Chapter 8 - What Grant Told Ethan
Grant’s first conversation with Ethan lasted twelve minutes.
A child therapist named Dr. Melissa Boyd sat nearby.
I stayed in room because Ethan wanted.
Noah, Luke, Rose, and Emma were with Laura.
Grant looked more nervous than I had ever seen him.
Ethan sat across.
Arms crossed.
Grant began badly.
“Your grandmother Vanessa…”
Ethan interrupted.
“She’s not my grandmother.”
Grant stopped.
“Right.”
Then looked at me.
I did not save.
He tried again.
“Vanessa lied to me about your mom.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
I said quietly:
“Grant.”
He nodded.
Truth first.
“My own choices.”
Then to Ethan:
“When your mom told me she was pregnant, I was angry because I believed she had cheated.”
“Did she?”
“No.”
“Did you know then?”
“No.”
“Did you check?”
Grant swallowed.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I was hurt and proud.”
Ethan stared.
Then:
“Mom did test.”
“Yes.”
“Did you read?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I refused contact.”
Ethan looked at floor.
“So you didn’t know me because you didn’t want to know.”
Grant’s face broke.
“At that moment, yes.”
I closed eyes.
Hard.
Honest.
Then:
“I was wrong.”
Ethan asked:
“If Vanessa didn’t steal letter, would you have come?”
Grant took time.
“I hope.”
“That’s not answer.”
No.
Grant said:
“I don’t know.”
Better.
Then:
“What about Noah and Luke?”
“I did not know your mom used embryos.”
“Why?”
“Vanessa intercepted clinic notice.”
Then Ethan:
“But you signed paper allowing.”
“Yes.”
“Did you forget?”
“Yes.”
He frowned.
“Adults forget four babies?”
Not exactly.
Grant laughed painfully.
“I forgot contract, not babies. I didn’t know babies existed.”
Then:
“Do you want us because Grandpa left money?”
The question hit.
Grant looked at me.
I had not planted.
He answered:
“No.”
“How prove?”
“I can’t today.”
Good.
Then:
“I can only behave long enough for you to decide.”
Ethan stared.
That answer mattered.
Then he asked:
“Are you still married to Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Grant froze.
He had no answer yet.
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
“If she lied about us, why are you still married?”
“I found out days ago.”
“Okay.”
Then:
“So what are you going to do?”
Dr. Boyd stepped.
“That is adult relationship question.”
Ethan:
“It affects us.”
She acknowledged.
Grant said:
“I am living separately while I learn facts.”
Reasonable.
He had moved into hotel.
Vanessa remained estate house temporarily? She had own residence. Fine.
Then:
“I will not ask you to meet her.”
“Good.”
Conversation ended.
No hug.
Grant said:
“Thank you for talking.”
Ethan shrugged.
After Grant left, Ethan cried.
Not in front.
Into my uniform jacket.
“I hate him.”
“Okay.”
“I wanted him to be worse.”
I understood.
“Why?”
“Then easier.”
Yes.
A monster is easier than flawed father who cried.
Then Noah and Luke met Grant together two days later.
Noah asked twenty questions.
“Do you play baseball?”
“Yes.”
“Do you snore?”
Probably.
“Do you have allergies?”
Peanuts mild.
Luke barely spoke.
Then Grant pulled old photograph from wallet?
Not children. Maybe his childhood photo. He showed only when asked.
Rose and Emma saw him in playroom.
Rose asked:
“Do you like horses?”
“I don’t know much.”
“I do.”
Emma hid behind me.
Grant sat on floor at distance.
No forcing.
At end, Emma handed him plastic horse.
That was all.
He cried later in hallway.
I did not comfort.
Thomas did.
Maybe.
Then estate paternity.
DNA report filed under seal because minors.
Descendants Trust activated.
Independent trustee.
Grant waived any right to manage their shares.
That surprised Margaret.
He said:
“I have done enough deciding without them.”
Good.
Then Vanessa filed objection.
Not to paternity science.
To estate standing.
She argued embryos used after divorce without Grant’s informed post divorce consent, so younger children should not qualify as “issue” under William’s trust?
Ugly.
Legally complex.
Her lawyer claimed only Ethan unquestionably existed as biological descendant contemplated by William.
Grant responded through counsel:
“All five are my biological children. I will not support an argument that treats four as less because of how they were conceived.”
That was first public choice for them.
Then Vanessa called him privately.
He recorded? Not secretly maybe Georgia one-party? Legal. Let's not rely. He summarized in affidavit.
She said:
“If you recognize all five, Savannah takes everything.”
False.
Savannah takes nothing.
Grant replied:
“Their trust is theirs.”
Then:
“What about us?”
Grant:
“That depends on whether you forged my clinic letter.”
Vanessa hung up.
Then forensic examiner completed destruction letter analysis.
The file was created on laptop registered to Vanessa.
But could others access?
Yes.
Then an email recovered from her old backup.
Subject:
Clinic.
To Richard Hale.
She wrote:
Grant thinks embryos are gone. Keep it that way.
Date seven years ago.
No ambiguity.
Grant read.
May you like
Then called divorce attorney.
Continue to the next part: Grant begins separating from Vanessa after an old email proves she deliberately wanted him to believe the embryos were destroyed.
