At Least Someone Found You Worthy
“You don’t need my son—he’ll ruin your life.”
“That’s not true, Sophia Eleanor. And why do you speak of Jeremy like that? He’s your only child!”
“Precisely why I’m warning you. I know my son too well to doubt my words.”
Sophia Eleanor slowly left the kitchen, and Eleanor remained seated at the table in her new evening gown. She had put it on deliberately, visiting her neighbour to show off her new purchase—the dress she hoped would dazzle Jeremy.
She had been in love with her neighbour’s son for years. The feelings had taken root when she was still a girl, young and naive, but as it turned out, quite capable of deep attachment.
Jeremy was seven years older. He had been seventeen, and Eleanor just ten, when they first met. She and her parents had moved to Ashford from a nearby village where her father had lost his job, while Sophia Eleanor had lived there for years, raising her son alone.
“A very respectable family,” Eleanor’s mother had remarked one evening after visiting Sophia. Though the neighbour was fifteen years older, the women had struck up a friendship, and Eleanor and Jeremy began seeing each other more often.
A year after meeting, Jeremy left Ashford for university, while Eleanor stayed behind, never forgetting him and often visiting Sophia.
Soon after graduating, Jeremy married, and the news struck Eleanor like a blow. She refused to believe he had found true love—marriage, to her, was forever. Her own parents had been married nearly twenty years; her grandparents had stayed together until death. Even Sophia had spoken of her own marriage lasting until Jeremy’s father vanished without a trace in a warzone.
“He didn’t even introduce me to his wife,” Sophia complained bitterly one day. “Some city girl, full of airs.”
“Well, go visit them yourself,” Eleanor’s mother suggested. “Meet your daughter-in-law, see how the boy lives.”
Sophia waved her off. “Why bother? If Jeremy didn’t invite me to the wedding, then he didn’t want me there. I won’t go chasing after him.”
Eleanor pitied Sophia, but more than anything, she grieved that Jeremy might never return to Ashford. Yet, barely a year after his marriage, he came back to the village with little more than a suitcase.
“Sophia’s boy is back,” her mother announced one evening. Eleanor bolted for the door, nearly knocking her over in her haste. She reached Sophia’s house in seconds, crashing into Jeremy just as he stepped out to smoke.
“Well, if it isn’t Ellie!” he said with a grin, winking.
She noticed how much he’d changed—older now, a full-grown man. A beard, streaks of grey at his temples, though he was barely twenty-five.
“Hello, Jeremy,” she said softly, resisting the urge to touch his face. “You’re back?”
He shrugged indifferently. “Don’t know yet. Divorced. Had to come back to Mum. Lived with the in-laws, and then—nothing was ever good enough.”
Eleanor stared, unblinking. How could any woman think Jeremy lacking? He was wonderful—handsome, kind, clever! There must have been something wrong with that spoiled city girl. No wonder Sophia hadn’t bothered with her.
“Would you like to go to the cinema?” she ventured.
Jeremy shook his head. “No. Got too much to do. Mum’s working me to the bone.”
She hid her disappointment. What mattered was that he was here—breathing the same air, speaking to her, asking how she was. Maybe, in time, he’d realise she was the one meant to be with him.
But Sophia wasn’t pleased by his return. She tried to get him work at the parish farm, then went to the city to call in favours, but nothing suited him.
“I’m tired of his endless dissatisfaction,” Sophia confided one day. “Now I understand why his marriage ended. The problem wasn’t her—it was him.”
“That’s not true!” Eleanor protested, leaping to his defence.
Sophia only smiled bitterly. “Of course, I don’t know my own son. He’s as selfish as his father.”
She fell silent then, eyes distant. Eleanor held her tongue—Sophia looked too weary for argument.
Months later, still jobless, Jeremy left Ashford again without so much as a goodbye. Eleanor wept, grieving him as the finest man she’d ever known.
Then tragedy struck. Eleanor’s parents died in a crash. She was barely eighteen, set for university, but now adrift. Without Sophia’s support, she might not have survived the crushing weight of grief.
