I didn't speak for several seconds.<\/p>\n
The office seemed suddenly too small.<\/p>\n
The ticking clock on the wall sounded absurdly loud.<\/p>\n
Ryan said the baby wasn't his.<\/p>\n
Those words were impossible.<\/p>\n
I had been married to him for eleven years.<\/p>\n
There had been no other man.<\/p>\n
No secret relationship.<\/p>\n
No reason for him to doubt the child's paternity.<\/p>\n
Unless he knew something I didn't.<\/p>\n
Or wanted me to doubt myself.<\/p>\n
Mara paused the recording.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore we go further, don't contact Ryan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn't going to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to know what Claire meant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will.\u201d<\/p>\n
My phone rang.<\/p>\n
Ryan.<\/p>\n
I watched his name appear.<\/p>\n
Then disappear.<\/p>\n
A voicemail followed.<\/p>\n
I didn't open it.<\/p>\n
Another call came.<\/p>\n
I rejected it.<\/p>\n
Mara looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's probably the right decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows something happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows about the recording.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The third call never came.<\/p>\n
Instead, a message appeared.<\/p>\n
We need to talk about the baby.<\/p>\n
I felt my stomach drop.<\/p>\n
Mara read it.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
I nodded.<\/p>\n
The phrase echoed in my head.<\/p>\n
The baby wasn't his.<\/p>\n
I thought about the pregnancy.<\/p>\n
The day I told Ryan.<\/p>\n
The way he had smiled.<\/p>\n
The way he had put both hands on my face.<\/p>\n
Then, weeks later, the way he had started sleeping on the couch.<\/p>\n
I had blamed the miscarriage.<\/p>\n
Maybe it had started before.<\/p>\n
I looked at Mara.<\/p>\n
\u201cCould Ryan have believed someone else was the father?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCould he have had evidence?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCould he have been wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n
That distinction mattered.<\/p>\n
I had spent months assuming Ryan's betrayal began with Claire.<\/p>\n
Now there was another possibility.<\/p>\n
Maybe the marriage had already been poisoned by a suspicion neither of them had told me.<\/p>\n
Mara asked for every medical and legal document I had.<\/p>\n
I gave her everything.<\/p>\n
Then she asked about the pregnancy itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid your doctor ever mention anything unusual?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAny testing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRoutine testing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything about blood type?\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAny reason for paternity testing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen don't assume Ryan was right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't.\u201d<\/p>\n
But I knew I needed to understand why he believed it.<\/p>\n
That afternoon, Claire came to Mara's office.<\/p>\n
She looked as though she hadn't slept.<\/p>\n
She sat beside me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI should have told you sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou've said that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
She took a breath.<\/p>\n
\u201cRyan found something.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA photograph.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat kind?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAn old picture from before your marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n
I frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd another man.\u201d<\/p>\n
I searched my memory.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know what you're talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said you were with someone before you married him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said the man was the father of the baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat makes no sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was the man?\u201d<\/p>\n
She shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did Ryan get the photograph?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe showed it to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he show you the original?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen it could be anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mara leaned forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Ryan ever mention the man's name?\u201d<\/p>\n
Claire looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel.\u201d<\/p>\n
The name meant nothing to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel who?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I tried to remember.<\/p>\n
There had been a Daniel at my old workplace.<\/p>\n
A family friend named Daniel.<\/p>\n
A cousin's friend.<\/p>\n
Too many possibilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Ryan say when the photograph was taken?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore the wedding.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long before?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYears.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat proves nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he claim you had a relationship?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I appreciated the honesty.<\/p>\n
But something about the name bothered me.<\/p>\n
Daniel.<\/p>\n
I hadn't heard it in years.<\/p>\n
Mara asked Claire to send any photograph Ryan had shown her.<\/p>\n
She did.<\/p>\n
The image arrived.<\/p>\n
I opened it.<\/p>\n
It was old.<\/p>\n
Very old.<\/p>\n
I was younger.<\/p>\n
Maybe twenty-four.<\/p>\n
I was standing beside a man outside a restaurant.<\/p>\n
My arm was around his shoulder.<\/p>\n
He was laughing.<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
Then I remembered.<\/p>\n
Daniel Mercer.<\/p>\n
He had been my college friend.<\/p>\n
Nothing more.<\/p>\n
We had dated other people.<\/p>\n
We had never dated each other.<\/p>\n
The photograph had been taken after graduation.<\/p>\n
I had forgotten about it.<\/p>\n
Ryan hadn't.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe used this?\u201d<\/p>\n
Claire nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said you had lied to him about Daniel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn't.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the date.<\/p>\n
Seven years before I met Ryan.<\/p>\n
Mara examined it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's not evidence of anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it may explain his suspicion.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Claire.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen did Ryan first show you this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the miscarriage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore or after the custody proposal?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter.\u201d<\/p>\n
That mattered.<\/p>\n
The suspicion may have been an excuse.<\/p>\n
Or it may have been genuine.<\/p>\n
Either way, he had never asked me.<\/p>\n
He had gone directly to my mother.<\/p>\n
Directly to lawyers.<\/p>\n
Directly to Claire.<\/p>\n
He had built a case around a secret instead of asking his wife a question.<\/p>\n
That told me enough about the marriage we had actually been living in.<\/p>\n
