“That’s not fair, Keira.”
I wasn’t sure what I had hoped for, but it was clear she would not tell me what I wanted to know. Perhaps I should be content that she agreed to even meet me.
But I had to try one more time.
“Can you tell me about the locket, at least? It’s the only link I’ve ever had to you and my father.”
Her face softened and she approached me again, touching the locket with a tenderness that relayed a thousand memories.
“He gave it to me, after I told him I was expecting you. He said he wanted to marry me, but I knew it would never come to be. It was the last time I saw him.”
“And the initials?”
“His and mine.”
“His name starts with a B?”
She moved her hand away and wrapped her arms around herself. “I cannot tell you what you want to know, Keira. Please know that we both loved you, but circumstances kept us from the life we wanted to live. That is all I will ever say.”
I tried to put the puzzle together in my mind, but there were too many missing pieces. My father was from England, his family would not allow him and my mother to marry, and the locket was given to my motheraftermy father knew about me. He hadn’t turned her away when she needed him most.Shehad been the one to walk away.
“Did you love him?”
“With all my heart. I still do.”
“He is still alive?”
“I think it’s best if you leave now.”
Alec stepped forward and offered me his arm. “Shall we?”
I wrapped my hand around his elbow, not wanting to leave the woman I had always dreamed of meeting, but there was little else to do. We needed to get back to 7 Buckingham Gate before our absence was noticed.
“Perhaps it’s best if you don’t seek me out again,” my mother said as I started to walk toward the door. “It might be too hard to explain you to my husband.”
I paused and nodded. “If you ever need to find me, we’re staying at 7 Buckingham Gate.”
She walked over to me and put her hand on my arm. “I’m very proud of the woman you have become.”
Emotions clogged my throat, so all I could do was nod as Alec escorted me out of the house.
19
There was more traffic as we made our way back to 7 Buckingham Gate. The rain was gone, and the puddles were drying, but the clouds were still lying low in the sky and everything looked gray.
“I’m sorry you didn’t get more answers,” Alec said as our cab neared St. James’s Palace.
“I am, too.” I hadn’t spoken much since we’d left my mother. There were too many thoughts and questions circling through my head. But I was ready to talk now. “What did she mean by secrets in the nobility that could hurt me? Is my father an aristocrat? Was that why they couldn’t have a life together?”
“I don’t know.”
“The nobility isn’t very large,” I continued. “According to Lady Mandeville there are only 580 titled peers in England. And how many of them are in their forties or fifties? Could I possibly find my father through deduction?”
“Even if you did, what would you do with the information? Your mother made it quite clear that it would hurt his family ifthey learned about you. Perhaps you should trust her and not look for answers.”
“I could use the information to protect myself. If I knew who he was, I could avoid his family. What if—” I paused, a thought coming to me. “What if the Duke of Severton’s family scandal has something to do with my mother? What if—what if his father and my mother had an affair? My mother said that she and my father weren’t married—but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t married to someone else.”
“Your mother said that your father is still alive. The duke’s father is dead. You have nothing to worry about on that account.”
