The Shocking Secret of a Guest at the Wedding (Millworth Manor) Read Online Free PDF Page B

voice. “At some point perhaps but now, well, it’s ridiculous and I absolutely forbid it.”
    Lucy winced.
    Jack stared at his mother. He couldn’t recall ever having been at odds with her before. They were usually in agreement over important matters, of one mind as it were.
    In that moment, his entire life, all thirty years, came into focus with crystal clarity. Without warning it struck him that he had spent his life trying to make up for the fact that his father wasn’t around, trying to make his mother’s life better, out of some sort of misplaced sense of guilt. As if it was his responsibility. As if his father’s absence was somehow his fault. It was silly of course, as he had believed his father was dead.
    The anger that had simmered within him from the moment he realized his mother had lied to him his entire life, indeed that much of his life was little more than a lie, blazed into flames.
    “Do you?” Jack said coolly.
    “Forbid might be the wrong word,” Mother said quickly. “But you haven’t thought this through.”
    “Didn’t you say that I was more than capable of making my own decisions about my life?”
    “Yes, of course, but this particular decision is . . . well . . .” Mother squared her shoulders. “It’s ill-advised, Jackson. That’s what it is. I have never known you to make poor decisions before. Obviously, it’s his influence.” She aimed a furious look at her husband who grinned back at her.
    “Perhaps then I should stay here.” Jack’s gaze narrowed and he considered his mother. “As you and I have a great deal to sort out.”
    “Well, yes,” she said weakly.
    “You should know, Mother, that I have never been as furious with anyone as I am with you. Never imagined I could be.” His gaze bored into his mother’s. “Lucy was right. You have stolen something from me and from my father as well. The idea of putting an ocean between us has a great deal of appeal especially since, at the moment, I don’t know that I can forgive you.”
    “Regardless.” She pulled a deep breath. “I don’t think you should go.”
    Lucy raised her chin in a defiant manner. “And I think you should.”
    “As do I.” His grandfather stepped into the library and closed the doors behind him.
    “Do you?” Jack’s tone was harsher than he had intended but he didn’t care. “And what part did you play in all this, Grandfather?”
    “Channing.” Grandfather nodded at the colonel. “I never thought I’d see you again.”
    “No doubt,” Lucy said under her breath.
    Mother shot her a sharp look.
    “Life is full of surprises, Mr. Graham,” his father said in a clipped tone. “But you haven’t answered my son’s question.”
    “It’s not an easy question to answer. Odd, as it used to be.” Grandfather turned toward Jack. “I did what I thought was best at the time.”
    “Are you talking about separating my parents or the decision not to tell me my father was very much alive?” Jack asked.
    “Both.” He glanced at his daughter. “Your mother had made what I had considered to be the sort of mistake that could ruin a life. She was entirely too young and rather foolish.”
    Mother’s jaw tightened. “Thank you, Father.”
    “You’ve grown out of it,” Grandfather said coolly and turned to Jack. “As for not telling you, I wouldn’t say that was a deliberate decision. More of an, oh . . .” Grandfather’s brow furrowed in thought. “An evolution, if you will. As the years went on, it really didn’t seem necessary. You were perfectly content without a father.” Grandfather paused. “It might not have been right in the strictly moral sense of the word but I think it turned out quite well. Given the same circumstances I would probably do it again. And I have no intention of defending decisions made decades ago.”
    Jack stared. “You have no regrets about denying me the chance to know my father all these years? About allowing me to believe he was dead?”
    “Regrets