Elderly Man Always Bought Two Movie Tickets for Himself, So One Day I Decided to Find Out Why – Story of the Day

“Hi, Dad. This is my friend, Edward,” I stammered.

“Go on.” His face didn’t change.

“I need to ask you about someone who worked here years ago. A woman named Evelyn.”

He froze for a fraction of a second, then leaned back in his chair. “I don’t discuss former employees.”

“You need to make an exception,” I pressed. “Edward has been searching for her for decades. We deserve answers.”

Thomas’s gaze shifted to Edward, narrowing slightly. “I don’t owe him anything. Or you, for that matter.”

Edward spoke for the first time. “I loved her. She was everything to me.”

Thomas’s jaw tightened. “Her name wasn’t Evelyn.”

“What?” I blinked.

“She called herself Evelyn, but her real name was Margaret,” he admitted, his words cutting through the air. “Your mother. She made up that name because she was having an affair with him,” he gestured toward Edward, “and thought I wouldn’t find out.”

The room went silent.

Edward’s face paled. “Margaret?”

“She was pregnant when I found out,” Thomas continued bitterly. “With you, as it turned out.” He looked at me then, his cold expression faltering for the first time. “I thought cutting her off from him would make her rely on me. But it didn’t. And when you were born…”

Thomas sighed heavily. “I knew I wasn’t your father.”

My head spun, disbelief washing over me in waves. “You knew all this time?”

“I provided for her,” he said, avoiding my gaze. “For you. But I couldn’t stay.”