Then Claire said something else.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe asked your mother whether she knew about Daniel.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe night of the miscarriage.\u201d<\/p>\n
My skin prickled.<\/p>\n
Mara immediately asked,<\/p>\n
\u201cDid your mother answer?\u201d<\/p>\n
Claire shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I called my mother.<\/p>\n
She answered on the first ring.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnnie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is Daniel?\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
I knew.<\/p>\n
She knew.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven't spoken to him in years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Ryan ask you about him?\u201d<\/p>\n
She began crying.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe night you were in the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he thought the baby might be his.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn't make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said the dates didn't add up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why didn't you tell him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him he was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n
She didn't answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else did you tell him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him the truth didn't matter if he had already decided what he believed.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
That sounded like my mother.<\/p>\n
But it wasn't enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know Daniel?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he ever contact you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you ever contact him?\u201d<\/p>\n
She hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYears ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI needed to find out where he was.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart started beating faster.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
She didn't answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to know whether he had moved back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would you care?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn't.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou're lying.\u201d<\/p>\n
She started crying.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am trying to protect you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt a wave of anger.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone keeps saying that.\u201d<\/p>\n
I ended the call.<\/p>\n
Mara watched me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to locate Daniel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't even know where he is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI'll see what can be established legally.\u201d<\/p>\n
That evening, my father arrived at my house.<\/p>\n
He looked pale.<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard the call.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Mom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He sat down.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is something I never told you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cApparently everyone has something they never told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked ashamed.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel contacted your mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYears ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout eleven.\u201d<\/p>\n
My marriage.<\/p>\n
The beginning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said he wanted to talk to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Mom tell him no?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told him you were married.\u201d<\/p>\n
I frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's not true. I wasn't married eleven years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
My father looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why I remember it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt cold.<\/p>\n
Ryan and I had been married eleven years.<\/p>\n
Daniel had contacted my mother around the beginning of our marriage.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was his last name?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMercer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
My father nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said something about a child.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat child?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDad.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said he had something that belonged to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn't you tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother said it would destroy your marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore I even knew there was a problem?\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
I felt dizzy.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Ryan know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
My father looked toward the window.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnnie, there's one more thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel wasn't calling about himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said the child wasn't his.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why was he calling?\u201d<\/p>\n
My father swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said he knew who the father was.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room went silent.<\/p>\n
I could hear the refrigerator humming.<\/p>\n
Outside, a dog barked once.<\/p>\n
Then stopped.<\/p>\n
My phone vibrated.<\/p>\n
A new message.<\/p>\n
Unknown number.<\/p>\n
I opened it.<\/p>\n
Hello, Annie. My name is Daniel Mercer. I think we need to talk about what happened before you married Ryan.<\/p>\n
I stared at the screen.<\/p>\n
A second message arrived.<\/p>\n
I tried to reach you eleven years ago.<\/p>\n
Then a third.<\/p>\n
Your mother told me you didn't want to know.<\/p>\n
My hands went cold.<\/p>\n
I looked at my father.<\/p>\n
He closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
I asked the question that had been waiting inside me for eleven years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did Mom keep from me?\u201d<\/p>\n
My father didn't answer.<\/p>\n
My phone vibrated again.<\/p>\n
Daniel had sent a photograph.<\/p>\n
It wasn't of me.<\/p>\n
It wasn't of Ryan.<\/p>\n
It was a photograph of a small hospital bracelet.<\/p>\n
The name printed on it was mine.<\/p>\n
Underneath it was a date.<\/p>\n
A date I recognized.<\/p>\n
The date my mother had always told me was the day I first came home from the hospital after a childhood illness.<\/p>\n
But Daniel's message said:<\/p>\n
This was the day I learned why your mother never wanted you to ask questions about your first pregnancy.<\/p>\n
I stared at the screen.<\/p>\n
I couldn't breathe.<\/p>\n
First pregnancy?<\/p>\n
There had been another one.<\/p>\n
And suddenly, the story Ryan had been telling everyone about my fifth baby no longer seemed like the beginning of the secret.<\/p>\n
It seemed like the middle.<\/p>\n
I didn't speak for several seconds. The office seemed suddenly too small. The ticking clock on the wall sounded absurdly loud. Ryan said the baby wasn't his. Those words were … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8242"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8261,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8242\/revisions\/8261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}