The secret that her mother had taken with her
No, she and Caleb weren’t related by blood—Walter made that clear immediately. But there was more. His mother, Sarah, had made him promise before she died to keep that family away from her daughter. Years earlier, Sarah had worked as a nanny for Caleb’s parents. After her husband’s death, Caleb’s father had harassed her, then fired and ostracized her professionally when she refused his advances.
In an old cedar box, at the back of a drawer, a photograph reappeared: two children on a red bicycle. She and Caleb, aged four and seven. And letters he had sent for years, asking about her, sending his pocket money. His mother had written on the back of the last one: “He doesn’t look like his father.”
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