All Now Deceased, by Eric Smith

Through family research, Matt learned his mother had had a third sibling she never mentioned. The child would have been the youngest in his mother’s family. Matt’s grandfather gave the infant daughter to distant relatives in another city to raise soon after his wife died in the influenza pandemic of 1918. As a widower, the grandfather couldn’t face caring for a fourth child—especially one so young—he thought three young children were already more than he could handle. The adopted girl eventually learned of her origins and remained permanently and bitterly estranged from Matt’s mother’s family.