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“Michael mentioned that He told s for years”
Gabriel’s eyebrows shot up “What?”
“Didn’t you know that?”
“No We left New York just before my mother died I didn’t have contact with your father after that” Gabriel ground his teeth “Not a phone call, not a letter, nothing”
“I’m so sorry I assumed there was some contact between you and Dad, based on what Michael said” Kelly sipped her wine thoughtfully “He told me that Dad are of the family who adopted you, and that he knew you went to Princeton and Harvard Apparently, you were a topic of conversation between theh to discuss h to pick up the telephone? Or to write a letter?”
Kelly looked down at the tablecloth “I think I can shed soht on that Dad was the kind of man who made a decision and stuck to it” She lifted her face, surveying Gabriel’s body language with concern “But I’ you”
“I’ to be pleasant”
“Yes, of course So you knew Dad?”
“I rew up in Pennsylvania, after you left New York?” she prompted
“I was fortunate that when reed to take ri
“I don’tI wondered I met your mother a few times, and she seeo and live with theranded withrandmother told social services they couldn’t take me My adoptive mother contacted my father, but he disowned me I would have ended up in foster care were it not for the Clarks” Gabriel’s expression was shuttered
“I’m so sorry” Kelly leaned forward in her chair “You haven’t had it easy, have you?”
“You knew ed the subject
“She was one of the secretaries inand pretty, and whenever I went to visit my dad, she was always kind to me I liked her very much Around the time you were born or hts And then everything calmed down But a few years later, randparents on Long Island Six months later, my parents reconciled and she uessing the separation had sos I overheardabout was ‘that child’ Of course, Audrey and I had no idea who she was talking about We assu over one of us”
Gabriel pressed his lips together “How old were you when they separated?”
“U “I’d say twenty-three? Thereabouts”
“I would have been nine That e left New York”