Chapter 1

The Moon That Remembered My Face by Elias Rowan Montclair 1 Summary

Helena Ward finds herself bedridden in a hospital, overhearing a tense confrontation between her husband Ethan Carter and their son Adrian. Ethan accuses Adrian of deliberately putting orange juice in Helena’s smoothie, knowing she is allergic, as a form of revenge for Helena’s treatment of Aunt Grace, Ethan’s former flame and Helena’s adopted sister. This revelation wounds Helena deeply, as she realizes her son is siding against her and defending Grace, who has been poisoning the family against her. At the hospital, Helena confronts Adrian, who bluntly tells her that she must apologize to Grace for pushing her into a pond at a family dinner, a lie Grace spread to turn the family against Helena. Adrian even threatens to disown Helena as his mother if she crosses Grace again, expressing his admiration for Grace’s charm and elegance compared to Helena’s dull, old-fashioned demeanor. Feeling betrayed and exhausted, Helena calmly proposes a divorce to Ethan, ready to walk away from a marriage where she has been coldly rejected and undermined for five years. Ethan reacts with disbelief and cynicism, suspecting Helena’s divorce threat is just a ploy to keep him interested. Meanwhile, Adrian eagerly supports the idea, excited that Grace might become his new mother. Helena, meanwhile, packs her things, feeling a strange sense of freedom as she prepares to leave the Carter family’s grand villa. Despite the years of struggle, she no longer wants to play the role of a dutiful wife or mother in a family that has turned against her.