Chapter 6 - THE MOTHER WHO ERASED HER GRANDDAUGHTER
Joanne denied nothing.
That was somehow worse.
We met at her house in Westlake.
Grant stood in the middle of the living room holding Elizabeth’s letters.
“You knew.”
Joanne closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“For thirteen years.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Mallory wanted money.”
Hannah had already disproved that.
Mallory never asked for money.
Only acknowledgment.
Then Joanne changed tactics.
“She was unstable.”
“Dad confirmed the DNA.”
“Your father was sentimental.”
Grant laughed.
“My father created a trust worth six million dollars.”
Joanne’s face changed.
She had not known the amount.
Interesting.
“You kept my daughter from me.”
“I kept your marriage safe.”
I felt something inside me go cold.
“My marriage?”
Joanne looked at me.
“You had been married six months.”
“So?”
“What was I supposed to do? Let some woman appear with a baby and destroy everything?”
I stared at her.
“You thought I couldn’t handle the truth.”
“I thought Grant couldn’t.”
There it was.
Another person protecting everyone by deciding for them.
Grant looked devastated.
“Did Dad know you intercepted the letters?”
“No.”
“What would he have done?”
Joanne said nothing.
We all knew.
He would have stopped her.
Grant walked out.
I followed eventually.
He sat in his car.
Not driving.
Just staring at the steering wheel.
“She’s thirteen.”
“Yes.”
“I missed everything.”
“Yes.”
“First steps.”
“Yes.”
“School.”
“Yes.”
He covered his face.
I wanted to comfort him.
My body remembered fourteen years faster than my anger did.
I stopped myself.
Not punishment.
Boundary.
He lowered his hands.
“You don’t have to stay.”
“I know.”
That surprised him.
“I’m here because there is a child involved.”
He nodded.
“Thank you.”
We arranged a first meeting with Elizabeth under a family therapist’s supervision.
Not father-daughter.
Just introduction.
Elizabeth entered wearing black jeans and headphones around her neck.
She looked like Grant around the eyes.
He nearly fell apart.
She noticed.
“Please don’t cry.”
He laughed weakly.
“I’ll try.”
She sat across from him.
“Did you know about me?”
“No.”
“Mom said you didn’t.”
“She believed me?”
“Sometimes.”
Grant looked destroyed.
Then Elizabeth looked at me.
“You’re Claire.”
I blinked.
“You know me?”
“My mom did.”
“How?”
“She had pictures.”
My throat tightened.
Mallory had apparently followed our lives from a distance.
Not obsessively.
Just enough to know Grant had married.
Elizabeth continued:
“She said you looked kind.”
I didn’t know what to say.
Then she asked the question that turned everything again.
“Is Savannah’s baby my sibling?”
Grant froze.
I did too.
“How do you know about Savannah?”
Elizabeth pulled out her phone.
“Because she messaged me.”
May you like
My stomach dropped.
Savannah had contacted Grant’s secret daughter before Grant even knew she existed.
