Our grandfather.
Mom’s father?
No.
Dad’s father, Samuel Hale.
A hard man.
Family reputation mattered to him more than almost anything.
Daniel continued.
“Grandpa said Rachel was unstable and having an illegitimate baby would embarrass the family.”
My stomach turned.
“So he wanted Ethan gone.”
“Yes.”
“Mom knew?”
“No.”
“Dad?”
“Some.”
I felt sick.
Our father had died eight years earlier.
How much had he known?
Ethan’s voice was flat now.
“What money?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Grandpa gave me ten thousand dollars.”
The number sounded almost obscene in its smallness.
Twenty years of someone’s life.
Ten thousand dollars.
“For what?”
“To stop asking questions.”
Ethan laughed.
Not humor.
“You were paid ten grand to forget where a baby went?”
“No.”
Daniel stood.
“I didn’t know you’d disappear.”
“You stopped looking.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was told you’d been placed.”
“By who?”
“Grandpa.”
“And you believed him?”
“Yes.”
“For twenty years?”
