Steven was picked up by a stranger in Merced and was told his family had given him away. I am not sure what is known about Steven's immediate reaction to that, but he does not seem to have found it utterly unbelievable. He lived for seven years without, it seems, ever telling anyone that he had an earlier family that gave him away. Life with Parnell must have been hell on earth, but Steven does not seem to have been nostalgic for life with his real parents. Beach, if I understand her correctly, seemed to have had no inkling during the years they were close friends in Comptche that Steven had a previous family.
People react to horrid circumstances in different ways.
For Steven, the circumstances seem to have molded his character for the good. Still, it's not a question to which the public has the right to an answer. Bothering Steven's widow or children would be, as Beach suggests, unconscionable. I was married to a woman who, as a child, had endured eight years of sexual and psychological abuse from her father. Beach has done a great service by bearing witness to Steven's courage.