Chapter 2

Daniel followed me into the parking lot.

“Mara, wait.”

Lily was already in the passenger seat. I placed Dad’s framed photograph in the trunk and closed it carefully.

“You only need to answer one question,” I said. “Is Noah your son?”

Daniel glanced toward the church entrance.

“Yes.”

“When did you find out?”

“After he was born.”

“So you’ve lied to me for seven years.”

“I did not create a second marriage with Sophie. I have been supporting my child.”

“You missed my father’s burial to attend his birthday party.”

“Noah only knew I’d promised to help him blow out his candles.”

“My father knew he was being buried.”

Daniel closed his eyes.

“Leaving five minutes earlier wouldn’t have brought him back.”

He always waited until the harm was done, then explained why repairing it was impractical.

“Why does Noah have the lake-house key?”

“It’s just a key. Noah likes the lake. I’ve taken him there twice.”

My hand stopped on the car door.

“You took them into my father’s house?”

“The place was empty.”

“And Dad was too sick to stop you.”

Daniel’s jaw tightened.

“I wanted my son to have some normal childhood memories.”

“With my father’s home?”

“We can discuss the property later. Right now, we need to take Lily home and let her calm down.”

The passenger window slid open.

“Don’t use me as an excuse,” Lily said.

Her face was pale, but her voice was steady.

Sophie approached us with Noah beside her.

“How much longer?” she asked Daniel. “Noah’s tired, and you promised to take him to dinner.”

She didn’t sound like a woman who had hidden in the shadows for seven years. She sounded like a wife waiting for her husband to finish an unpleasant conversation.

“We’re talking,” Daniel said.

“You said you would tell her after the funeral.”

Daniel’s expression changed.

“Sophie, not now.”

“For you, it’s never now.”

She pulled out her phone. The screen lit up.

Her lock screen showed Daniel beside Noah at a preschool performance three years earlier. The date was April 12—the night Dad collapsed and I sat alone in the emergency room while Daniel claimed a snowstorm had stranded him in Chicago.

“When was that picture taken?” I asked.

Sophie looked at the screen.

“Noah’s preschool performance.”

“Daniel told me he was in Chicago that night.”

“He wasn’t,” she said. “He came to the performance. Then he stayed at my place.”

Daniel’s face hardened.

“We’ll discuss this at home.”

Sophie looked at him.

“You told her you were traveling?”

He opened my car door.

“Go home, Mara. You buried your father today. You’re in no condition to make decisions.”

“I lost more than one person today.”

I got into the car and locked the doors.

Sophie tapped the window. I didn’t lower it, but I could still hear her through the glass.

“Daniel told me you knew about Noah and me.”

Her mouth formed the next words slowly.

“He said you had agreed to everything.”

Daniel stood between our cars.

He looked at neither of us.