Chapter 11 - Ruth’s Greatest Fear Was Losing Ethan
Ruth broke down three nights later.
Grant found her alone in the mansion kitchen.
She was holding the folded transfer paper.
“I should give this to counsel.”
“You should.”
She did not move.
Grant sat across from her.
“What is it?”
Ruth’s voice trembled.
“If he is your son, they’ll take him.”
Grant knew immediately who she meant.
Ethan.
“No.”
“You’re his father.”
“Maybe.”
“You own this estate. You have lawyers. I’m a housekeeper.”
“Ruth.”
“He’ll want you.”
Grant leaned forward.
“Stop.”
She looked at him.
“You are doing exactly what everyone else has done in this story.”
Her face tightened.
“Deciding the ending before Ethan gets to live it.”
Ruth began crying.
Grant softened.
“If he is biologically mine, that changes facts.”
He paused.
“It does not erase seven years.”
Ruth wiped her face.
“You mean that?”
“Yes.”
She had been the person who sat beside Ethan through fevers.
School enrollment.
Nightmares.
Foster reviews.
The first time he called her Mom accidentally and then cried because he thought he wasn’t allowed.
Grant could not compete with that.
He did not want to.
If anything, the possibility that Ethan was his son made Grant more grateful to her.
Not less.
“What if he never calls me Dad?” Grant asked.
Ruth stared.
“I’ll survive.”
“What if he wants to live with you?”
Grant swallowed.
“We figure out what’s best for him.”
That sentence cost him.
May you like
Good.
Real fatherhood should cost something other than money.
