Dr. Doofenshmirtz spent a couple of days rediscovering the farm with Vanessa, showing her places he'd spent happy times in. The old oak tree right outside the kitchen had a branch low enough to sit on, the apples in the orchard were almost full-size but not yet ripe, and the goat pens got a thorough cleaning in spite of Vanessa's protests.

Oma was all smiles when they trudged back to the house and were rewarded with some more of her wonderful cooking. Heinz had rigged up an IV Drip-inator to make it easier for Oma to get around and she was so perky it seemed impossible she was ninety-eight and terminally ill.

That illusion collapsed utterly two days later. Vanessa found Oma on the floor of her bedroom and managed to get her back on the bed. She was barely conscious and in serious pain when her doctor arrived.

After a short conversation, Heinz went inside to check on Oma. She was pale and drawn, but awake.

"Oma?" He spoke in German. "How are you feeling?"

"Liebling... I have to tell you something..." It was hard for her to breathe, maybe because of the pain, maybe because of the emotional distress. "I've been keeping something from you since your Opa died, may he rot in Hell for Eternity."

"What...? Oma, what did Opa do for you to say that?"

Vanessa was sitting on the floor just outside the doorway. Her German had improved in the few days they had been there and it was easy to follow what they were saying.

"Heinz... I don't know how to make this understandable. God knows I still don't know how I missed the signs."

"Start with what you knew before he told you... whatever it was."

"Well... You remember that horrid dog of your father's?"

"'Only Son'? How could I forget?" He laughed bitterly. "I hated that animal."

"Yes... I did too, when I found out how Herr Doofenshmirtz treated the dog like a prince while keeping you as a garden gnome. Why do you think he said the dog was the son he never had?"

"I always felt he hated me but... oh. Oh God. Why didn't I figure it out before? I'm not his son, am I?"

Vanessa bit her lip. That explained so very many of her father's stories about his childhood.

"No, you're not, Liebling. Your mother tricked him into marrying her after she discovered she was pregnant with you. That's not the worst of it, though. I... I'm partly to blame for everything that happened to you."

"You? But... why, Oma? What did you do?"

"I was blind, Heinz. I was completely blind to what had been going on. I never knew until your Opa was on his deathbed, just after your visit with Charlene. That's when he confessed to me."

Vanessa could hear the strain in her father's voice. "Oma, please, stop drawing it out. What did he tell you?"

"I... I'm so sorry, Liebling. Opa Schmitt was your father."

Vanessa's hands flew to her mouth, managing to stifle the tiny scream of horror.

"What..." Heinz's voice was a thread.

"He started forcing himself on your mother when she was sixteen, on market days while I was out. She never told me anything, and I never suspected. I never understood why she was so angry at me. I guess she expected me to read her mind."

Heinz was silent. Vanessa wondered what was going through his mind, if anything. The enormity of what Oma was telling him was difficult enough for her; for her father it had to be devastating.

"When she discovered she was carrying you she fooled Doofenshmirtz into sleeping with her and publicly pinned the pregnancy on him. He did the right thing, but he never really forgave her, or your Opa and me. She has never forgiven me either... and I've known why for sixteen years. I... I just hope you can forgive me, Liebling."

"Forgive you for what, Oma?"

"For being so blind to what went on in my house... for not telling your mother that she didn't have to marry if she didn't want to." Oma was weeping now. "If I had known, I would have thrown Opa out and let the Town Council throw him in a Goozim pit. I would have raised you myself, and you would have known love."

"It's all right, Oma... I always knew you loved me."

"Thank you, my child. Do you forgive me?"

"There was never anything that needed forgiving, Oma... you didn't know until it was too late to say anything. I'm grateful you were honest with me. You've given me answers to questions that plagued me all my life."

The relief in Oma's voice was obvious to Vanessa. "God's blessings be with you Liebling... thank you. You're a good man, Heinz, never mind how evil you try to be. No man who loves his child like you do can be completely evil."

"I'll still try, Oma."

"That's good... one should always strive for self-improvement. Go on, now, and let this old woman have her rest."

Vanessa scrambled to get up and pretend she hadn't been eavesdropping, but it wasn't necessary. Heinz stepped out, carefully shut the door, then made his way outside through the kitchen.

He made it to the oak tree before throwing up.