Then:
“You need more sleep, Nora.”
The door closed.
This time, I did not stay home waiting for another explanation.
Mom was sitting on our couch with Theo asleep against her chest.
Kai lay in his portable bassinet nearby.
She looked at my face.
“Go.”
“The bottles are labeled.”
“I know.”
“Theo ate twenty minutes ago.”
“Nora.”
Mom gave me a look.
“I know how to take care of babies.”
I grabbed my keys.
“Call me,” she said.
I was already moving.
I FOLLOWED HIM
I stayed several cars behind Ethan.
He passed his office.
Then the shopping district.
Then Willowcrest Medical Center.
He kept driving until Bellmere disappeared behind us.
Several miles outside town, he turned toward Cedar Hollow, a wooded memorial area lined with old trees and stone plaques.
I parked farther away.
Then followed on foot.
That was when I saw her.
A young woman waiting beneath an oak tree.
And then I heard:
“Dad.”
Ethan’s voice changed immediately.
“Isla.”
He stepped toward her.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
I stopped breathing.
“SHE’S THEIR SISTER.”
Ethan saw me.
“Nora.”
He came toward me quickly.
“Please. Let me explain.”
I pointed toward the box in Isla’s hands.
“You brought her photographs of Kai and Theo.”
Ethan stopped.
“She’s their sister.”
The sentence hit me harder than discovering an affair would have.
I looked at Isla.
Then back at him.
“Then why did you make their sister a secret?”
Beside the oak tree stood a memorial marker.
ESME
The final date was seven months earlier.
I looked at the girl.
“How old are you?”
“Seventeen.”
My stomach dropped again.
I faced Ethan.
“You have a seventeen-year-old daughter.”
