"Maisie, I'm sorry."
Seeing the first line, Maisie almost didn't have the courage to read on.
She set the letter aside, covered her mouth, and wept.
Robert could hear his mother's sobs from outside. Not loud wailing, but muffled, quavering sobs.
In the end, his mother was still hung up over his father. If she could set him aside, maybe she'd be happier later on.
Robert didn't want his mother to drown in the past.
After crying for an untold period of time, Maisie mustered the strength to read on.
Her eyes were immensely swollen, and her sobs from earlier had her body trembling.
But she'd already taken up the letter before her, and continued to read.
"I once thought that we'd live respectfully together, or become a pair of grudgeful people in our middle years, with you living your own days, and me mine. I was busy with business every day, and you were busy raising our children. It was a mild, boring life to me.
"I married you because I found you elegant and proper, and would make a good wife. Before I met that woman, I'd never loved anyone before. I never felt like I'd feel anything for any woman in this life. To be honest, before meeting her, I didn't believe in love at first sight, so I felt like I could live the rest of my life with you.
"From since the time I grew up, I'd planned my life well. I thought that after I retired as I planned at fifty and let my son take over the family business, I'd travel the world as a drifter. But that was all my own imagination. I fell in love with that woman the moment I saw her, to the point of obsession.
"I know the things I've done are insane, and I know that doing this is letting you down and letting our son and daughter down. But I'd never wanted to live the life I wanted before. It's the most selfish I've ever been in my life, and it resulted in you being hurt so badly. But I still left and decided never to come back, until Robert had his incident, and you had to find me anyway.
"You see, that's how cold and selfish I am. If I had any pity or love or sympathy for you, I wouldn't have made that decision. That was how cold I was to begin with. I'm not worth your entire life's longing, or your entire life's grudge, and I'm not worth staying in the Simpsons for. I'm planning on having someone give you this letter after my death. I think that if I said these things to you while I was alive, you'd only sneer at me, say I was looking for excuses, and mock me for being a hypocrite.
"But if you're reading this letter, I must have already departed this world. I'm dead now. Go live your own life. Don't waste your hate and your emotions on me. In the end, the one person I feel like I should be the sorriest for is our daughter. I didn't know all that would have happened to her. You see? The person I'm sorriest for isn't even you, but I still felt like I should apologize to you.
"Live the life you want from now on."
The letter ended there, at a screeching halt.
Maisie rolled her wheelchair over to the window-side.
She suddenly recalled the year they'd gotten married, the man's faint smile at her, and the vows they'd spoken before the priest.
It was fake. It had all been fake.
It was only her being so invested like a fool, believing that if she worked hard enough, treated him well enough, he'd look back at her eventually.
But it had just been her own longing.
Robert waited outside for a long time, and didn't hear her sobs anymore, which worried him.
After a long while, the door opened, and Robert saw his mother wheeling herself outside.
"Are you all right, Mom?"
Robert asked concernedly, afraid his father had written something that could provoke his mother's madness.
"I've got something I want to ask you. Are you planning on being together with Georgia for the rest of your life?"
Robert nodded silently. If he said any more, she might have gotten even angrier.
Maisie scoffed.
"Know what your father said to me in his letter? He wants me to live the life I want to live. Well, the life I want to live one where my son and Casey Allen's daughter are completely separate, and never tangled together. Your father wouldn't want that, but he's dead, so what can he do? He can panic from the other side.
"I'll ask you again. Your mother, or your wife. Me or Georgia. You can only choose one. If you choose Georgia, then there's no need for the two of us to see each other again. From now on, you'll no longer be my son!"
Even though he'd known that his mother would have made him choose, but Robert still hadn't expected his mother to make such a demand after seeing the letter.
"Mom, you mind that Georgia and Casey are mother and daughter, but do you know that Casey had never raised Georgia, and they'd been separated for over twenty years? For all this time, Casey never thought of Georgia, because she'd forgotten everything, been lied to by my father, then lived for over twenty years under another identity. She only remembered those memories lost year."
"Are you defending them?"
Maisie sneered.
"Don't change the subject. Your father's right. He's selfish, and only wanted to live his life as he wanted. Now I'm going to be like your father and live the life I want. If you leave Georgia, I'll still recognize you as my son. If you don't, then I don't need you as a son. I don't need a son who hurts my heart."
"If you don't want me as a son, Mom, I'll still care for you, protect you, and love you in my own way. No matter if you disown me by word, or by announcing it to the newspapers, or by no longer permitting you to see me, I can care for you in other ways. You're my father, and I'll repay the debt I owe you in some other way.
"If disowning me will make you feel better, then you can do you. But I won't ignore you or leave you for it. No matter where you go, as your son, I'll keep you safe, and keep your life free of worry."
Robert's words had Maisie so angry her fingers trembled.
"You're still determined to be with Georgia Lane over having me as a mother. How could I have had a son like you?"
"I'm not choosing to abandon you. You're choosing to abandon me. But I won't distance myself from you for it. I'll take care of you in other ways."
"Take care of me? Being with Casey Allen's daughter and pricking me where it hurts every day is supposed to be taking care of me?"
Maisie shrieked in rage. All she felt right now was that her son was being a shameless bastard, and her whole hand shook. In the moment, she couldn't think of any words to refute him with.
"Mom, being with Georgia might hurt you a little, but you're telling me to leave her; the woman I love the most. Have you thought of how hurt I would be to be separated from her? You're asking me to hurt myself. I can't do that.
"Maybe I'm like my father, selfish and cold. You can think of me that way. But I'll always take care of you. I'll arrange it if you want to go have fun somewhere. I'll switch your home out if you don't want to live her. I'll stop having Georgia appear before you if you don't want to see her. Other than being separated from Georgia, I'll try my best to satisfy you on everything else."
"Laughable!"
Maisie scoffed, and wheeled her chair forward.
"Butler, take me to the garden. I need some fresh air."
She didn't seem to want to talk with Robert anymore. Maisie just wanted to be away from this son of hers.
She was afraid she'd get an ulcer if she took another look at him.
Robert sighed and could only let the servants and the butlers take his mother to the mansion garden to bask in the sunlight.
It was winter, but the weather today was warm, and the winter sun was high in the sky.
It was quite cozy.
Meanwhile, Georgia had come to the meeting place with Aston's parents.
It was a café close to the hospital. The décor was elegant, and it wasn't noisy.
It was almost half full with customers, but the people who'd come here all liked it quiet.
Even if they spoke, they kept the volume low.
Georgia went in, told them who she was meeting, and the server brought her to a compartment.
Opening the door and going in, Georgia saw Aston's mother Laurie, and his father Carr.