Jeremy returned for the funeral—with a slim, fair-haired girl gazing at him adoringly. Eleanor’s heart twisted.
She learned of his remarriage two weeks later—Sophia mentioned it offhand, the news like thunder. Eleanor loved him still, but hope faded.
After her parents’ deaths, she stayed in Ashford, working as a poultry hand at the farm. She never resumed her studies, slowly clawing her way out of despair.
Then, just before the New Year, Sophia told her Jeremy would visit.
“Is he bringing his wife?” Eleanor asked, already knowing the answer.
Sophia smirked. “No. He wouldn’t come back to this backwater if his life were in order.”
Eleanor’s heart leapt. At last! She would finally confess her feelings.
“You’re a fool to wait for him,” Sophia warned.
Stunned, Eleanor protested. “Why? I care for him—”
“Too much,” Sophia cut in. “He doesn’t deserve it.”
The bitterness in her voice silenced Eleanor. Still, she bought a beautiful dress and went to show Sophia.
“You don’t need my son—he’ll ruin your life.”
Eleanor stared. How could the woman who adored Jeremy think him unworthy?
On New Year’s Eve, Jeremy arrived drunk and surly, bearing two bottles of champagne and a black mood.
“Let’s drink,” he said, ignoring her dress.
That night, he stayed. To Eleanor, it was everything.
By morning, she awoke changed. Jeremy—her love, her long-awaited dream—lay beside her.
Two days later, he left without a word. She wept, running to Sophia for news, but the woman only watched her with disapproval.
“I warned you,” Sophia said coldly.
In February, Eleanor discovered she was pregnant. She rushed to the city, meeting Jeremy at a station café.
“I’ve twenty minutes,” he said flatly.
The news didn’t move him. She searched his face for joy—found none.
“If you think this means I’ll marry you, you’re wrong,” he said. “I’ve met someone.”
Her eyes stung. To her, that night had been magic. To him, nothing.
Back in Ashford, she wrestled with her thoughts. Then she went to Sophia.
“You’re expecting?”
“How did you know?”
“I’m not blind. And this village is small. Will you keep it?”
Eleanor looked down. “I don’t know. I thought you might advise me. It’s Jeremy’s.”
Sophia sighed, then took her hand. “I won’t tell you what to do. Once, I loved a married man—thought I could build a future on someone else’s misery. I had Jeremy. Do I regret it? Perhaps. I could have married a decent man, had a child in wedlock. But the choice was mine. I’ll only say this—it’s easier to live with your own mistakes than someone else’s advice.”
Eleanor stared. “But what was my mistake? Loving your son?”
“Perhaps,” Sophia said. “Or you’ll regret the child. Or keeping it for a man who doesn’t care. Like me. You’ll invent stories—a father lost in service—anything but the truth.”
“Jeremy’s father is alive?”
Sophia smiled bitterly. “Alive and well. On his fifth wife, likely. He wouldn’t marry me, but the rest? Easy as breathing. Jeremy takes after him, though he’s never met the man.”
Eleanor left without another word. By morning, she’d decided to keep the child.
Her daughter, Olivia, was born in October. By the next New Year, Sophia was gone. She’d held her granddaughter once—but Jeremy never came to see his dying mother. Eleanor took care of her instead.
At the funeral, Jeremy barely acknowledged her. Another woman stood by his side. Eleanor said nothing of Olivia—he never asked.
He returned six months later to claim his inheritance. But the solicitor delivered a blow.
“The house and land were left to Eleanor,” the man said. “The will was read months ago.”
Jeremy staggered. “How? I’m her son!”
The solicitor shrugged. “You were unreachable.”
Furious, Jeremy stormed to Eleanor’s door—only to freeze at the sight of a stranger answering.
“Who are you?” Jeremy demanded.
Eleanor stepped forward. “It’s alright, William.”
“So you’ve married?” Jeremy sneered. “At least someone wanted youAt least someone found you worthy,” Jeremy muttered bitterly before turning away, leaving Eleanor to close the door on the past, her heart finally at peace.
