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She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth for a moment and chewed. “After you were born, they took you to the nursery to give me a little bit of rest, and your dad went to visit you an hour or so later. During that time, my mom helped discharge me and sneak me out. By the time he came back to the room, I was gone, and there were death forms for him to sign. Fake ones that my mom made, but all the same, it helped reinforce the ruse.” A tear slid down her cheek.

“You broke Dad’s heart. You know he never remarried? Never even went on a single date because despite you being ‘dead.’ he never stopped loving you!” I shouted, so angry. Angry at her. Angry at the world for taking my dad. Angry at everything.

“I know,” she whispered, silent tears free-falling down her cheeks.

“Why didn’t you change your last name? You don’t deserve to be a Kensington,” I asked, my own face quickly becoming wet.

Her gaze shot to her lap as my soul screamed at the world. “Because my dad wouldn’t be able to find me if I stayed as Laura Kensington. She was all but officially dead to him and to everyone who knew me in my past life.”

“I VISITED YOUR GRAVE!” I screamed, balling my hands up into fists.

“I know.” She closed her eyes. “My mom managed to have the funeral services closed-casket. Your dad was deep in the throws of taking care of a newborn and…you know…so he didn’t question it. Nobody did. You buried an empty coffin.”

“Did you ever think about coming back? Did you ever want to come back?” I asked, though I wasn’t even sure I wanted an answer to that question.

“Yes, I wanted to come back. But no, I never considered it to be an option. There was too much risk—”

“Too much risk? It was too risky to come see your family?”

“Yes, Briar. I couldn’t chance your grandfather finding out.”

“He died when I was sixteen! And I know you knew that if you knew Dad never remarried. If you knew how things with the funeral were handled, you knew,” I snapped.

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Yes, I knew.”

“I can’t believe this,” I muttered and turned toward the gentle sunlight coming in through the window. “I never met my grandparents. Dad’s parents passed before I was born, and then he told me your dad was too sick to meet me and your mom had to stay to take care of him. Then when he died, Dad told me your grandma was too heartbroken to meet me. I was so wrapped up in myself as a teenager, I didn’t recognize how painful that was for him to tell me until I was much older.”

Whipping an accusatory glare back toward Laura, I noticed that her gaze remained trained on a single stitch of thread on her clothes. “Why did your mom not want to get to know me after your dad died?”

“Because I asked her to stay away. Because I didn’t want to put my mom in a position where she had to continue lying for me. So, once your dad stopped asking questions about my death and your grandfather’s death, my mom just left him alone. Then she passed a year later and it made it easy to just let it go.”

“Dad died believing you were dead! Dad had to protect me from everything you should’ve been there to help him with on his own! Dad took care of me alone because you abandoned us! And I never got to say goodbye to him!” Anguish squeezed my heart. My chest tightened as I stared at a woman I didn’t know and never wanted to know. I wailed to the ceiling, a soul-shattering ghost of a scream. “Tell me this, why did the Dukes make Cassidy come home from living with Rooney when he learned my dad’s last name? Cassidy never even knew I existed, so what was the point?”

“The Dukes didn’t know you existed either. I told them about my father and how I had to leave to protect Thomas. But I didn’t say anything about you. They brought Cassidy home for fear that somehow, my father would discover the connection between Cassidy’s family and myself,” she explained. Her voice had a mere fraction of the strength she’d walked in with.

“You’re a coward,” I snarled. “Dad would’ve rather had you and dealt with protecting you and me from your father than what happened. And you know it.”

“Briar,” she whispered.

Rolling my shoulders, I lifted my chin. “No. I don’t need anything else from you. You’ve told me enough. You had plenty of opportunities to come back. You had other options. You could’ve made a different choice. I never want to see you again.” I motioned with my head toward the brown door, and I heard her gasp as I said, “Get out.”

“Please, Briar. I just wanted to keep you safe. I just—”

“I said, get. Out.” Whipping my head back, I narrowed my eyes and curled my lip into a sneer. “You’re a disgrace to my dad’s name.”

She shakily rose from the chair. “I loved him, you know. I still loved him long after I left. I still love him.”

“Clearly not enough.”

“Briar, again, it’s not that simple.”

“How is it not? The threat, your entire reason for leaving eventually died. I could’ve had a grandma. I could’ve had a mother,” I snarled as the doorknob clicked again, signifying it was opening.

I glanced away from Laura as another nurse popped her head through the door. She was a mousy lady with intense, curly hair. “Sorry to interrupt, but your son popped by with some lunch for you, Laura,” the lady said.

The blood in my veins slammed to a halt, and I swirled my gaze back to Laura. Cold ran through my skin. “Son?” I hissed.

She closed her eyes, her face pulling tight with guilt. “I never remarried, if that makes a difference,” she whispered.