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Guest Character Profiles > Gretchen Brook Amelia Bishop

When Andrew Rodwell started seriously considering tracing his biological family, but admitted to wife Wendy that his was worried that his parents wouldn't turn out to be good people, she decided to do a little research. Knowing that Andrew had been born in Sandy Point, to a naval family, she managed to work out the most likely people he was related to and contacted Gretchen Brook, who she believed to be Andrew's biological sister. They met up in secret, and Gretchen confirmed that Andrew was indeed her brother. She explained that her parents, Steven and Barbara, had been teenagers when she'd fallen pregnant with Andrew and had decided to give him up. They'd stayed together and gone on to have two more children, Gretchen and her brother, and she then told Wendy that Barbara had died. When Wendy asked about Steven, Gretchen told her that he was still alive, but had struggled with alcoholism after leaving the navy and it was still a problem, adding that he was a nasty drunk and she no longer had anything to do with him. Upon hearing this, Wendy decided that it might be better for Andrew not to know about any of it, with Gretchen in agreement, but telling Wendy that she was happy to hear that her older brother was doing well and had a wife who loved him enough to do all this for him.

When Andrew found out what Wendy had done, he struggled with the whole thing, particularly the news that his birth mother was dead and his father wasn't a nice guy. As the strain was felt in the Rodwell house, Wendy told daughter Sadie what she'd done, with Sadie's best friend Holly Hoyland also listening in. Holly quickly began to wonder if Gretchen had been completely honest, suggesting that they couldn't simply take her word for it. She decided to do some investigating of her own, later reporting to Andrew that she'd tracked down Steven Brook and spoken to him, claiming to be a journalist, and believing that he was actually a decent man. She told Andrew that she would accompany him to Sandy Point so that they could meet Steven and find out the truth. Though reluctant, Andrew decided to make the trip, where they spotted Steven and Gretchen on their boat. Andrew approached and introduced himself, relieved to find that Steven was very happy to finally meet him. Gretchen then explained that her dad had lung cancer and she'd lied to protect him, fearing that his health couldn't cope with the shock. Andrew was then happy to hear that Steven's latest test results were better and they quickly started to bond over shared interests, with Gretchen suggesting that they could all meet up again when they were ready.

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9258, 9264

Biography by Steve

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