Question K

[Jonetta]

Did Gabriel do the right thing in letting Eve believe she was his daughter? How else might he have handled the situation?

[Sharon]

No he didn't. His heart was in the right place, but once she was older he needed to tell her the truth. I think he was afraid that she wouldn't love him. Also, he was afraid that Martha or Jimmy would come back for her. If she knew the truth, she could protect herself if they showed up.

I did hurt for Gabriel. He changed his life for Eve and loved her unconditionally.

[Melissa]

I can see both sides. Gabriel did not know that Martha had another child and thought anyone would come looking. Trying to explain it all to Eve would have brought back painful memories. I feel like he should have told her at some point, though. She had a right to know.

[Anita]

Definitely a rock and a hard spot for Gabriel. I can see why he never told her. When Jimmy showed up an wanted to take Eve to "sell" her to her grandparents Gabriel now knows that Eve's has wealthy grandparents and that would be a threat to him. Thinking he could hide Eve and that she never needed to know about Jimmy and Martha was naive. He should have begun having discussions with Eve after Jimmy left.

[Jonetta]

Keeping her paternity secret was the right thing to do until she was old enough to be told differently, maybe by the time she was ten years old. Yes, Jimmy returning scared him but Gabriel at that point held the winning cards. The man would have had little chance of winning custody.

In his defense, everything Gabriel did was unselfish, trying to protect Eve.

[Robin]

I'm an advocate for parents telling kids that they've been adopted. It can be bad if they hear it from someone else. But I can see Gabriel's reasoning for not doing it. He was scared that Jimmy or even Martha would show up one day to lay claim. He wanted to keep the whole thing quiet and handle Jimmy if he showed up. I don't think Gabriel actually thought about the fact that he had the upper hand if it came to a custody battle.

[Anita]

The real threat that Jimmy or Martha could show up and claim Eve is the very reason he should have told Eve everything he knew about her parents, all the bad and ugly stuff, so she would know how they had abandoned her and that they weren't good people.

[Jonetta]

Great point.