Chapter 3
Grandpa didn’t sleep that night.
Neither did Mom.
Neither did I.
We left the house before midnight.
Grandpa refused to let us stay there.
He packed two suitcases while Mom sat at the kitchen table with an ice pack pressed against her arm.
I carried my stuffed rabbit and my school backpack.
Nobody said much.
When we reached Grandpa’s house, he locked every door.
Then he checked them again.
“Dad,” Mom said softly, “Daniel isn’t coming here.”
Grandpa turned.
“You thought he wouldn’t hit you either.”
Mom lowered her eyes.
I stood in the hallway pretending I hadn’t heard.
Grandpa saw me.
His face softened immediately.
“Come here, kiddo.”
I walked into his arms.
He held me tightly.
“You’re safe here.”
“Is Dad going to take me away?”
“No.”
“You promise?”
Grandpa hesitated.
It was only half a second.
But I noticed.
Seven-year-olds notice more than adults think.
“I promise I’m going to do everything I can,” he said.
That wasn’t the same answer.
The next morning, a woman named Rebecca came to the house.
She wore a gray suit and carried a leather folder.
Mom told me she was a lawyer.
Rebecca sat at Grandpa’s dining table.
I colored in the next room while listening to every word.
“Daniel was released on bond at six this morning,” Rebecca said.
Grandpa’s chair scraped.
“Already?”
“There’s a temporary no-contact order regarding Sarah. But because the shove involving Emily wasn’t documented as causing injury, the situation is more complicated with the child.”
“He shoved a seven-year-old onto the floor.”
“I know.”
“And now he wants custody?”
Rebecca sighed.
“He’s claiming Sarah deceived him into raising a child who wasn’t biologically his, concealed the biological father, and exposed Emily to instability.”
Mom laughed bitterly.
“Instability?”
“He beat me.”
Rebecca nodded.
“And that matters. A lot.”
Grandpa leaned forward.
“Then why are we worried?”
“Because family court and criminal court are separate.”
Silence.
Rebecca opened her folder.
“There’s another problem.”
Mom stiffened.
“What?”
“Daniel’s lawyer submitted financial records showing Sarah has almost no independent income.”
“I quit working because Daniel wanted me home with Emily.”
“I understand.”
“He told me we didn’t need two incomes.”
“I understand that too.”
Grandpa looked furious.
“Get to the problem.”
Rebecca placed a sheet of paper on the table.
“The joint checking account had four hundred and sixteen dollars in it this morning.”
Mom stood so fast her chair fell backward.
“What?”
“Daniel transferred nearly ninety thousand dollars two days ago.”
Mom stared at her.
“Two days ago?”
Rebecca nodded.
That meant before Dad found the paternity test.
Or before he claimed he found it.
Grandpa realized the same thing.
His eyes narrowed.
“Why would a man empty his account two days before discovering his wife’s secret?”
Rebecca closed the folder.
“That is exactly the question I was going to ask.”
Mom sat slowly.
“No.”
Grandpa looked at her.
“Sarah?”
Mom’s face changed.
“I never told Daniel where the DNA report was.”
Rebecca frowned.
“What?”
“The report came six months ago.”
Grandpa stared at her.
“Six months?”
Mom nodded.
I stopped coloring.
Six months.
Dad had said he had just learned the truth.
Mom continued.
“I ordered the test.”
Rebecca leaned forward.
“Why?”
“Daniel had started saying strange things.”
“What kind of things?”
Mom hesitated.
“He kept asking whether Emily looked like him.”
Grandpa’s jaw tightened.
“He suspected?”
“I don’t know.”
“One night he asked if there was anything I needed to confess. I panicked. I ordered a private test using one of Emily’s hairbrushes and Daniel’s razor.”
Rebecca’s expression became serious.
“And when you received the result?”
“I locked it away.”
“Did Daniel know?”
“No.”
“You’re certain?”
“I’m certain.”
Grandpa looked toward the living room.
“That drawer had two keys.”
Mom froze.
“One was yours.”
“And one was Daniel’s.”
“No.”
Mom shook her head.
“Daniel lost his years ago.”
Grandpa stared at her.
“Did he?”
A knock hit the front door.
