“That you have no sense of boundaries. You tell your life stories as soon as you meet.”
“Better than crying into a pillow in secret,” Jack said. “So what did your mother actually do?”
“I... She...”
Jack pulled half a dozen tissues out of the box on the side table and handed them to her.
She wiped her eyes and blew her nose. “I must look awful.”
“A real troll.”
She sort of smiled.
“My father—my beloved father who I adored...”
“Yes?”
“He...” She sniffed. “He isn’t my father. I’m not related to him.” Her voice was rising. “Granny isn’t mine. None of his family belongs to me.” Tears were beginning to flow again.
Jack couldn’t bear it. She needed all the comfort he could give. He leaned back against the headboard and extended an arm in invitation.
“I don’t know you and I shouldn’t...” She went to him, put her head on his chest, and he held her with both arms. She cried some more, wetting his shirt, and his hold on her was snug.
“So who is your father?” he asked softly.
“A nobody. He cleaned the stables. He left my mother as soon as she told him she was expecting me. He didn’t want me. He ran away with some dreadful woman. They—”
Jack had to work to keep calm. “Are you saying your father is Sean Thorpe?”
“Yes, that’s the name.”
“But he and your mother greatly disliked each other.”
“Grow up!”
“Right.” Jack glanced at the door. He wanted to run to tell Kate and Sara. “Tell me everything.”
Teddy moved away and blew her nose again. “I don’t want to know all of it. Mother tried to tell me but I couldn’t bear to listen.”
“Are you upset because you don’t think you still have the right to be called a ‘lady’?”
“What a snob thing to say! I’m angry because I’ve been lied to for my entire life. She could have told my real father her situation. He would have saved her. He would have rescued us from a life of poverty. He was a man of honor and—”
“I don’t think Nadine’s father would have allowed you to live in poverty.”
Teddy waved her hand. “That’s beside the point. That man left her! Abandoned her. If she’d told me that long ago, I would have understood. Can you imagine what it’s like to know your own father didn’t want you?”
“Yes,” Jack said. “Vividly. Did Nadine tell you when she and Sean first got together?”
“She tried.” Teddy held out her hand and he gave her more tissues. “She said it was love at first sight. No! It was passion at first sight. But she said she couldn’t tell anyone. I don’t know why.”
“They would have ripped her apart,” Jack said. “Like they did to Willa over her lawyer.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing. Did she mention riding lessons?”
“I don’t remember. Oh yes. She said it took months to make Gramps come up with the idea of giving her riding lessons.”