“Old family money, the kind that comes with conditions.
His parents did not approve of Eleanor.
They thought she was beneath them.
When the pregnancy became impossible to hide, his mother made Eleanor an offer.” Ruth’s jaw tightened slightly.
“Give the baby to an approved agency.
Disappear quietly.
In exchange, Gerald’s family would ensure she was provided for — modestly, but enough to live on — and Gerald would not be asked to choose.”
“And she agreed?”
“She was twenty-two years old, alone in a city she barely knew, with no family and no money of her own.
Gerald did not fight for her.” Ruth’s voice was flat.
“He let his mother handle it.
Eleanor signed the papers in a hospital room three days after giving birth.
She said the nurse who brought her the forms didn’t make eye contact once.”
I thought about the photograph.
The young woman in the white dress.
