"But you haven't given up," Dean said.
"No. And I won't. Donnie's my son. There's no changing that fact. I don't have Shipton's dough or his connections, but I'm not going away either. Edith knows that. She manages to call me every few weeks when she can get off on her own, which isn't easy. I bought her one of those phone cards so she can call without Shipton knowing about it. I can talk to Donnie even though he can't talk back to me. Shipton would kill her if he knew I had any contact."
"What caused her to finally leave Shipton?" Dean asked.
"She didn't tell you that?" Dean shook his head no and Ryland continued. "She found out she's preg-claims he switched her birth control pills or something. Anyway, she was all set to have an abortion but he found out what she was going to do. He so adamant to have another child he'd tie her to a bed for nine months if that's what it would take to make sure. She swears she'll never have his child so she took off."
"And then called you."
"Yeah. It really made my day, I'll tell you."
"Shipton sounds like a real jerk."
"More than that. Look what the bastard's done to our son? The poor kid can't even talk anymore!"
"How did that happen?" Dean asked.
"It's kind of complicated. There was a canoeing accident, up in Canada. Macho Shipton took his son, a boy from his first marriage, and Donnie out to some remote chain of rivers and lakes, fishing and running the streams. The boy, Jerry, fell in and drowned. It was almost twenty-four hours before Shipton and Donnie got back to civilization, with the kid's body. It freaked out Donnie. Shipton claimed Jerry fell in the water while they were shooting rapids and Shipton himself nearly drowned trying to save him."
"You doubt the story?" Dean asked.
Ryland just shrugged. "Who knows? I guess I just automatically think the worst of anything that comes out of Shipton's mouth, regardless. But it was August and that river isn't exactly world-class white water. And Shipton is the only one who's doing the talking. The shrinks seemed to think young Donnie might feel he's to blame for what happened and that's why he lost his ability to speak, but Shipton disagrees. Anyway, the boy is scared to death of Jerome, according to Edith. Always has been. He treated both boys equally-like they were a couple of pansies in his mind. Now he wants to try the breeding game one more time. Like I said, the whole situation is a real mess."