Chapter 13
Elias Mercer met me first without Bennett.
Neutral garden property.
No guards at the table.
Mine stayed nearby.
His too.
Old habits.
He brought no gifts.
Good.
We spoke about Adrian.
Not Bennett at first.
Adrian hated cigars.
Loved motorcycles.
Could not cook.
Had once broken Elias’s nose at seventeen because they argued over whether he could leave the family business.
Normal father-son disaster.
Then Lila.
Elias remembered her.
“She looked at me like I was already disappointing her.”
I almost smiled.
“That sounds like Lila.”
He laughed once.
Then cried.
Quietly.
“I should have known.”
“No.”
I did not give him false guilt either.
Adrian chose secrecy.
Lila chose it too.
Parents do not automatically know everything their adult children hide.
Then Elias asked:
“What does Bennett know?”
“Only that I chose to become his mother.”
“Does he know Lila?”
“Her picture.”
“Adrian?”
“Not yet.”
Elias nodded.
No demand.
Better.
“Can I give you something?”
He placed a small wooden horse on the table.
Adrian made it in school.
Terrible craftsmanship.
One leg shorter.
I smiled.
“I’ll keep it until Bennett is ready.”
Elias looked relieved.
That mattered.
Not give it now.
Not label it Grandpa’s.
Wait.
Then he said:
“I don’t want to take him.”
I believed him more than before.
“But?”
He hesitated.
“I want him to know Adrian existed.”
Fair.
That could happen.
Eventually.
On Bennett’s timeline as much as adults could manage.
Before leaving, Elias asked about Silas.
“He promised me a family meeting.”
“He gave you one.”
Elias frowned.
“With you.”
“Exactly.”
There would be no Caruso-Mercer council over Bennett.
No negotiation.
No shared claim.
If Elias became part of Bennett’s life, it would be as a grandfather.
Not a representative.
May you like
That distinction relieved him.
Maybe he had been trapped by the same old language too.
