Chapter 9 - Ethan Overheard More Than He Was Supposed To
Children always hear more than adults think.
That night, after Mrs. Collins got Sophie asleep in the nursery and the doctor examined Ethan’s cheek, Daniel sat beside his son’s bed.
Ethan looked exhausted. Much older than eight.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“If I tell you something, you won’t be mad?”
Daniel felt sick at the question.
“No.”
Ethan stared at the blanket.
“The first time I heard her talking about the trust was like… three weeks ago.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“She was on the phone in your office. She said if you died, she could contest stuff easier if we were ‘unstable.’”
Daniel went very still.
“She saw me when I walked by,” Ethan whispered. “After that she started being meaner. She kept saying I had a lying problem and maybe I needed a special school.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Ethan’s eyes filled.
“Because she said you’d never believe me. And sometimes when I tried, you always said she was just stressed.”
Daniel shut his eyes.
There it was.
The part he would hate himself for longest.
Not just that Vanessa had lied.
That Ethan had tried, and Daniel had failed to hear him.
“She also said something else,” Ethan murmured. “About Sophie.”
Daniel opened his eyes.
“What?”
“She said babies are easy because they can’t explain anything.”
A terrible silence settled over the room.
Daniel reached out and took Ethan’s hand.
“You listen to me carefully,” he said, voice thick. “You were right to protect your sister. And I should have protected both of you sooner. That’s on me. Not you.”
Ethan bit his lip hard enough to stop himself crying.
“Is she going to come back?”
“No.”
That answer came from the doorway.
Mrs. Collins stood there with sleeping Sophie in her arms, the toddler limp against her shoulder.
“She won’t come back,” the old housekeeper repeated quietly.
Daniel looked at her.
May you like
And from the sadness on her face, he realized she had suspected more than she had ever said aloud.
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