Natalie slowly removed her hand from Grant’s arm.
He noticed immediately.
“Natalie, this is complicated.”
She looked at the photographs of four tiny newborn boys.
“No. I think you made it complicated because the simple truth didn’t benefit you.”
## The Grandmother Who Never Received the Truth
Evelyn lowered herself into a chair.
Tears filled her eyes as she studied one photograph.
Four premature babies lay in separate incubators.
Carter had weighed barely four pounds.
Owen had been even smaller.
I remembered those weeks far too clearly.
Sleeping upright beside hospital bassinets.
Driving home in silence because no one was waiting for me.
Choosing between a medical bill and replacing a broken washing machine.
And most of all, writing letters.
Not angry letters.
Desperate ones.
I had written to Evelyn too.
Three times.
She had never answered.
Now she looked at me.
“Lauren, I swear I never saw any of these.”
For years, I had believed she deliberately ignored me.
But something in her expression made me believe her.
Before I could answer, Carter stepped closer.
Evelyn looked at him as though she feared one wrong movement might make him disappear.
“What is your name?”
“Carter James Mercer.”
She nodded carefully.
