“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…”
