His Secret [Completed]

Chapter Forty-Two

"Two years ago, I heard a conversation I wasn't supposed to hear," Alan began after Sophia and Kelly had burst into his office in search of answers. He'd told them to sit and asked them to explain what happened at the bank. Kelly, of course, was very vocal about almost being arrested, whereas Sophia sat in silence and waited until she'd finished to explain her concerns that it was Brooklyn and Noah who had stolen the money. But after speaking it aloud, she realised her absurdity as Noah had more than enough money to last him a lifetime, as did Brooke.

"Noah and Brooke first started seeing each other and we'd invited them both for lunch. Things had progressed quickly and they were already engaged. But that lunch was the first time I'd met her properly. The first time I saw her was at the annual charity gala, she was a waitress working for the catering company we hired.  Her phone rang towards the middle of lunch and she excused herself to take the call. Now, I don't condone eavesdropping, but I had a gut feeling Brooklyn was hiding something. She was very over the top and friendly, as if trying to force us to like her." Alan paused. "You know, I think your mother should be here for this." He announced and told Kelly to fetch her, Jackson, and even James.

Sherry entered and perched herself on the arm of his desk chair, while Jackson and James stood at either side of the room. "What's this about?" Sherry asked her husband, who whispered his answer into her ear. She nodded and then he continued his story after getting the others up to speed.

"Where were we?" He thought for a second. "Ah, right. Well, I waited a couple of minutes before excusing myself to use the bathroom and followed down the corridor in the direction I'd seen Brooklyn go. As I rounded the corner to check upstairs, I spotted her in my study. She was sitting in this exact chair with her phone in one hand and that photo in her other." He pointed to the photograph of Jaqueline and Elizabeth. "I hid behind the wall and listened in, I watched what was going on in the mirror on the opposite wall. Brooklyn was searching through my desk drawers and I realised that she was looking for something when she told the person on the other end of the phone that what they were looking for wasn't there.

"In my bottom drawer, I had a file with your name on it," he said, turning to Sophia, "because I knew I needed to find you on your twenty-fifth birthday to give you your grandmother's letter. Your address and place of work were all that was in that folder, but it seemed to be exactly what she was looking for. Brooke then put the phone on speaker and read the information to the man on the end of the line. I thought she would leave, but then she saw the letter and read it. She read the whole letter aloud slowly, as if transcribing it to the man she was working with and when she reached the part about the key, she searched the drawer. She became frustrated and I heard her slam her hands onto the table because the key wasn't there. I'd already hidden it in the photo frame. I don't know why I did that, but I'm glad I did.

"Then she said, 'you may as well come in and shut the door.' She must have seen me in the mirror, so I came in and sat down. Everything became clear when she mentioned one name."

"What do you mean?" Kelly asked.

"I've always loved your mother." He turned to his children. "But there was a time in our lives that we couldn't be together. We met in college and fell madly in love, but because we were scandalous, my mother didn't approve of our relationship. Your mother and I were together for two years and forced apart for three. I loved Sherry, but I couldn't go against my mother's wishes, she was afraid to lose her reputation and career because of me. I was always in the papers for doing one thing or another. A reckless party led to a night spent in jail and by the next morning, it was plastered over every newspaper you could think of. I agreed to end things with Sherry because I couldn't disappoint my Mom any more than I already had, and I started to focus on getting my law degree and going into the family business. Over those three years we were apart I met a woman, her name was Margaret. She was kind and my mother approved of her because she was focused and a determined woman. My mother said Margaret kept me on a straight path and after two years, I asked her to marry me.