“I promised your mother I would never tell you.”
My heart stopped.
“Tell me what?”
“Rachel made me swear.”
My mother.
Hearing her name made the porch seem colder.
“What did Mom make you swear?”
Grandpa’s jaw tightened.
“That you would grow up without that family anywhere near you.”
A terrible possibility entered my mind.
My stomach turned.
“Grandpa…”
I could barely force the words out.
“Are Julian and I related?”
His head snapped toward me.
“No.”
The answer came with such force that Ivy stirred.
Grandpa lowered his voice immediately.
