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.”
He said nothing.
“And you never told your wife.”
“I was nineteen when she was born.”
Ethan looked toward Esme’s memorial.
“My parents told me Esme wanted me out of their lives.”
Isla spoke.
“My mom kept all his letters.”
Ethan looked at her sharply.
“What?”
“She gave them to me before she died.”
His face changed.
“She kept them?”
“Every one.”
For a second, I saw genuine grief in him.
But after weeks of lies, I could not comfort him.
“When did Isla contact you?”
Ethan hesitated.
Isla answered.
“Before the twins were born.”
I looked at him.
“You knew while I was pregnant?”
“I didn’t answer immediately.”
“When did you answer?”
“After Kai and Theo came home.”
I gripped my car keys.
“So while I was recovering from childbirth…”
Ethan lowered his eyes.
“…while I was learning how to feed and care for two newborns…”
I pointed toward Isla.
“…you were secretly meeting your daughter.”
“I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“That is not the same as protecting me.”
“You were overwhelmed.”
I laughed once.
A sharp, disbelieving sound.
“So that was your excuse?”
“Nora—”
“You told her I was too fragile?”
Isla looked down.
“He said there was never a good time.”
I stared at Ethan.
“You used my recovery to justify lying.”
“I was scared you would leave.”
“So instead, you made me question my own judgment.”
My voice shook.
“You blamed exhaustion.”
“The babies.”
“My imagination.”
“And you lied about the money.”
I turned toward Isla.
“What was the money for?”
She immediately looked guilty.
“Bills.”
“After Mom died, I needed help.”
Her voice cracked.
“I didn’t know he took it from your emergency account until later. I asked him for help again and he told me.”
She wiped at her face.
“I’m sorry.”
“I believe you.”
Ethan looked up.
I continued:
“Helping your daughter was not the betrayal.”
I turned toward him.
“Taking money from our family and lying to me about why was.”
Isla looked at me.
“I thought you knew about me.”
That hurt unexpectedly.
“No, honey.”
My voice softened.
“I didn’t know you existed.”
And then I understood another part of Ethan’s deception.
He had allowed Isla to believe that I knew about her.
That I had agreed she should remain outside our family.
When Ethan tried to reach for me, I stepped backward.
“You’re not coming home tonight.”
“Nora.”
“No.”
“The boys need me.”
“They need honesty more.”
“I’m their father.”
“And I’m the mother you blamed every time the truth became inconvenient.”
His hand fell.
“You know where Kai and Theo are.”
I took a breath.
“You can call them.”
“But tonight, you’re sleeping somewhere else.”
For once, Ethan did not get to decide when I was prepared to know the truth.
THE NEXT MORNING
Mom opened the door before I even knocked.
“What happened?”
I looked toward my sleeping babies.
Then said the sentence I still could not believe.
“Ethan has a seventeen-year-old daughter.”
Mom stared at me.
“She knows Kai and Theo’s names.”
I swallowed.
“She knew what my babies looked like.”
“And I didn’t even know her name.”
The following morning, I called Ethan.
“Come over.”
“Mom will watch the boys.”
He arrived twenty minutes later wearing the same clothes from Cedar Hollow.
I did not offer coffee.
“Start at the beginning.”
Ethan sat across from me.
