Hannah's Request
Chapter 10 - Hannah's Request
Hannah had to have surgery.
Nothing immediately life-threatening, she assured me, but serious enough that she would be unable to care for Eli for several weeks.
Her sister had three young children.
Her mother was gone.
Her father hadn't spoken to her in years.
And legally, Grant was still a stranger.
"I want Eli to know his father," Hannah said.
We sat on my porch while Eli explored the garden.
"But?"
"But I don't know Grant."
That sentence stayed with me.
She had known him once.
Briefly.
Intimately.
But she did not know the man he'd become.
"You trust me more than him?"
Hannah gave a tired laugh.
"I've known about you for nine years."
"I've known about you for nine days."
"Exactly."
I almost smiled.
She became serious.
"If something happens during surgery, I need to know Eli won't become a battle between people who see him as a scandal."
Margaret.
I understood immediately.
"You think she'll try to control him."
"I think Margaret Bennett controls whatever she can reach."
Hannah wasn't wrong.
She wanted Grant to establish legal paternity.
But she also wanted paperwork naming her sister as Eli's primary guardian if necessary.
Grant would have visitation while building a relationship with his son.
It was cautious.
Responsible.
And nothing like the revenge-hungry mistress I had imagined that first night.
"Why did you tell Eli about Grant?"
"I didn't. Not really."
She looked toward her son.
"He found the photograph six months ago."
Eli had started asking questions.
Hannah finally told him his father's name.
She planned to contact Grant.
Then fear stopped her.
Until her health problems began.
"Did you send him to our table?"
"No."
That surprised me.
"He ran."
When Hannah collapsed outside the hotel, Eli panicked.
He remembered she had told him Grant would be at the restaurant that evening.
"Why did you know where we were?"
Hannah looked embarrassed.
"Your anniversary photos are public every year."
Of course.
My perfect marriage.
Posted online.
Smiling.
Filtered.
Incomplete.
Hannah reached into her bag.
"There is something else."
I nearly laughed.
"That's becoming everyone's favorite sentence."
She handed me another photograph.
It showed Grant holding a newborn baby.
Eli.
I stared at it.
"You said Grant never knew."
"He didn't."
"Then how do you explain this?"
Hannah looked confused.
"I was hoping you could tell me."
I turned the photograph over.
A date was written on the back.
Three days after Eli was born.
May you like
Grant had been there.
Or someone who looked exactly like him had.
