The initial joy of the reunion had curdled into a quiet, heavy sadness for Sonia. She watched her mother coo over baby Noah and help Evelyn with her food, feeling like a ghost at the feast.
Stella, perceptive to the shift in her daughter's mood, finally found a moment to pull her aside into a quieter corner of the house.
"Sonia," Stella began softly, her voice filled with concern. "My love, you have been quiet since you arrived. Your eyes are full of a story. Please, talk to me. What has happened to you? And... what of Kemi? Where is your sister?"
The direct question, spoken with such maternal worry, broke down the last of Sonia's defenses. The whole story, held inside for so long, came pouring out in a hushed, urgent whisper.
She told her everything.
She spoke of how, after Stella left, the maltreatment from Amelia became worse, focused on the two of them. She described the constant hunger, the harsh words, and the denied schooling.
"Then... Daddy started to see," Sonia explained, her voice trembling. "He saw how Amelia was treating us. He saw that Kemi was suffering too much."
She looked directly into her mother's eyes, wanting her to understand the complexity of the hell they had endured.
"That is why Daddy took Kemi away. He took her to his grandmother's house, to our great-grandmother. It was the only safe place he could think of. So, it remained only me in the house with them."
She then detailed the years that followed: being the sole target of Amelia's frustration, the endless chores, the continued struggle to get an education, and the lonely isolation, punctuated only by the small kindness of her half-brother Oliver.
"I am the only one left there, Mama," Sonia finished, her voice barely a whisper. "It is only me."
Stella listened, her hand covering her mouth, tears streaming silently down her face. The full picture of her daughters' suffering was now clear, and the weight of her own decision to leave them behind crashed down on her with unbearable force. She now knew Kemi was safe, but her eldest daughter had been bearing the entire burden alone.
Stella's heart shattered as she listened to Sonia's plea. The fact that her own daughter had to calculate the risk of a severe beating just for visiting her was a brutal indictment of the life she had left her in.
She pulled Sonia close, holding her tightly, as if trying to transfer a lifetime of missed protection into that single embrace.
"I promise you, Sonia," Stella whispered fiercely into her hair, her voice thick with tears and determination. "Whatever you need—food, money for school books, sandals, anything—you come to me. This is your place too. Do you hear me?"
Sonia nodded against her shoulder, a wave of relief washing over her. It wasn't the perfect reunion she had dreamed of, but it was a lifeline. She had an ally. She had a source of love, however complicated.
Pulling away, Sonia's practical fear returned. "Mama, I have to go now," she said, her voice laced with anxiety. "If my stepmother wonders where I've been for so long, she will beat me like… like something else." The unspoken comparison hung in the air—like a dog, like a slave, like someone who didn't matter.
Stella flinched but understood. She couldn't keep her safe yet, not without starting a war she wasn't sure she was ready for.
"I will still come back and visit you," Sonia added, a quiet vow of defiance.
Stella could only nod, her throat too tight for words. She walked her daughter to the door and then to the gate, her hand resting on Sonia's back. She watched as Sonia, her eldest child, walked away alone—back to the house of her tormentor, back to a life of servitude, carrying only the fragile hope of their secret connection.
Stella stood there long after Sonia had disappeared from view, the sounds of her new children playing happily inside the house now feeling like a distant echo. A fierce, dormant part of her had been reawakened. The sight of Sonia walking back into that hell alone was a seed of revolution taking root in her heart.