom of everything, he felt dirty for scouring the old records room at St. Rupert’s after hours to find his mother’s birth certificate. Which was so dumb. It would be at MACUSA, just like Ariadne’s death certificate. And the damn birth certificate would say his mother was the daughter of David and Estelle Goldstein and this entire hunt would be for nothing. So all in all he felt dirty for even thinking that his mother’s family history was a lie. Even if he agreed that it all was so fishy.
“Find anything?” He looked up to see his wife slinking into the room with dinner. She’d been helping him for the past two weeks as he searched high and low for the records they needed, helped Ellie and Lyall find covers too about why they might be spending more time at Pops’s apartment than needed so they could search high and low for old photos of their great aunt. Jack and Parker had taken on the task of trying to sneak about MACUSA to get a glimpse at their records.
That task of course ended up including Pete because Peter Tolliver had a special skill of sneaking into places he didn’t belong. More so than the rest of them. And as much as they wanted this to stay in the family, Ellie reminded them Pete would want to help if just because of his deep love and respect for their mom. So he and Jack had agreed about asking Pete for help. Only he’d been out of state on his honeymoon the past two weeks so the search at MACUSA couldn’t ramp up until now.
Arms wrapping around his shoulders pulled Joe from his pity party about their lack of progress. “Joey?”
“Nothing yet,” he tilted his head up, pecking Maddie’s lips before adjusting so he could keep pouring over the documents in front of him. “This shouldn’t be this difficult.”
“Joe, if this is the big family secret, it’s not going to be easy to find.” She’d summoned a chair and settled in to sit next to him. He watched her set one elbow on the desk he sat at, her chin perching in that hand while the other hand moved to brush back his curls. “Do you want my thoughts?”
The question made him pause. Maddie, Parker, and Lyall hadn’t shared their opinions on this whole mess. At least Joe hadn’t heard from his siblings that the other two had and Ly hadn’t said anything to him directly at drinks. But now, looking at his wife, Joe knew he desperately needed to hear her take on this whole mess. So lacing their fingers together, he nodded.
Maddie smiled softly, brushing back his hair again. “Well, for one, I don’t think this should change your relationship with Pops. I know for a while it might be tough depending on what we find out, but it doesn’t change the love he has for you, your siblings, or your mom.” He nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly with her sentiment. Then she smiled a little softer as she leaned forward, resting her forehead to his. “I think he’s her father. I think that he gave her up when he didn’t think he’d survive the grief of losing his wife and wanted your mom to have the best life she could and never said anything because he didn’t want to taint the memories she had of her parents. Because David and Estelle are still her parents even if they didn’t give birth to her, Joey.”
“I know, love.” Maddie and Evan had been adopted by their father themselves, the Bennetts never once hiding that from their children. And Joe knew there were members of her family that were cruel and hated her and her brother because they didn’t believe them to be worthy of carrying on the family name. But it didn’t change who they were. Maddie and Evan loved their father and he loved them. It always reminded Joe that blood didn’t always make a family. Love did.
In front of him, his wife smiled softly, pecking his lips again before continuing. “I also think he hates himself every single day for not fighting to get her and your aunt back once your grandparents died. And I think he probably feels haunted by his wife more than anything for letting their daughter endure all she has.”
“Me too.” He knew his grandfather blamed himself for what happened to his daughters. Knew there was always a part of Elliot Fontaine that felt responsible for what happened in their aunt’s home when he’d thought he’d given them the best shot at a new life. But it had always seemed like more, like he had so many more regrets about the entire situation that had weighed on him. And now here they were. With this burden of knowledge of what could be. “Mom’s going to hate him.”
“Your mom will forgive him.” Maddie said softly. “It’s just going to take time.” Then she nudged the food at him. “Come on. Eat. Then we can get back to work.”
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“Soooo, we gonna actually talk about this?”
Parker watched Jack squirm. His partner glared at the ground, but no words were spoken. That’s how it had been in the two weeks since the High Pointe visit. Jack, Joe, and Ellie were keeping a tight leash on their thoughts about this entire situation. It’s why he, Maddie, and Lyall had decided tonight was the night they were finally going to push. Not a single one of their relationships could handle the silence much longer.