I screamed.
Grandpa jumped up.
Rebecca reached for her phone.
Another knock.
Then a woman shouted from outside.
“Robert! Open this door!”
Grandpa’s face darkened.
Linda.
Dad’s mother.
Grandpa opened the door only a few inches.
“What do you want?”
Grandma Linda stood on the porch.
I had always called her Grandma.
She held a designer purse against her chest.
Her blond hair was perfect.
Her face wasn’t.
She looked furious.
“I want to see my granddaughter.”
Grandpa laughed.
“Yesterday your son said she wasn’t his.”
Linda looked past him.
“Emily!”
I stepped behind Mom.
Linda’s expression changed.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
She tried to enter.
Grandpa blocked her.
“You don’t get to do that.”
“Do what?”
“Pretend this is normal.”
Linda glared at Mom.
“You destroyed my son.”
Mom stood.
“Your son beat me.”
“You deceived him.”
“He beat me with a belt.”
“And you expect him to calmly drink tea after discovering seven years of lies?”
Rebecca stood.
“Mrs. Carter, I suggest you stop talking.”
Linda looked at her.
“And who are you?”
“Sarah’s attorney.”
Linda smiled coldly.
“Good. Then you can tell Sarah our family intends to pursue every legal remedy available.”
“Our family?” Grandpa said. “Emily isn’t your family anymore, remember?”
Linda’s smile disappeared.
I saw something flash in her eyes.
Not sadness.
Fear.
Then she looked directly at me.
“Emily will always be my granddaughter.”
Mom stepped forward.
“Then tell Daniel to withdraw his custody petition.”
Linda’s jaw tightened.
“That’s not my decision.”
“You influence every decision he makes.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
Mom suddenly laughed.
“No, Linda. What’s ridiculous is Daniel transferring ninety thousand dollars two days before he supposedly discovered the report.”
Linda’s face went blank.
Too blank.
Rebecca noticed.
So did Grandpa.
Grandpa stepped closer.
“You knew.”
Linda backed up.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You knew about that DNA test before yesterday.”
“No.”
Mom stared at her.
“How?”
Linda turned toward the driveway.
Grandpa caught the door before she could leave.
“Linda.”
She stopped.
Grandpa’s voice became terrifyingly calm.
“How long did Daniel know?”
Linda looked over her shoulder.
For one moment, I thought she would answer.
Instead she said, “Tell Sarah to check the mortgage.”
Then she walked away.
Mom frowned.
“What mortgage?”
Linda got into her car.
Rebecca immediately opened her laptop.
“Do you know your loan account information?”
Mom nodded slowly.
Grandpa sat beside her.
They searched.
A few minutes passed.
Then Rebecca stopped typing.
Her face changed.
“What?” Grandpa asked.
She turned the screen toward Mom.
Mom stared.
Then covered her mouth.
Grandpa leaned closer.
His fist hit the table.
“What the hell?”
I walked into the room.
“What happened?”
Nobody answered.
I looked at the screen.
I couldn’t understand the numbers.
But I understood Mom’s face.
Rebecca closed the laptop gently.
“Sarah, Daniel took out a home-equity loan four months ago.”
Mom whispered, “How much?”
Rebecca looked at her.
“Three hundred and twenty thousand dollars.”
Mom shook her head.
“That’s impossible.”
“It was electronically signed by both of you.”
“I never signed anything.”
Rebecca stared at her.
“Then we have a much bigger problem.”
Grandpa stood.
“He forged her signature.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Possibly.”
Mom looked sick.
“Where did the money go?”
Rebecca began searching again.
Then Grandpa’s phone buzzed.
A message had arrived.
Unknown number.
He opened it.
There was a photograph.
Dad was standing beside a woman I had never seen.
They were outside an airport.
His arm was around her waist.
The date on the picture was three months earlier.
Mom stared at it.
Rebecca whispered, “Who is she?”
Mom’s face crumpled.
“I don’t know.”
Another message appeared.
This time only six words.
ASK DANIEL ABOUT THE HOUSE IN PHOENIX.
Grandpa looked at Mom.
May you like
Mom looked at the photograph.
And suddenly the paternity secret wasn’t the only secret in our family anymore.
