Sadness From the Past

"So you've met your stepsister?"

Alan Smith couldn't avoid Ella. His daughter had just arrived and missed the dinner. She immediately wanted to meet and talk to him.

Many questions were running through her mind with no answers.

"Is it true what she said that my mother had ruined your household?" she asked again and was reluctant to answer Alan's question.

"Of course not Ella, my marriage to Marioline was doomed. Long before I knew your mother." Alan looked at his daughter with a sad look, meaning that he was telling the truth.

"It was a long journey until I finally found your mother and you, Ella. But in the end, I still lost your mother."

"I admit, I'm not a good husband. I'm running from my problems and looking for another woman as an outlet. And that's what I used to be, Ella. But with your mother, I felt something different. I felt more needed, as a man."

"How did my mother die?" Ella asked.