The Third Child
Chapter 12 - The Third Child
Franklin claimed Katherine had given birth to a son before Emily.
The baby was placed for adoption while Franklin was building his public reputation.
Emily suspected another manipulation.
DNA records proved otherwise.
The child, Daniel Price, was now thirty-eight and worked as a paramedic in Illinois.
Katherine’s journal showed she had wanted to keep him. Franklin pressured her into adoption, arguing a baby would interfere with his career.
Daniel had spent years searching for his birth mother.
He learned of her death but never found Emily.
Franklin offered the information as leverage.
He wanted Emily to testify that Katherine’s death had been accidental.
She refused.
“You do not get credit for revealing a person you erased.”
Emily contacted Daniel carefully through an adoption intermediary.
He agreed to meet at a diner.
Daniel had Katherine’s eyes.
He listened while Emily explained the family history.
Then he asked whether Franklin had ever regretted the adoption.
Emily answered honestly.
“Only when the secret became useful.”
Daniel laughed without humor.
He wanted nothing from Hawthorne House.
He did not want reporters or public reunions.
He wanted Katherine’s medical records and one photograph.
Emily gave him both.
Before leaving, Daniel asked about Grant.
“Did he know about me?”
“No.”
“So there are three of us.”
“Yes.”
Daniel considered this.
“I spent my whole life thinking I was the missing piece. Maybe the whole puzzle was broken.”
Emily did not pressure him.
Two weeks later, he arrived at Hawthorne House carrying a toolbox.
“I heard the east staircase is unsafe,” he said.
May you like
Grant handed him a hammer.
That was how the three children Franklin divided began building something together.
