“Yes.”
“Has she seen photographs of them?”
Daniel hesitated.
That hesitation brought the heat right back.
“Daniel.”
“One.
I showed her one picture.
The school photo we keep in my wallet.”
I covered my mouth.
Somewhere in the world, this young woman had looked at my children and known they were her brother and sister while they had no idea she existed.
“Did she ask to meet them?”
“No.
She specifically said she wouldn’t ask for anything until you knew.”
“Until I knew.”
“Yes.”
“And when exactly was that going to happen?”
“Tonight.”
I stared at him.
“Because Brian called?”
“No.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“That’s fair.”
He took his phone from his pocket and placed it on the table without opening anything.
“You can read every message.
You can call her.
You can ask her when I said I was going to tell you.”
I looked at the phone but didn’t touch it.
I didn’t want to become a detective in my own marriage.
I wanted my husband to have made investigation unnecessary.
“Call her,” I said.
Daniel looked surprised.
“Now?”
“Now.”
He made the call.
Anna answered on the fourth ring.
Her voice sounded younger than I expected.
“Daniel?”
He glanced at me.
“Anna, Rebecca is here.
She knows.”
There was a long silence.
Then Anna said, “Oh.”
One tiny word containing an entire disaster.
Daniel told her she was on speaker and asked whether she was comfortable talking to me.
“Yes,” she said.
“If Rebecca wants to.”
I sat down.
“I need to ask you something, Anna.”
“Okay.”
“Did Daniel tell you he was going to tell me tonight? Before his boss called?”
Another pause.
“Yes.
He told me yesterday that if the DNA confirmed it, he was telling you as soon as he got home today.”
Daniel said nothing.
Neither did I.
