Chapter 15 - THE CHILD ETHAN NEVER KNEW
Claire closed her eyes.
The secret she had feared most lay open between them.
“His name is Eli.”
Ethan held the birth certificate with both hands.
“Is he mine?”
“Yes.”
The vault became silent.
Olivia covered her mouth.
Federal agents stepped away.
Ethan looked at Claire.
“You were pregnant when you left.”
“I learned two weeks later.”
“Why did you not tell me?”
“I called the estate.”
“Eleanor answered.”
“What did she say?”
“That you knew.”
“That you wanted nothing connected to me.”
“You believed her?”
“I had just heard your recorded voice saying I deserved prison.”
Ethan looked as though she had struck him.
Claire continued.
“When Eli was born, Eleanor sent a man to the hospital.”
“He told me you had filed for sole custody.”
“That your attorneys would call me a fugitive.”
“That they would take him.”
“I moved again.”
“Where is he now?”
“With Owen.”
“Does he know about me?”
“He knows your name.”
“Does he know I am his father?”
“Yes.”
Ethan’s breathing became uneven.
“Eight years.”
“I protected him.”
“From my mother.”
“From the people around your family.”
“From me too.”
Claire looked at him.
“I did not know where you ended and Eleanor began.”
The sentence held all ten lost years.
Ethan sat on the vault floor.
For once, there was no board.
No company.
No crisis requiring him to become decisive.
There was only a child who had grown up without him.
Olivia knelt beside her brother.
“You can still meet him.”
“What if he does not want me?”
“Then you respect that.”
Claire nodded.
Eli lived in a small town in Vermont with Owen and his wife.
Claire called before they traveled.
She explained that Ethan knew.
Eli remained silent for a long time.
Then he asked one question.
“Did he believe Grandma Eleanor?”
Claire’s heart tightened.
“Yes.”
“Does he still?”
“No.”
Eli agreed to meet.
They chose a public park.
Ethan arrived without security.
He carried no gifts.
Claire had told him not to buy affection.
Eli sat on a bench holding a baseball glove.
He had Ethan’s dark eyes.
He had Claire’s cautious expression.
Ethan stopped several feet away.
“Hello, Eli.”
“Hello.”
“I am sorry I did not know you.”
Eli studied him.
“Mom said you did not know.”
“That does not make the missing years smaller.”
“No.”
Ethan sat at the opposite end of the bench.
“I would like to know you.”
“But I will not ask you to decide anything today.”
Eli looked toward Claire.
Then back at Ethan.
“Do you play baseball?”
“Badly.”
Eli almost smiled.
“Uncle Owen does too.”
They spent twenty minutes throwing a ball.
Nothing was repaired.
Something began.
As they left the park, Claire received a call from the federal prosecutor.
Eleanor had learned about Eli.
May you like
She was demanding a private meeting.
She claimed she possessed evidence that Claire had kidnapped him.