Which is why Parker decided to continue talking as they waited in the near empty bullpen for Pete to get back from his recon trip to records. “Alright, well, I need to talk about it. I think we are all wrong and-“
“No, you don’t.” His brow rose as he stared at Jackson David Scamander. The older Scamander twin just glared at him and Parker knew the rant he was in for. “You think it’s true. And you are pissed as hell that I won’t talk about it, but how the hell am I supposed to talk about it, Park? My mother’s entire life might be a lie and-“
“She’s still a Goldstein, babe.” This time Jack huffed at his words, sinking back in his chair, but Parker shrugged. “For one, you and I both know even if she was adopted, your grandparents still loved her as their own. Two, if this is all true, her biological mother was David Goldstein’s sister. So she is very much still a Goldstein. But babe,” his hand reached over for Jack’s. There was no fight, no batting his hand away and Parker smiled softly. “Fontaine loves your mom.”
“Then why did he give her up?”
Well, that was the million dollar question wasn’t it? But Parker didn’t say that. He just shrugged. “I don’t know. But I think we have to let him tell us that, don't you?”
“I guess.” It was huffed and annoyed and Parker was well aware he’d be on their couch tonight, but if he got Jack to talk and not bottle this up then he’d done his job. A fact Jack seemed to know as he smiled softly at him. “I know you want me to talk about it. I know. But Park, I am trying to process the possibility of everything. This isn’t me not wanting to talk, it’s me not knowing where to start.”
Humming in understanding, Parker scooted closer. “Well, when you figure it out, know I’m right here. Ready to listen.”
Their hands laced together, careful to avoid the gaze of any of the not so friendly aurors as they waited for Pete, but Jack was staring at him with love in his eyes. “I know you are. And I love you for it.”
“I love you too.” He lifted their hands up, pressing a kiss to the back of Jack’s. Before either of them could say anything else, a lump plopped into the chair at the desk beside his. Looking over, Parker saw one of his best friends slumped in the chair. His brows rose in anticipation as Pete reached into the desk drawer they’d hidden liquor in for late night reports they had to write after a rough day. Pete took a swig of the whiskey before offering it to him and Jack. Parker declined but Jack took a long, healthy drink while he asked, “So?”
The glare he received was intense. And Parker remained sitting forward, looking expectant. Pete groaned and placed an envelope on the desk. “I couldn’t find the birth certificate. I have no clue where that’s hidden away. But I did get this.”
“The death certificate?” Jack asked as he reached for the envelope, slyly opening it with a sense of giddiness.
Pete shook his head. “Couldn’t find that either. But, boys, those records go so far back and are so extensive, I could be down there for weeks and still not find it. What I did find is just as helpful.”
Parker turned to Jack as his jaw dropped so he scooted over, feeling surprise wrap around himself as well when he saw the words on the page. “This is-“
“The adoption paperwork for Porpentina Esther Fontaine filed by David and Estelle Goldstein in 1904.” Pete whispered. “There’s your proof right there.”
“Thanks, Pete.” Jack said quietly. “For helping.”
“Hey, anything for you all. That includes Fontaine by the way. I’m sure he has a reason for this whole thing.”
Jack barely acknowledged them as he stood, the envelope gripped tightly in his hand as he moved toward the door. Parker grabbed their coats offering Pete a smile. “He’s-“
“Not taking this well. None of them are. Go. I promised Mara I’d be home before midnight.”
He nodded, bidding his friend farewell as he chased after Jack. Parker prayed that Lyall and Maddie were having better luck with Ellie and Joe.
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“You know,” she called as she dug through the cedar chest in her grandfather’s living room. “You suck at shielding when you are hiding something.”
Her husband wrapped around her from behind as he murmured, “Because I know better than trying to actually hide anything from you.” Ellie turned her head to look at him, letting Lyall offer her his wildest grin. Rolling her eyes, she stole a kiss before digging around again. “The patronus was from Parker, he said Pete got proof. We can stop looking.”
Instinctively her head shook, her hands moving to sort through the old photo albums buried at the bottom. “No. I want to see it with my own eyes.”
