Samantha Lee Watson is born December 1973 just days before Christmas. Gene and Katherine long for nothing more than to build a life together, but accusations ofexploitation, blame, immorality, and shame ignite a feud between the families. The young lovers are torn apart; Gene Cooper’s name erased, and a child is raised in secrecy.
So why didn’t Katherine ever tell her daughter, who her father was? Baker believes it’s because “she was heartbroken.” When she spoke to her father that very first anticipated time, “I could hear the same overwhelming emotions in my father’s voice. He was tearful, happy, guilty, and maybe a bit remorseful. But I told him, none of that matters now.”
They talk for hours about the past; he had spent years travelling, playing billiards on the professional circuit as Gene “the Machine” Cooper. He married in his 50’s, and has a lovely wife and step-daughter. “I am his only biological child. When we spoke we were both so overcome. He said he had been looking for me. He had been so scared that he would never know who his child was. He told me about my mother. He remembered what she wore the night they met.” That first talk with her father fills that empty place in her heart, and fulfills the desire for a bond with the missing piece of herself, her real father.
They talk about the present, and a family is reunited. Meeting face-to-face the first time in 2018, children and grandchildren together. All of Samantha’s questions of her origin are answered, “I recognize his facial features in my children- Spencer, my son, has his smile. My outgoing nature is definitely from my father who lives fast and works hard.” She laughs, “He loves life, loves people. He’s loud, boisterous, and fun- just like me.”
They talk about the future; on the phone they talk and text several times a week. Father and daughter together at last; both so thankful to have the chance to be a family.