Chapter 2 - The Man Who Walked Away.
Grant did not remember crossing the grass.
One moment Savannah was standing ten yards away.
The next, he was close enough to see the silver service pins on her uniform and the exhaustion beneath her steady eyes.
The children remained behind her in a loose line.
He knew four of those faces.
At least, he knew the younger versions of them.
Ethan had been five the last time Grant had held him.
Lily had been three.
Noah had barely learned to walk.
Caleb had not yet been born.
Grant's gaze stopped on the six-year-old boy.
Then it moved to Rose.
Five.
The math struck him harder than any accusation Savannah could have made.
“You were pregnant?”
Savannah's jaw tightened.
“With Caleb when you left.”
Grant looked at Rose again.
“And Rose?”
“She is my sister Amelia's daughter.”
The answer should have brought relief.
It did not.
Amelia had died three years earlier in a highway accident, and Grant had not even known she had a child.
He had once been part of this family.
Now he was learning its history from a cemetery conversation.
Vanessa moved between them.
“This is not the place.”
Grant barely looked at her.
“Then where was the place?”
Vanessa blinked.
“What?”
“For seven years, where was the place?”
Savannah's expression did not soften.
“You had an address.”
Grant turned to her.
“No, I didn't.”
“Yes, you did.”
“I was told you requested no contact.”
Savannah stared at him as if he had spoken in another language.
“I requested no contact?”
Grant could hear the disbelief in her voice.
“Your attorney sent the order.”
“I never hired an attorney against you.”
Vanessa reached for Grant's arm.
“Grant, Dad's service is about to begin.”
He pulled away.
“What attorney?” Savannah asked.
Grant swallowed.
“Martin Keene.”
Savannah's face changed.
She knew the name.
That frightened him more than if she had not.
“Martin Keene represented your father's company.”
“He also handled the separation papers.”
“I never signed separation papers.”
Grant looked at her for several seconds.
Rain ticked against the black umbrellas around them.
The funeral director quietly guided other mourners toward the chairs.
No one in the Hale family moved.
Vanessa lowered her voice.
“Savannah is doing this because of the will.”
Savannah looked at her.
“There it is.”
Grant frowned.
“What will?”
Vanessa froze.
Savannah almost laughed, but there was no humor in it.
“You haven't read it.”
“My father's attorney said it would be discussed tomorrow.”
“No.”
Savannah lifted the envelope.
“Your father changed that plan three weeks ago.”
Grant stared at the handwriting on the front.
His father's unmistakable block letters covered the center.
FOR GRANT.
ONLY AFTER I AM GONE.
Vanessa's face turned pale.
Grant reached for it.
Savannah pulled it back.
“Not yet.”
His expression hardened.
“You came here to hand it to me.”
“I came here to make sure you were finally willing to hear the truth before you opened it.”
“The truth about what?”
Savannah looked at the children.
Ethan met Grant's eyes and did not look away.
“The truth about why your children stopped waiting at the window.”
Grant flinched.
Then Ethan spoke for the first time.
“We didn't stop.”
Grant's face collapsed.
May you like
Ethan's voice remained controlled.
“Mom made us stop putting chairs there.”
