Chapter 2: The Other Grandfather
The elderly man stopped in front of Ethan and removed his cap.
“My name is Walter Hayes,” he said.
“Ethan’s mother was my daughter.”
I gripped the seat.
“That’s impossible.
She told us her father was gone.”
Walter’s eyes filled with tears.
“She wanted me gone.
We had an argument before Ethan was born, and I was too proud to make things right.”
Ethan stared at him.
“You’re my grandfather too?”
“Yes,” Walter whispered.
“And I’ve been searching for you for fourteen years.”
“Then why come now?” I demanded.
“Why put him through this here?”
Walter glanced at the stadium employee, who quietly stepped away.
“Because the game wasn’t the real gift,” he said.
“I needed to meet Ethan before it was too late.”
He reached inside his coat and pulled out a worn envelope.
Ethan’s name was written across it in faded ink.
I recognized the handwriting immediately.
It belonged to Ethan’s mother.
My hands began shaking.
“Where did you get that?”
“She gave it to me shortly before the accident,” Walter replied.
“She made me promise not to open it until Ethan turned fifteen.”
Ethan reached for the envelope, but Walter pulled it back.
“There’s something else,” he said.
“Something your mother discovered about your family—and it may change what the doctors told you.”
What was hidden in Ethan’s mother’s letter, and why could it change everything?
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