Chapter 9 - GRANT WANTED TO TAKE BACK WHAT HE SAIDHe came to my house.
Not our old home.
Mine.
Maddie was asleep.
He said:
“I want to fix it.”
“You can’t unsay it.”
“I know.”
“She heard you.”
“I know.”
“She asked me for two weeks if she was fake.”
Grant started crying.
Good.
Not because I wanted him hurt.
Because he needed to understand the scale.
He whispered:
“I was afraid everyone would know I was sterile.”
I stared.
“So you made her pay.”
“Yes.”
No excuse.
That was the first time he truly admitted it.
Then:
“I chose her before she was born.”
“Yes.”
“I meant it.”
“Then why did one room full of relatives make you forget?”
May you like
He had no answer.
That was the question he would spend years answering.
Related Stories
Chapter 10 - THE DIVORCE DIDN’T ERASE HIS FATHERHOODI filed for divorce.
Chapter 11 - MADDIE ASKED HIM DIRECTLYThe first supervised conversation nearly broke him.
Chapter 12 - ELAINE TRIED TO BLAME RACHELElaine told relatives I had “destroyed the Mercer family” by revealing Grant’s infertility.
Chapter 13 - THE CLINIC FOUND A SECOND LEDGERVale Reproductive Medicine had maintained official donor records.
Chapter 14 - SAMUEL VALE LEFT A LETTER TOOAmong Adrian’s papers was a letter from Samuel.
Chapter 15 - GRANT FINALLY UNDERSTOOD WHAT STERILITY HAD NEVER TAKEN FROM HIMGrant spent years believing infertility made him less of a man.
