Susan.
\nMichael Grant\u2019s mother.
\nThe woman who had cried in my arms.
\nThe woman whose son married Olivia.
\nThe woman who told me Michael loved \u201cClara Bennett.\u201d
\nMy grandmother had been standing beside me all day.
\nAnd she had never told me who she was.
\nI whispered, \u201cSusan is Teresa\u2019s mother?\u201d
\nMonroe stared at the screen.
\n\u201cIt appears so.\u201d
\nTeresa\u2019s voice broke through the phone.
\n\u201cMy mother is alive?\u201d
\n\u201cYes.\u201d
\n\u201cWhere is she?\u201d
\nI remembered.
\nSusan had left the courthouse earlier.
\nThen disappeared from the story entirely.
\nNobody had asked where she went.
\nAgent Monroe grabbed her radio.
\n\u201cLocate Susan Grant immediately.\u201d
\nAn agent answered seconds later.
\n\u201cHer phone is active.\u201d
\n\u201cWhere?\u201d
\nA pause.
\nThen:
\n\u201cNorthwestern Memorial Hospital.\u201d
\nI looked toward Teresa\u2019s room.
\n\u201cWhat floor?\u201d
\nAnother pause.
\n\u201cFloor nine.\u201d
\nEveryone froze.
\nTeresa whispered:
\n\u201cShe\u2019s here.\u201d
\nThen the lights in the hospital suddenly went out.
\nDarkness swallowed the room.
\nA voice came through the hallway.
\nOld.
\nFemale.
\nCalm.
\n\u201cTeresa.\u201d
\nMy mother stopped breathing.
\nThen the voice said:
\n\u201cClara.\u201d
\nAnd I realized Ethan wasn\u2019t the last person in my family whose secrets were about to destroy everything\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n