“Why do you have this?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Thomas gave it to me after you were born.”
My chest tightened.
“He knew about me?”
Eleanor looked almost heartbroken by the question.
“Oh, Christopher.”
Her voice broke.
“He loved you.”
Those words reached a part of me I’d spent years trying not to think about.
“My mother told me he left.”
“He did.”
“Then how could he—”
“Because his family threatened her.”
Eleanor explained what had happened.
The Vale family had already possessed considerable wealth and influence.
Thomas had wanted to marry my mother, Laura.
His father refused to accept the relationship.
When Thomas resisted, the family cut off his financial support.
Laura became frightened that the Vales might attempt to take custody of me.
Eventually, she left.
Thomas searched for us for years.
“He finally found your mother,” Eleanor said. “But by then she had remarried.”
“My stepfather.”
