Chapter 9 - THE SECRET OF GRACE HARPER
Lily read the sentence five times.
Grant took the letter.
“He's lying.”
“I don't know.”
“You said Evan was her father.”
“I thought he was.”
Lily sat down.
Before Evan, there had been one other man.
One night.
One mistake after a college party.
She had never known his last name.
“His name was Michael,” Lily whispered.
Grant listened.
“He was kind. We talked all night. I never saw him again.”
“Why did you assume Evan was Grace's father?”
“The dates.”
But dates could be wrong.
A DNA test confirmed it.
Evan was not Grace's biological father.
The news should have brought relief.
Instead, Lily felt strangely lost.
Grace's history had become another question.
Grant hired no private investigator.
Not until Lily asked.
They found Michael three weeks later.
Dr. Michael Reyes.
Pediatric surgeon.
Married.
Two children.
Lily's heart sank.
“I won't destroy his family.”
Grant agreed.
Then Michael contacted her first.
The investigator's inquiry had reached him.
They met in a public park.
Michael cried when he saw Grace.
“I didn't know.”
Lily believed him.
His wife knew about the old encounter.
Their marriage had survived worse.
Michael requested the chance to know Grace.
Lily moved carefully.
Grant moved even more carefully.
He did not compete.
That surprised everyone except Lily.
One night, she found Grant reading in Grace's room after the child fell asleep.
“You're worried,” Lily said.
“No.”
“You're holding the book upside down.”
Grant looked at it.
“So I am.”
Lily sat beside him.
“Michael being her biological father doesn't change you.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Grant looked at Grace.
“I love her.”
“I know.”
“What if one day she decides he is her father?”
Lily touched his hand.
“Then you will still be the big man who made her feel safe.”
Grant laughed softly.
Months passed.
Michael became part of Grace's life.
Not replacing anyone.
Adding.
Grace, with the emotional efficiency of a child, called Michael “Dad Michael.”
Grant became “Daddy Grant.”
Grant pretended the distinction did not affect him.
Lily knew better.
At their wedding rehearsal, Grace carried two flower baskets because she refused to choose.
Everything seemed finally settled.
Then Blair Sutton was released from federal custody pending sentencing.
That evening, she disappeared.
A note was found in her apartment.
May you like
GRANT, MY FATHER LEFT ONE LAST THING BURIED.
IF I DON'T DESTROY IT, GRACE WILL NEVER BE SAFE.
