AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Anna’s a sweet girl,” Harriet said simply. “I had no idea I was related to her.”
“I suppose she’s your second cousin,” Eloise said, then shook her head. “My entire life, it seemed like it was just going to be Liam and I. And now, I find myself with all this family around me. And you.” She stopped again and stared at her daughter. The sight of her face was enough to break her heart all over again.
Harriet’s lower lip shivered with sorrow. “I feel like I have so many questions for you.”
“I feel the same,” Eloise said.
“What do you want to ask first?” Harriet asked.
Eloise lifted her shoulders. “I don’t even know.”
Harriet chuckled.
“Why don’t you just start telling me about your life?” Eloise suggested. “Start from wherever you like.”
Harriet’s eyes widened. “Are you sure?”
“Tell me a story that lasts twenty hours, at least,” Eloise joked. “I want to hear every single part of your life. Don’t leave anything out.”
“If you insist,” Harriet said. “Well. Let’s see. I suppose my memories started when I was three or four, back when we lived with my grandma and grandpa on Dad’s side.”
“How long did you live with them?” Eloise asked, remembering how kind Herb’s parents had always been.
“We moved out when I was six or seven,” Harriet explained. “That was around the time I figured out how much younger my father was than most fathers. Which, back then, was really fun for me, you know? Because Dad was always up for a game or to run around. He always had so much energy. Gosh, thinking back to when I was six, he must have only been twenty-two or so. Just a kid, really. My son, Jack, is older than that.”
“Anna’s older than that,” Eloise added.
“Right.” Harriet sighed.
“So, it was a happy childhood?” Eloise asked, her voice breaking.
“It was very happy,” Harriet affirmed. “Although I knew there was something missing.”
Eloise’s stomach tightened with fear. “You didn’t have a mother.”
“Right.” Harriet’s face was difficult to read. “I know Dad looked for you for a while.”
“It was a different time. People weren’t so easy to find.” Eloise paused for a moment, searching her mind for something to say— something that could possibly make up for so many years of silence.
“Did you ever…” Harriet began to speak, then dropped her gaze to the sand, as though the words were too powerful, too painful to speak.
“I thought about you every single day,” Eloise breathed.
Harriet blinked back tears. Because Harriet’s face was so similar to Eloise’s, Eloise had the sensation that she watched herself cry in the mirror.
“Your father and I were so young when I got pregnant,” Eloise said, her voice very quiet. “Which shouldn’t have been a problem, you know? Teenage pregnancies happen, and people get through them and go on to raise happy, healthy babies. But my father was not an easy man. Always, he was cruel to me, finding new and creative ways to ensure I knew just how unremarkable I was in his eyes.”
“That’s terrible,” Harriet said.
“I knew the pregnancy would solidify his belief that I was good for nothing,” Eloise said. “So, I convinced your father to hide the pregnancy for a little while. I had this idea that we could run away together, have our baby, and start a new life. It was, of course, a ridiculous idea.
“One afternoon, I thought Herb and I were alone at my parents’ house. This wasn’t allowed in the first place. I was hardly allowed to have friends over, let alone my boyfriend… especially not when my parents weren’t home. We were talking in the kitchen about my plan to run away when, out of nowhere, my mother walked in. Apparently, she’d been napping in the study next door, where she’d woken up and heard everything. By that point, I was four months pregnant and doing everything I could to hide it— wearing baggy shirts and big pairs of pants, which people made fun of me for. But now that my mother knew, there was no hiding it anymore.”
Harriet nodded, her face pained.
“I don’t have to keep telling this story,” Eloise said quietly.
“No. I want to hear it,” Harriet said. “Dad has never been able to talk about it.”
