“You.” Monica leaned forward, huddled over her tea. “I’d like to know more about you, and my family, too. We haven’t talked about much of that yet. I have so many questions.”

“Yes, yes, we’ve yet to explore that territory.” Grace clasped her fingers across one knee. “Ask away, child, but I must warn you, I promise to answer truthfully, regardless of how it may taint the memory of certain, beloved individuals.”

Monica’s gut had tightened. But she said, “Understood. I only want the truth.”

“Proceed then.”

“All right.” Monica pulled in a deep breath. “Why did you let Lily adopt me, and then wait all of these years to come back?”

“Ah.” A bitter smile flickered across Grace’s face. “It’s the obvious place to begin, isn’t it? The truth? I gave you up to Lily because when you were conceived, I was a wild, teenaged girl of eighteen, ill-prepared to raise a baby. I waited all these years to return to you because Lily despised me.”

“Pardon me?” Monica felt rocked, as if dealt a blow to the head. “She despised you? Why?”

“In her opinion, I was a loose, immoral young woman and would have been a horrible influence upon you. I spoke to Lily via telephone on a few occasions while you were growing up. Each time, I asked her if I might come to see you. She warned me to stay away.” Grace shook her head at the memories. “Lily was kind and loving, but she also could be unyielding in her beliefs, as people of great faith often are, child. Stubborn as the proverbial mule.”

“I can’t believe she denied you the right to see me.” Hot tears were trickling from Monica’s eyes. Grace offered her a tissue, which she accepted gratefully. “I wanted to see you. I needed to see you.”

“Out of respect for Lily—she had raised you, after all—I acquiesced to her wishes.” Grace gazed into the depths of her teacup. “But I knew the day would come when Lily would pass on, and then I would be free to unite with you, if you were willing to have me.”

“Of course, I’m willing to have you!” The tears were coming so fast that even more tissues couldn’t staunch them. “I just can’t . . . I just can’t believe how Lily knowingly kept me from you all these years . . .”

“I’m an uninhibited woman.” Grace chuckled. Her eyes seemed to glow. “I freely admit it’s true. I love men, I love sex. Nothing is as exciting to me as the feeling of a man, engorged, captured up in my essence, utterly at my mercy.” Grace closed her eyes and shivered, as if enthralled by a recent memory of an erotic episode.

Monica blinked, tears wetting her face. She didn’t know what to say.