Page 82 of Family Bonds- Kelsey & Van

“Barry knew where your mother ended up. As much as they fought, they still kept in contact a few times a year. Barry sent your mother money for the holidays. When he found out she was married, he was devastated that it’d been done without his knowledge.”

“Do you think he would have accepted the marriage either way?” he asked.

“Probably not. He would have tried to talk her out of it.”

“Without much success,” Van said. “I was born seven months after my parents married. My guess is that is why they married.”

“I don’t know if Barry knew that part or not. He never said one way or another. I don’t think it matters.”

“I don’t think any of those things matter at this point. They are both gone.”

“But you need answers,” Kyle said. “Your mother and grandfather did meet up once when you were around one. Behind your father’s back.”

“Not surprised,” he said.

“Sounds like you know more than you are letting on,” Kyle said.

“Not in terms of this, but that my mother would go behind my father’s back. My father was one of those men that let the world see one thing and those in the house lived by a different set of rules. He controlled everything and made all the decisions.”

“I believe Barry knew that. He’d said that your mother couldn’t be swayed. Your grandmother had passed before Lauren started college. Barry believed that she latched onto Adam as part of her grieving. Your grandfather was devastated to lose your grandmother.”

“It’s the first I’ve even heard about her,” he said.

“Eloise was her name,” Kyle said. “Again, I didn’t know her and only knew what Barry said, but he was in love. Until the day he died, he still talked about her. I know Eloise and Lauren were close. Maybe in their grief, they weren’t there for each other and it was horrible timing your mother met Adam.”

He shrugged. There was no reason to speculate. “So my mother meets with my grandfather when I’m young. Do you know what happened?”

“Your father found out and they moved shortly after. Lauren didn’t reach out for years and that was when your grandfather hired someone to find out where she was. From that point on, it seemed to be their only communication until you were around ten. I think Barry was giving her time.”

“What happened when I was ten?” he asked.

“Your grandfather had fallen on hard times. Adam always thought your grandfather held money over your mother and that he didn’t have nearly what he said he did.”

“What you’re saying sounds to be about right,” he said. “You just said he fell on hard times.”

“He wasn’t making the best investment decisions. He’d found Lauren and had the person he’d hired reach out to her. It was a woman. This way no one would suspect anything.”

“My father would know if my mother was talking to a man,” he said.

“There was some communication for years on and off through this woman, but I think your father figured it out and put a stop to it. Your mother had no idea I’d come into the picture and we were revamping things here.”

He wondered how his father would feel if Adam knew the worth of Barry. If he would have let Barry back into Lauren’s life or not.

“So Barry focused on that for years?” he asked.

“It felt like it was all he could do at the time. He never stopped trying. He’d get updates from this woman for years, but your mother wasn’t even talking to her anymore. It was more like updates from a distance.”

“Whoever this woman was must not have been around when my mother was sick. You said my grandfather had no idea.”

“No. Barry stopped looking into things a few years prior. He said it just hurt too much. He did consider reaching out to you but didn’t know what you knew about him or if you would believe what your father might say.”

“I’m not sure how I would have reacted,” he said.

“Just like you don’t know what to think about what I’m saying now,” Kyle said. “I know that. I’m only relaying what I know.”

“Because you were told it,” he said.

“I witnessed a lot of it too. You can’t live a lie like that for years. I’d been around Barry when he’d gotten his updates. You have to be a pretty cunning person to plan it all out like that for twenty-five years to get to this point.”

---