He dropped to his knees so they were at eye level. His hand lifted toward her face, trembling — then stopped short.
“What’s your name?” he asked hoarsely.
“Eleanor. Eleanor Hayes.”
“And how old are you?”
“Ten. I’ll be eleven in February.” She hesitated. “Are you sure you’re okay? You’re crying.”
He wiped his eyes roughly. “Eleanor, I need to ask you something important. Do you live here with your parents?”
“With my grandma. My parents died when I was little. A car accident. I don’t remember them.”
“Wait.” He gently held her arm. “What is your grandmother’s full name?”
“Ruth Hayes. Why?”
His breath caught. “And your mother’s name?”
“Caroline. Caroline Hayes. She kept her maiden name.”
A sound escaped him — half laugh, half sob. With shaking hands, he pulled a leather wallet from his pocket and showed her a photo.
It was a young woman in her twenties, with brown hair and a beautiful smile.
And the same birthmark on the left side of her face.
Eleanor gasped. “She looks like me. Who is she?”
“Her name was Caroline. Caroline Hartley,” he said, his voice breaking. “She was my daughter.”
He explained that Caroline had run away at nineteen after a terrible argument. He had tried to control her life and was too proud to follow her. He thought she would come back.
“I searched for her for years,” he said. “When investigators finally found her, she was already gone. A car accident. They said she’d had a baby — but the child was missing. I’ve been searching for my granddaughter for ten years.”
Eleanor felt dizzy. “You think I’m…? But my father was James Novak.”
He nodded slowly. “Caroline married James Novak. Your grandmother, Ruth Hayes, was actually Ruth Novak — James’s mother. After the accident, she took you and changed her name so I wouldn’t find you.”
“You’re saying… you’re my grandfather?”
“I believe I am. That birthmark runs in my family. The odds of two unrelated people having identical marks in the exact same place are almost impossible.”
“My mom had it too?”
“Yes. And she was beautiful — just like you.”
William then revealed he was the CEO of Hartley Pharmaceuticals. Business rivals had kidnapped him, planning to force him to sell the company.
“You saved my life, Eleanor,” he said.
They went to the trailer together. When Ruth opened the door and saw William, she went pale and reached for the phone.