donât mind me opening them.â
âNot at all.â He moved the chess set to the top of a display case. âSorry, I guess the aroma can be a little overbearing.â
Juliet wondered if her eyes were watering. The stench of burnt tobacco and cigars permeated everything in the entire shop. How did Gordon Hanley, the man who was her biological father, stay in business? âYou donât have to apologize. Iâm just not used to smokers, thatâs all.â
âItâs a nasty habit.â
She smiled. âYet you do it.â Her mother told her Gordon Hanley had been a dramatically romantic figure, that every college girl had dreamt about. She tried to picture what Gordon had looked like twenty-six years ago. Sitting across from him, she could see what her mother had meant. Gordon was still a good-looking man, in a Gothic sort of way. He must have been stunning back in his youth. He was tall and thin with an angular face and flowing long black hair that was now streaked with gray. The man who had fathered her looked like a poet.
âIâve never touched a cigarette or a cigar. Now a pipe is a different story.â Gordon picked up a glass of soda and relaxed into the chair. âA man needs a vice or two to stay sane in this world.â
âI could think of worse vices.â She now understood where she got her height, her dark hair, and her metabolism. Her mother and sister, Miranda, constantly groused about how she could eat anything and not gain an ounce, while they just looked at food and their jeans got tighter.
âLike having a child and never giving one dime of support?â
She worried her lower lip at the serious change of topic. A touchy subject, by the tone of Gordonâs voice. âFrom what Iâve been told, you didnât know my mother was pregnant or about me till I was fifteen. My mother asked you not to interfere or contact us.â
Gordon didnât deny that statement. âWhen did Victoria tell you about me?â
âTwo months ago. We were having a family dinner when the topic of who had what blood type came up. Mom changed the subject and then asked me to stay after my brothers and sister left.â
âBrothers and a sister?â
âYou donât know?â She stared at Gordon Hanley, her father, and realized he knew about as much about her life as she knew of his. Absolutely nothing. âI have two brothers and a sister.â
âVictoria had four kids?â He chuckled at the thought. âI remember her once telling me she wanted a large family. Iâm glad she got what she wanted.â There was a touch of sadness in his voice.
âKenâs twenty-four and a police officer with the Boston P.D. Bradâs twenty-two and just graduated with a degree in criminal justice. He followed in Kenâs footsteps last month.â
âAnd your sister?â
âMirandaâs twenty-one and the spoiled baby of the family. She has one more year of college and then sheâs determined to go to law school.â
âTheyâre all in law enforcement?â Gordon seemed intrigued by the idea.
âDad, I mean my stepfather, was a detective for the Boston Police Department.â For twenty-four years she had called Ken Carlyle Dad. Was she really supposed to be calling him stepfather now? And what was she supposed to call Gordon Hanley? She couldnât bring herself to call him Dad, and âMr. Hanleyâ sounded asinine considering the situation. âGordonâ had the best ring to it, but so far she had avoided calling him anything.
âWhat do you do?â
âIâve always been the oddball of the family. Iâm an elementary school teacher. I teach third grade at a school right outside the Boston city limits.â No wonder sheâd never felt the slightest desire to follow in her fatherâs footsteps like the rest of the kids. Ken Carlyle hadnât been her