baby.”
“When?”
“1972.”
Nine years before Melissa.
“Who was the father?”
“She never told us.”
“What does that have to do with the Grant trust?”
My father slowly turned from the window.
“I know.”
Dorothy stared at him.
“What?”
Dad sat.
“In 1971, I had an affair with Eleanor.”
Nobody spoke.
I felt as if my brain simply refused the sentence.
“You…”
He looked at Dorothy.
“I am sorry.”
She stood so abruptly her chair fell.
“You slept with my sister?”
“Yes.”
“You let me marry your son?”
“I didn’t know the child was mine until years later.”
My stomach turned.
“Then Eleanor’s child…”
Dad nodded.
“Was my half-brother.”
Samuel rubbed his forehead.
“This family tree needs a map.”
Under any other circumstances, I might have laughed.
Melissa asked the important question.
“Who was the child?”
Dad answered.
“Harold Vance.”
The room went completely silent.
I stared at him.
“Vance
