Chapter 1 - Grandpa?
Lily’s tiny fingers opened over Victor’s rough palm.
Three coins dropped into it.
The old man looked down at them, then at the four-year-old kneeling beside him on the polished hotel floor.
“Mommy said you might need these.”
Victor’s expression softened.
Before he could answer, a voice came sharply from behind.
“Lily, get away from him.”
Ethan crossed the lobby in his fitted navy suit, anger already in his face.
Lily startled.
Victor steadied her gently by the arm.
Then he looked up at Ethan.
Slowly, he rose.
He removed his worn flat cap.
“You still talk to people like that?”
Ethan stopped.
Recognition struck.
“You…”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
Years seemed to pass between them in one silent second.
Ethan stepped closer.
Victor surged forward.
One violent shove drove Ethan backward across the marble.
His arms flew wide.
He crashed back-first into the champagne service table.
Bottles toppled.
Glasses shattered.
Ice scattered across the floor.
Ethan disappeared into the collapsed table.
Lily stared.
Frightened.
Confused.
She looked at Victor.
Then at the single coin still clenched in her fist.
“Grandpa...?”
Victor turned instantly.
Ethan heard it.
His eyes widened.
“What did you call him?”
Lily slowly opened her palm.
One old silver-colored coin rested there.
Victor saw it.
His anger disappeared.
“Where did your mother get that?”
Ethan looked from the coin to Victor.
“What is that?”
Victor reached toward it.
Then stopped.
He looked at Lily instead.
“Did Sarah give you this?”
Lily nodded.
“For good luck.”
Ethan went still.
“You know my wife?”
Victor stared at him.
“Your wife?”
Something in his expression changed.
He gave a bitter laugh.
“So she never told you.”
“Told me what?”
Victor’s eyes returned to Lily.
“She knows who I am.”
Ethan pulled himself from broken table.
“Who are you to her?”
Victor looked directly at him.
Then Lily answered first.
“Mommy said Grandpa Victor was sad.”
Ethan’s face drained.
May you like
Sarah had told Ethan that her father died before they met.
But the man standing twenty feet away was very much alive.
