Chapter 134

"You are about to set upon a new journey in your life. You are in love for the first time in your life. It shows all over your face and in all of your mannerisms. You are scared to death of it. Child, you should not be. You are not your father; you are your mother's child. As hard as you try to be on the outside, when you open your heart to someone you will find your mother looking out for you. She will show you the way to happiness, as surely as she showed me."

"Did my father ever find out about you two?"

"Many years after your mother had passed away, and when your father was gravely ill, he asked me about Emma and me. I lied to him and told him that we had never been intimate and he seemed to believe me. I think he rested easier with that thought on his conscience, although I cannot understand why considering what he did to all the women who came after her. I felt bad for each one of them, and I made sure each one of them was amply taken c