CHAPTER 22: THE FIRE CHIEF’S SON
Ethan confronted his past.
He remembered William encouraging him to visit the coffee shop where Amelia worked.
William had claimed the station needed coffee for a charity event.
Ethan met Amelia that afternoon.
Their first meeting had seemed accidental.
It had not been.
William invited Amelia’s family to firefighter fundraisers.
He paid for Ethan’s engagement ring.
He selected the doctor who treated Amelia after her first pregnancy scare.
Every step had been guided.
“I was used,” Ethan whispered.
Amelia stood beside Theo’s incubator.
“So was I.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You still made your own choices.”
“I know.”
“You lied. You cheated. You chose Claire.”
“I know.”
Ethan placed the wedding ring on the table between them.
“I don’t expect you to forgive me.”
“Then what do you expect?”
“To help keep our son alive.”
“Our son needs protection from your family.”
“My father is not my family anymore.”
Amelia looked at him.
“You do not get to erase him with one sentence.”
Ethan nodded.
“You’re right.”
For the first time, he did not defend himself.
He did not beg.
He did not make promises.
He simply stood beside the glass and looked at the child whose life had been planned before conception.
Theo’s fingers moved.
Amelia reached into the incubator opening.
Her son wrapped his tiny hand around one finger.
Ethan watched from a distance.
A nurse entered carrying an envelope.
“This was found under the infant scale.”
Inside was a photograph of William Carter holding a newborn baby.
The date stamped on the bottom was thirty-five years earlier.
The infant was Ethan.
A woman stood beside William.
Her face was partially hidden.
But Amelia recognized the silver pendant around her neck.
It belonged to Evelyn Bennett.
Her mother.
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On the back, someone had written:
ETHAN CARTER WAS THE FIRST SUCCESS.
