There was a pause.
“The children.”
That was the right answer.
We met two days later at a quiet coffee shop halfway between the hotel where the kids and I were staying and the Whitmore property.
Grant arrived early.
He had a folder with him, but this time he did not place it on the table like evidence.
He simply sat down across from me.
“I owe you an apology.”
I looked at him.
“You owe the children more than you owe me.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
That mattered.
Ten years earlier, Grant always needed to explain himself before he could admit he was wrong.
Now he seemed to understand that explanations would not change the outcome.
“I should have listened to you.”
“Yes.”
“I should have asked questions.”
“Yes.”
“I should never have let Vanessa become the person I trusted more than my wife.”
I held his gaze.
“No.”
He looked down.
For a moment, I could see how much he wanted me to make the conversation easier.
I did not.
Grant eventually told me what had happened after I left Georgia.
Vanessa stayed close.
At first, she supported him through the divorce.
Then they began dating.
The relationship lasted several years but never became what she had apparently imagined.
Grant said William never fully approved.
His father kept asking whether Grant had ever verified what happened with me.
Grant always answered the same way.
“There was nothing left to verify.”
Hearing that hurt in a way I did not expect.
William had tried.
Even after I disappeared from the family, he had apparently continued asking the question everyone else wanted buried.
Grant looked at me.
“My dad never believed I handled it right.”
I thought about the Christmas card.
“He was right.”
Grant nodded.
“Yes.”
There was no argument.
Then he asked about the children.
Not whether they liked sports.
Not whether Ethan wanted to meet him.
Not whether I thought they might someday call him Dad.
He asked what they were like.
That was the first question that made me hesitate.
Because describing them meant opening a door.
Still, I answered.
Ethan was responsible to a fault.
Noah talked too much when he was nervous.
Luke could take apart almost anything in the house and occasionally even put it back together.
Rose loved animals and hated losing board games.
Emma remembered every promise anyone made.
Grant smiled at that.
