Chapter 62: Meeting Grandfather
Ryan Grant was at the dining table, eating. The moment he heard this, he put down his spoon. His eyes lit up as he danced with joy, "Yay, yay! Let’s go play with Grandpa!"
"Why’s the little guy so happy?"
"He probably thinks we’re going somewhere fun."
—
「The Grant Ancestral Home.」
Grace Lawson asked nervously, "How did it go? Did they agree?"
Jonathan Grant looked at the reply from Franklin Whitman, trying to suppress his excitement. "They agreed! They agreed."
Grace Lawson put a hand to her chest. "Oh my, I haven’t been sleeping well these past few days. What if that little tyke really is Adrian’s child?"
Ever since Jonathan Grant had come across Franklin Whitman’s post on Moments, he had immediately shared it with Grace Lawson.
Although most of the child’s facial features were obscured, making it hard to see clearly, their intuition told them this child was definitely related to Adrian Grant.
They had even gone out of their way to pull out Adrian Grant’s childhood photos for comparison.
After comparing them, perhaps due to their preconceived notions, they felt that if the resemblance wasn’t ninety percent, it was at least sixty or seventy.
On top of that, Adrian Grant had been on a business trip during that time, and they’d heard that Caroline Whitman had also been away on business.
Around that same time, Franklin Whitman had just taken on a "god-grandson." Normally, they wouldn’t have thought anything of it.
But once they started thinking of the child as their own grandson, they began to read more into the situation.
After all, when the parents aren’t around, don’t they just leave the child with the grandparents to look after?
But after their last conversation with Adrian Grant, the couple had learned to be smarter.
This time, they wouldn’t raise any alarms. They decided to take an indirect approach, starting with Franklin Whitman.
Jonathan Grant said, "What else can we do? If it really is Adrian’s child, we’ll just have to accept him!"
Grace Lawson replied, "But Adrian made it perfectly clear last time that he doesn’t want us interfering in his affairs."
"Then what do you suggest we do?" Jonathan Grant argued. "We can’t just let the child be illegitimate, can we?"
"Let’s wait until the child is here," Grace said. "Nothing’s set in stone yet. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions and misunderstand them."
At ten in the morning.
Franklin Whitman arrived at the Grant Ancestral Home with Ryan Grant.
Jonathan and Grace had been waiting for a while. When he saw Franklin Whitman’s car pull in, Mr. Grant broke into a smile and hurried forward to greet him.
"Finally, you’re here! You’re such a busy man, we can’t even get a hold of you on weekends."
"Haha, isn’t it because I had to look after my grandson?" Franklin Whitman turned his head and called into the car, "Time to get out, Ryan."
Ryan Grant curiously poked his little head out before being lifted out by a pair of large hands. The little guy was held in Franklin Whitman’s arm, who said with a playful smile, "Come on, say hello to Grandpa Grant."
Ryan Grant tilted his head slightly, his big, dark eyes staring at the strange yet familiar Jonathan Grant before him. ’This grandpa looks much younger.’
While Tiny was staring at Jonathan Grant, Jonathan was also scrutinizing the child, his eyes fixed.
’Damn!’
’He looks so much like my son!’
’He’s a miniature Adrian Grant!’
’There’s no need for a DNA test!’
"Grandpa."
"Yes, yes, yes! You must be Ryan?" Jonathan Grant was overjoyed and reached out to take the child.
Franklin Whitman handed the child over to him. "I see it now. You didn’t invite me over, you invited this little grandson of mine."
Jonathan Grant carried the child into the house, not bothering to hide his emotions. He chuckled and turned to Franklin Whitman.
"Everyone knows you’ve turned down countless invitations for fishing and chess because of this grandson. I was just curious what kind of kid could command all your attention. Heh, now that I’ve seen him, I get it. If he were my grandson, I wouldn’t want to go out either. What could be better than staying home with him?"
