The Unexpected Heir

Understanding

Grandpa James' eyes blazed with a mix of anger and frustration as he spoke. "You're so young, Charlie, caught up in your own world. You don't know the history, the pain. Your father, he was always headstrong, stubborn. I tried to caution him, to tell him to be gentle with you, not to push you so hard. But he refused to listen."

James' voice cracked with emotion as he continued. "He told me it was none of my business, that I was just an in-law, that I had no right to interfere in his family affairs. Can you believe that? Because I wasn't his father, and he wouldn't listen."

James paused, collecting himself before going on. "I offered to take you in, to raise you myself, to teach you the ways of the world. But he refused. He said he would do it his own way, and that I should mind my own business. Your mother, my daughter, she just apologized and told me to let him be."

James' staff struck the ground with a loud thud, his anger and frustration boiling over. "That's when I vowed to never