It is Exactly What You Think

There was a long silence on the phone. If it was not for Mike's breathing on the other line, Neil might have assumed that Mike had hung up on him.

"You cannot tell Edith what I am about to tell you. Promise me that you will not say a word to my granddaughter."

Neil frowned at his request but decided to agree with Mike's request at the moment. 

Since Mike decided to be secretive about this, then perhaps, this matter would involve his girlfriend. However, whether he was going to tell Edith or not depended on what Mike was going to tell him. He will have to judge whether Edith needed to know about it or not.

"You should know that Edith's mother passed away when she was a little kid," Mike said. "Edith should have told you how she died."

"She mentioned that it was a traffic accident."