My father signed the agreement in a drunken state.

Years later after marrying, my mother found a copy of the contract, and noticed in fine print that Mr. Hamilton would receive every penny of my father's estate, upon his death. Angered that he had been duped, he confronted Mr. Hamilton and asked him to release him from the contract and write a new one.

When he refused, my father begged that his son would be allowed to marry one of Mr. Hamilton's daughters. Mr. Hamilton agreed but threatened to ruin him and our family, if he ever revealed the contract or agreement to anyone.

My father begged me to marry Mr. Hamilton's daughter Adelaide and fulfill the agreement between the families.

Instead I agreed to marry Mr. Hamilton's daughter, Caroline. A short time later, she gave birth to a baby."

Cedric cleared his throat. "After the baby died, I rushed to Kingston and found that my first wife had also given birth.

I had not known that she was expecting a child. I brought her back with me to the island." Cedric squeezed Maddie's hand gently and smiled at Hayley.

Hayley felt faint. "This is too good to be true!" Hayley rose up and hugged her mother. "How could you keep this secret from me?"

"It has been difficult to keep this from you all these years."

Austin stood beside Hayley. "My mother no doubt has a lot to do with the fact that you felt the need to conceal the truth from your daughter. After all, she is one person that could carry through with the threat to your livelihood."