The secrets in a family

One day, not so long ago, my aging mother had a look that only a daughter knows. She was sitting in her favorite chair, her shawl around her shoulders, staring ahead.

“Whatʼs wrong Mother?" I asked with concern.

"Come here my darling", as her shaking fingers urged me to sit beside her.

"I need to tell you a story from the past, itʼs been in my mind for so long, I now feel it has to be told before my past disappears only in foggy memories. It could change your life."

"Alright mother, Iʼm here, tell me your story". I hesitantly said.

"In 1915 your Nana was a maid in a..house of ill repute". She hesitated with the word.

"Thatʼs not bad mother, lots of women took jobs they hated in order to survive." I said

"No my dear, thereʼs more to the story. Your Nana was very outgoing, and the Madam of the house loved her energy as well. She could work hours without complaints. One day Madam Davila asked Nan..if she would be willing to "entertain gentlemen"…mothers hands were over her eyes.

"Are you saying Nan was a…whore?!" I asked loudly

"Yes! She was a WHORE! She also got pregnant entertaining disgusting gentlemen and dirty sailors!" mother started to weep.

I took her in my arms and kept holding her. What did this mean for me?

"What happened after she got pregnant?" I asked.

"Madam Davila couldnʼt have a working girl pregnant. Abortions were too dangerous in those days. When my mother gave birth to a baby boy, the Madam gave him to a group of Nuns. No one knows what became of him." Mother was in tears, not just for her lost brother but for her own mother.

"Did she leave after he was born?" I asked.

"No, she needed the money. 2 years later she met your Grandad at a pub. Till the day he died, he never knew her past. Mother made Kathleen swear she would never tell a living soul. She would have been ostracized."

Then mother did a strange thing, she started to giggle.

"Whatʼs so funny?" I asked

"The Madam called her..'Dora the Explorer!” We both laughed out loud! It seemed like my mothers burden had been lifted.

My life changed and I now had to search for my family.