Ethan had a troubled
marriage but his wife was about to have their first child. Ethan (b.
1920) had only been married for two years to Virginia de Ruyter (b.
1925) and the couple had suffered a miscarriage. They had high hopes
for their next attempt at childbearing.

Acacia was married to Junius
G. Hand at this time, though to date no one had told Junius that his
son by Erszebet Singer survived and was adopted. Junius was overjoyed over Acacia's pregnancy, and did what he could to ward off the
wolves at the club. Soon, however, she was showing and stopped
dancing until after the child's birth. So all Ethan and Caulder could
do was drink and fantasize over the lovely Acacia.

Virginia de Ruyter was the
paternal granddaughter of the much-discussed Ananias de Ruyter, one
of the founding fathersof Hallmark. Virginia's father, Victor de
Ruyter, was something of a criminal, involved in all manner of vice
and heavily entwined with the local mob. This made his daughter into
something of a crusader for social causes, which was very compatible
with husband Ethan's aspirations to one day become District Attorney
and truly clean up Hallmark. But Ethan, unlike his bride's family,
was not an heir to millions and his dreams seemed all but
unattainable. That is, until he made the acquaintance of the
mysterious Caulder Gaunt.

Caulder needed a job; Ethan
needed a friend. And so, as fate would have it, Ethan brought Gaunt
in at an entry level position at OrDeR Enterprises. Ethan had an
uncanny knack for spotting sound investments and was soon rising at
OrDeR. Ethan's son by Virginia, Clayton Ethan “Clay” Byron was
born in early 1956,