Chapter 5 — Sophia’s Father Never Told Her About Bellweather
Sophia stared at Nora.
“My father?”
“Thomas Bennett.”
Nora nodded.
“Skinny boy. Dark hair. Always carrying a book.”
Sophia laughed nervously.
“That definitely sounds like him.”
Thomas had died seven years earlier.
He had been an accountant.
Quiet.
Careful.
Not somebody Sophia associated with luxury resorts.
Nora explained.
Thomas’s mother, Eleanor Bennett, worked in Bellweather’s kitchen during the summers.
She was widowed young.
Thomas often came with her because childcare was expensive.
Employees looked after him between shifts.
“Your father ate more staff-kitchen pie than any child I’ve ever met.”
Sophia smiled.
“He hated pie.”
Nora laughed.
“Then he lied to you.”
She remembered Thomas spending afternoons on Magnolia Cottage’s porch while Eleanor worked.
Sometimes Nora’s daughter, Melissa, played there too.
“They were about the same age.”
Sophia frowned.
“Dad never mentioned Melissa.”
Nora looked toward Adrian.
“My daughter was Adrian’s mother.”
Sophia turned toward him.
Adrian looked equally surprised.
“My mom knew her father?”
Nora nodded.
“For years.”
Melissa and Thomas became close childhood friends.
They built cardboard forts behind the laundry building.
Collected stones from the lake.
Practiced skipping them from the dock.
Then one summer, everything changed.
Thomas stopped coming.
Eleanor quit.
Nora never understood why.
Until years later.
Sophia leaned closer.
“What happened?”
Nora looked toward the window.
“Your grandmother was accused of something she didn’t do.”