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‘Oh, Brooke, dear. I’m sure he does.’
‘No, he doesn’t.’Pushing her chair back, Brooke stood up. ‘I’m sorry, I really need to go.’ Rushing behind the counter, she didn’t even call across to Diane or Heidi to tell them she was going for her lunch. She couldn’t. She just needed to get away from Annie and her false promises. Her glimmers of hope because there wasn’t any. Max was a grown adult. He knew how he felt, and his actions spoke volumes.
Chapter Twenty Four
Brooke took anothersip of coffee and settled back against the pillow again. She had everything here—coffee, a slice of her gran’s favourite lemon drizzle cake, and the letter. It was time. She had two hours before she was meeting Max for dinner and Elsie had just left to go to the cinema with Ian. She had the whole flat to herself and time to savour her gran’s final words. It would be a few minutes of happiness before she had to face the reality that Max had left again. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she forced all thoughts of Max and him leaving out of her mind.
Picking the letter up, she traced her name with the pad of her forefinger. The fact that it had been her gran’s wish for her to visit the bay to open the letter had only made her visit all the more special. It was the best feeling knowing that her gran had visited here. Or she assumed she had, anyway.
Brooke frowned. It might be that her gran had never been, that the bay had been a place she’d always wanted to visit but didn’t get around to it. She shrugged. It still made the bay special. She was carrying out her gran’s last wish. Fulfilling the trip she’d wanted to take.
Okay, this was it. She was going to open it. Brooke tapped the letter against her leg before holding it and gently running her finger beneath the seal. There was no going back now.
She slowly pulled it, inching the folded writing paper out into the open. Her gran had used her favourite writing set. The set with the daffodils bordering the paper. Her favourite flowers. Brooke held it up to her nose and inhaled. She could smell her gran’s favourite perfume. She must have been wearing it when she’d written it.
Smiling, she gently unfolded it, treating the letter as though it was as fragile as an ancient document, not written on modern, strong writing paper.
As she read the first paragraph, it slowly dawned on her that the letter wasn’t going to be telling her about a trip her gran had taken, or a landmark she wanted Brooke to visit. The first line was enough to make Brooke realise this wasn’t going to be an easy read—I should have told you this years ago, I should have told your beautiful, kind mum years ago, but I could never find the right words, the right time...
Her mum? What should she have told her mum? And what would that have to do with her, Brooke? Frowning, she continued to read, the words swimming in front of her, not making sense. None of it made any sense.
I remember the day we brought your beautiful mum home from the adoption offices. Your granddad and I felt like the luckiest couple in the world to be finally holding our precious bundle of joy...
We’d always planned to tell her, and then later to tell you, that she was adopted, but the right moment never came...
Life was busy and full of fun. There are no excuses in the world I can use to explain why we didn’t tell you or your beautiful mum. There are no reasons. We just could never find the words. In truth, we’d always viewed your mum as our daughter and then, later, you as our granddaughter...
Now, with the prospect of taking this secret to the grave, I need to tell you. I know I’ve taken the coward’s way out. I know I should have told you before and I understand you may never forgive me or your granddad. In many ways, we don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I hope with all of my heart that you’ll still be able to look back on our wonderful lives together and feel fondness if nothing else...
Laying the letter down, Brooke sat there. Still. Her mum had been adopted. Brooke wasn’t blood-related to her grandparents, to the people who had brought her up, to the people she loved.
She picked the letter back up. She owed it to her gran, to her granddad, to her mum, to read on.
The hardest part of this letter is yet to come... I need you to know the truth... I need you to know your roots...
I realise I’m leaving you alone in this world, without family, so it is my duty to tell you all I know about your birth family...
