Mia gasped as Ford tore away from her and fled. Her instinct was to chase after him, but he disappeared from her view, the secondary pull along with him.
"Mama?" Daniel asked. "What's happened? Ford is part of our family now?"
The boy glanced at Mia with curiosity, but she looked away from him.
"My father–your grandfather on my side–was not a good man. He was a very bad man who did terrible things and hurt many people." Anaisa's voice was strained. "And we just learned that Ford is another one of the people he hurt."
"Or maybe it was Barnabas," Seth seemed deep in contemplation.
"Even if it was, my father was the one who taught him that vile strategy for preying on women," Anaisa responded, raising one hand to wipe away tears. "One way or another, responsibility for that young man falls to my family."
Somberly, she turned away, and Mia shivered. She'd woken up part way into a conversation that had very deep revelations for all of them.