When Grace Lawson saw the child come in, she hurried over. Before she could say a word, the little one had already called out, "Grandma."
Hearing that made Grace Lawson’s heart melt.
"Oh, you little sweetheart." She leaned in for a closer look, and when she saw the child’s face clearly, a storm of emotions brewed within her.
Her reaction was the same as Jonathan’s. The boy was the spitting image of a miniature Adrian Grant.
’There’s absolutely no need for a DNA test.’
"You must be Ryan? How old are you?"
"Grandma, I’m three and a half."
’The child is three and a half. Add ten months of pregnancy, and that makes it about four years ago.’
’Four years ago, Adrian Grant was still abroad. Could he have been born overseas?’
Grace Lawson reached out for the child, holding him adoringly. She looked at the two men and said, "Look at him, he’s so polite."
"What’s your name?"
"Ryan."
"Ryan... is your surname ’Rayne’?"
The powerful Rayne family of Kingsport immediately came to Jonathan and Grace’s minds.
"Who are your mommy and daddy?" Jonathan Grant asked, his voice soft and coaxing.
Ryan shook his head. "Mommy and Daddy said not to tell."
At this, Franklin Whitman chuckled. "The kid’s parents don’t want his privacy exposed. It’s no use asking them."
"I was hesitant to bring him over for tea in the first place. If anything happens, I won’t be able to explain it to his parents."
Jonathan Grant was surprised. "You don’t know either?"
"What would I know?"
"But I’ll tell you what, it’s fitting that he’s calling you Grandpa and Grandma."
Franklin Whitman added with a cheerful laugh,
"If your son wasn’t the little guy’s godfather, I wouldn’t have dared to bring him to see you."
Jonathan Grant and Grace Lawson were shocked. "Godfather?"
"Yep. I saw the two of them on a video call the other night."
"Your godfather’s name is Adrian Grant?" Grace Lawson asked in disbelief, looking down at the child in astonishment.
Ryan Grant nodded but didn’t say anything.
Just then, Jonathan Grant connected the dots. "Hey, doesn’t that make your daughter his godmother?"
"Of course! How else would I have ended up with such a big god-grandson?"
Upon hearing this, they understood. It seemed the thought of Ryan being his *biological* grandson had never even crossed Franklin Whitman’s mind.
They’d heard that Caroline Whitman had completed all her studies in-country, so there was no reason for her and their son to have crossed paths.
Moreover, since his daughter was always with him, he surely would have noticed a ten-month pregnancy.
This whole affair was turning into a real mystery.
Right now, Jonathan Grant and Grace Lawson were so anxious they wished they could drag Adrian Grant over immediately to explain everything.
However, after what happened last time, they decided to get a DNA test before confronting Adrian Grant.
—
Caroline Whitman slept until past one in the afternoon.
She woke up with a throbbing headache.
Now she understood what Yvonne Grant meant last night about the delayed kick.
She didn’t feel a thing while drinking, but after sleeping it off, her head felt completely muddled.
’Of course, it’s also possible I just didn’t sleep well last night.’
After waking up, she lazed in bed for a while, mentally preparing herself before slowly getting up. She checked her phone; just a bunch of unimportant messages.
She scrolled down. No new messages from Adrian Grant.
’According to what he said yesterday, he’d let me know his plans if he went out. Does today’s silence mean he didn’t go anywhere?’
Realizing this, she slipped back into the slightly awkward state she’d been in the day before.
’I must have been out of my mind last night, pestering Adrian Grant with such ambiguous, private questions.’
She kept scrolling and saw that the little guy, Ryan Grant, hadn’t messaged her either.
"Heh, what a fickle little guy."
’Two months ago, taking care of a child was nowhere near this easy.’
’Before, I thought it was a hassle. Now that Tiny isn’t home, it actually feels a little strange.’
’I should go pick him up later.’
Caroline Whitman got up, washed up, and walked out into the living room, heading straight for the kitchen.