Chapter 271 271 The Truth Waiting At The Clearwater House 2

Chapter 271 271 The Truth Waiting At The Clearwater House 2
Tamar opened the door and froze when she saw Meadow. For a moment, she looked truly speechless. Her gaze moved from Meadow to Ethan in the wheelchair, and she bowed respectfully.
“Alpha,” Tamar greeted.
While Tamar struggled to control whatever emotion had suddenly caught her, Meadow battled angry tears. The sight of Tamar’s face, the sound of her voice, the smell of the house, all of it hit Meadow in places she had tried to bury.
Tamar stepped aside and requested they come in. Her hands were shaking, and it was obvious that she was nervous too. Ethan wheeled himself into the house, and Meadow followed behind him. Tamar locked the door and led them to the living room.
Not much had changed. That hurt in a way Meadow had not expected. She looked at the staircase where she had once sat when they discussed her wedding with Luna Amber. Back then, she had been innocent and foolish enough to believe her mother’s sudden warmth meant love. She remembered how well Tamar had behaved towards her, how gentle she had seemed, how almost excited she had acted. It broke Meadow’s heart all over again when she remembered the truth. All that joy had been because they were finally getting rid of her.
Tamar had always been ashamed of her, and she never failed to show it. As a mother, she had neglected her, mocked her and said horrible things no mother should ever say to her child. Tamar was an excellent example of what mothers should not do to their children, and Meadow had lived with the damage for years.
Meadow sat quietly on a chair. She would not say anything. They hated reading her sign language anyway. Ethan had arranged this and brought her there, so he would do the talking.
“What can I offer you, Alpha, Luna?” Tamar asked.
Ethan shook his head.
“Darling?” Tamar asked Meadow.
Meadow looked at her with rage in her eyes. Since when had she become her darling? Where had that word been when she was a little girl crying in silence? Where had it been on her wedding day? Where had it been when Tamar was handing her away like a problem finally solved?
Meadow’s cold stare brought tears to Tamar’s eyes. Tamar knew she had been rash and unfair to her. She knew she had failed. If only Meadow knew how much she regretted everything. Her life had never been the same since Meadow left. Blake no longer stayed home long enough for them to talk about anything properly. When Meadow left, the joy left the house too, and it had never returned.
Tamar nodded weakly and sat on the sofa. She reached for a box of tissues and wiped her tears.
Blake joined them not long after. He stopped when he saw Meadow and Ethan. The mark on his daughter’s neck said enough. Just like Tamar, shame filled his face because he knew he had failed her as a father. He had not protected her from his wife’s wrath. Worse than that, he had allowed Meadow to continue believing Tamar was her mother, which was an offence not only to Meadow but to the woman who had truly given birth to her.
“Meadow,” Blake said with a shaky, cracked voice.
He had aged a lot since she last saw him. The light had left his eyes, and he looked sickly, like regret had been eating him from the inside. But the last thing Meadow remembered clearly was not regret. It was him telling her to shut up and walk when she noticed there was no groom waiting at the altar while he walked her down the aisle. She would never forget that humiliating day.
Blake looked at Ethan and saw that he seemed happier than before. He had heard rumours that Ethan doted on his daughter and loved her fiercely. Those rumours had been the only thing keeping him going.
“Alpha,” Blake greeted.
Ethan nodded. Blake sat down, and Ethan cleared his throat.
“The both of you have misbehaved and been unkind to my mate. Not even a phone call. Neither of you cared to visit. You were careless with her when she was a child and even more careless with her as an adult,” Ethan said.
His eyes moved to Tamar.
“I can understand your reasons. He cheated on you, and Meadow was the result. I am sure you are still mad at him for it, but she was an innocent party in this,” Ethan said.
Meadow gasped.
Ethan did not stop. He had a lot to say, and this was not the time to soften it.
“You had no reason to treat her the way you did, Tamar. Did it ever occur to you that as much as you viewed her as a curse and a constant reminder of your husband’s infidelity, she was also a blessing to you? Because of her, you can boast of being a mother and maybe a grandmother soon. You would have had a family and experienced the full blessings of motherhood had you not been too bitter to enjoy it. But you visited your anger on an innocent child and were negligent until a bad man stole her voice with compulsion,” Ethan told her.
Tamar gasped. Blake did too.
“Yes, that was what happened to Meadow. She isn’t sick or mentally retarded. She was compelled by an Alpha to never speak, see or hear again. She would have been utterly useless if she did not have superior genes. And it is your fault,” Ethan said.
His voice hardened.
“You let her roam around at night. You never cared for her one bit. I remember how often my father would caution you, Blake, and when the evil had happened, you blamed the poor girl for it and made her suffer. The only support system she was supposed to have was unavailable because you were bitter, Tamar, and you were too weak to stand up for your daughter,” Ethan said.
His Alpha pressure filled the room, heavy and frightening. Tamar and Blake both lowered under it, fear washing over them.
Meadow sat in shock, struggling to breathe through everything she had just heard. Not Tamar’s daughter. Superior genes. Compulsion. Her voice stolen by an Alpha. She looked at her father, silently demanding an explanation, and Blake nodded weakly because there was no running from the truth anymore.
Blake opened up then. He told Meadow everything Amber had told Ethan. Meadow listened, tears slipping down her cheeks. When she looked at Tamar, the pain in her chest changed shape. She hated what Tamar had done, but now she understood the wound Tamar had turned into cruelty. Understanding did not erase anything. It did not make the neglect right. But it made the past heavier.
“But I did not throw you away,” Blake said, turning fully to Meadow.
She looked at him through tears.
“Alpha Cain wanted you for Ethan, and I agreed I would allow the union,” Blake confessed.
Ethan watched him carefully.
“They wanted to take you and raise you in their home so they would marry you to their son when you came of age. But I did not want that. I wanted you to have a normal life. There was no guarantee that Ethan or Joseph would want the arrangement, so I insisted on keeping you,” Blake explained.
Meadow stared at him, her expression wounded and confused.
“When Ethan and Joseph grew up and neither looked your way, I was grateful for my decision because it would have been a heart-wrenching experience for you. We were also disappointed because we had looked forward to the union. The day Amber came and told us it was time, I wasn’t happy,” Blake confessed.
“Tamar was pleased because she would have grandchildren, but I wasn’t happy because it felt like an afterthought. Knowing they only wanted you because of your genes made me sad. Why didn’t they come for you when Alpha Ethan was well and all right? Why now when most of the ladies in the pack had rejected him? It felt like your only value was your Ace genes. But a deal was a deal, and she was my Luna, so I let it fly.”