“It’s the adoption paperwork from when they adopted her, Jack and Park have it, we can-”
“Wolf Boy.” She sat back on her heels as she dug the photo album she’d been looking for out of the hidden corner of the chest. When she was young and Pops had a rare night in the city, he’d watched her and the twins, giving the usual crowd of babysitters as well as their parents a break. It had resulted in her snooping in the cedar chest trying to find old photos of her mom and Aunt Queenie while Jack and Joe were arguing in the other room, Pops trying to calm them down. In the midst of everything, Ellie had found it, the album she now held, but as suddenly as she’d pulled it out, Pops was in the room, snatching it from her hands. He’d told her it was very old and nothing of importance, but something had always nagged at her about it. Now she knew why. As she lifted it out so she and Lyall could look at it, her fingers traced the letters on the front page. The Fontaines was written beautifully in a script that Ellie wished her own handwriting could mimic. Behind her, Lyall kissed her neck, holding her as she eased open the book to see a formal photo of her grandfather with his late wife on their wedding day. It was a wizarding photo and even back when this one was taken, it seemed the photos were enchanted to move.
The couple smiled at the camera before looking up at each other. Their smiles were ones she’d seen many times and Ellie realized it was because she, her mother, and her siblings often wore matching ones to those in front of her. How had they never put any of this together? It was always right in front of their faces. When she skipped ahead the pages though, going to the last possible page, that’s when Ellie saw the even more damning evidence. The proof of what they’d all suspected these last few weeks and what would be the twin to the documents now sitting in Jack and Parker’s apartment.
In the center of the page was a photo of Pops, who could only be a few years older than herself and Lyall, and a toddler. They were sitting on the steps of this very apartment building in the midst of a snow flurry. Her grandfather held the toddler up, waving her hands at the camera as the baby giggled and tried to turn and look at him. That same neat script that Ellie knew was Ariadne Goldstein’s was on the bottom of the page.
Tina and Daddy
Waiting to go meet cousin Queenie
A part of her soul broke. She’d heard her mother recount meeting her aunt for the first time so many times. And now she was sitting here discovering the lies that they’d all been fed. The Goldstein sisters weren’t sisters. This photo proved as much and-
“Starlight, don’t go down that path.” Turning her head, she looked up at Lyall in surprise. His hands took the photo album out of hers and then moved to frame her face. “What is the most important lesson your family has taught you?”
“To always be who you are and fight for what you believe in.”
He smiled softly, pressing a quick kiss to her lips before whispering, “Okay, that’s on me, I was too generic about the family of war heroes.” Her eyes rolled while his thumb caressed her cheek. “I meant, what did they teach you about family?”
“Love is what makes a family. Blood doesn’t have anything to do with it. If you share blood then congratulations, but it’s the love and effort you put into each other that is important.”
“Exactly.” Their noses brushed as he soothed her fears. Ellie felt herself falling more and more in love with him by the minute. Her hands found their way to rest on his heart, that steady beat grounding her when she felt like spiraling. Her husband, her Lyall, her Wolf Boy, her world understood her actions perfectly as he kissed her again. “I love you,” his words were mumbled against her lips before he pulled back enough that her brown eyes met his blue ones. The flecks of grey in his eyes were more prominent than normal at the moment. “And you know that really this changes nothing about your family. Elliot still loves your mother and Aunt Queenie as his own. Their late parents were still their parents. They still loved your mother as their daughter. Queenie is still your mother’s sister, still your aunt. But I think one thing you and your siblings need to look at this with is the lens that it isn’t a loss. You didn’t lose your grandparents, they are still there and you are still named for your grandmother. Rather than losing them, you gained another one. You gained a grandmother you never knew you had, but still always missed. That’s what changed, our family gained something.”
Though she knew he was right, there was a little part of her breaking at this knowledge. Not because of the loss vs. gain. No. Ellie knew how her mother was going to take this. And it wasn’t going to be well.
So carefully, she rose up, picking the photo album up as she went. Her hand reached out to close the old cedar chest while she turned to look at him. “We have to talk to Dad.”