Nathaniel is actually the son of Colonel and Mrs. Hawking rather than their nephew.
Such a big deal is made of how much he resembles the Colonel, how much like him he is. The Colonel is said to have loved him like a son. The baby that Mrs. Hawking supposedly lost was actually Nathaniel. Because she resisted motherhood so strongly, he was given to the Colonel's brother Ambrose to raise. Mrs. Hawking is avoiding acknowledging this and the fact that Nathaniel works so hard for a relationship with her is because she worked so hard to avoid having one with him.
- According to the official website
, Nathaniel was born in 1855. As demonstrated in part four: Gilded Cages, the Colonel and Mrs. Hawking didn't even meet until 1859. The timeline seems to preclude this.
