Chapter 18

I looked down and held her hand. "Mom is fine." She looked at me, her cloudy eyes holding a glint I couldn't understand. "Mom knows all about your sister's affairs. After you left, Gideon came to see me every Christmas, and Ophelia came too. I won't judge their business. But there is one thing Mom has to tell you." She paused, as if gathering a great deal of strength just to say the next sentence. "That child is not Gideon's." The sunlight from the window slanted in, falling across the white...