Part 4: The Harrington Table
Edward’s decision to acknowledge Maya created ripples that reached far beyond his marriage.
His two sons from his marriage to Vivienne — Thomas, twenty-one, and William, nineteen — reacted very differently.
Thomas, the older one, was furious.
He confronted his father in the study one evening, voice raised in a way Edward had never heard before.
Thomas
“So what are we now? The backup children? The ones who were actually raised in this house while you were out there making another family?”
Edward didn’t raise his voice.
Edward
“You are my sons. Nothing changes that. But Maya is also my daughter. I won’t pretend she doesn’t exist.”
Thomas laughed bitterly.
Thomas
“Convenient timing. Right when the company is doing well and you’re thinking about legacy.”
Edward’s expression hardened.
Edward
“Be careful what you accuse me of, Thomas.”
William, the younger son, was quieter. He asked to meet Maya. When Edward arranged a dinner, William was polite but distant. He watched Maya the entire evening like he was trying to solve a puzzle.
After that dinner, Maya went home and cried for the first time in months.
Not because of William’s coldness.
But because for a few hours, she had sat at a table with people who shared her blood, and still felt completely alone.
She called Edward the next morning.
Maya
“I don’t think I belong in your world.”
Edward was quiet on the other end of the line.
Edward
“You don’t have to belong to it. But you’re allowed to take up space in it if you want to.”
Maya didn’t answer.
May you like
She hung up and sat in her small apartment, staring at her mother’s old camera.
For the first time since the gala, she wondered if coming to find Edward had been a mistake.
