Chapter 3

The next afternoon, Mara sent me the first results of her investigation.

The email contained only a few pages of information and several old photos.

I opened the first page, and my eyes stopped at the top.

"Lily. Seven years old."

Her date of birth was listed underneath.

Something about that date felt familiar.

I opened the calendar on my phone and kept scrolling back until I found it.

There was only one note on that day.

"Fourth embryo transfer failed."

I stared at those words as the memories slowly came back.

Nathan had promised to pick me up from the hospital that day.

After I got the results, I sat alone in the exam room for a long time, completely devastated. Then Nathan called and said there was an urgent problem with the company's financing, and he had to stay at the office.

He didn't come home until almost midnight.

He held me in his arms and apologized over and over.

Then he kissed my forehead and said:

"Evelyn, we're going to have a child of our own someday."

I had believed him completely.

Then I opened the second photo Mara had sent me.

It had been taken in a maternity ward.

Claire was sitting up in a hospital bed, holding newborn Lily in her arms.

Nathan stood beside her.

He was looking down at the baby, one hand resting on Claire's shoulder.

And on his ring finger was our wedding band.

The date in the corner of the photo was exactly the same as the date on my calendar.

Suddenly, I understood.

That day, I had been sitting in one hospital, grieving my fourth failed attempt.

Nathan had been in another hospital, welcoming his daughter into the world.

And that night, he had come home, held me in his arms, and told me,

"We're going to have a child of our own someday."

I closed the photo.

It took me a long time before I could bring myself to continue.

There weren't many photos after that, but there were enough.

In one birthday picture, Lily sat in front of a cake while Nathan leaned over to light the candles. Claire stood behind him.

Another had been taken at Christmas.

Lily was sitting on Nathan's shoulders while Claire held up the phone for a selfie. All three of them wore matching red Santa hats.

There was also one from a park.

Nathan was crouched in front of Lily, tying her shoelaces.

Exactly like he had done at the hospital yesterday.

That was when I finally understood.

What I had seen yesterday wasn't some rare visit.

Nathan hadn't simply dropped in to see Lily once in a while.

He had always been there.

He had simply hidden that other home every time he came back to me.

Mara called soon afterward.

"This is all I could find publicly for now. Claire rarely posted clear photos of Nathan, and he seems to have been very careful too."

"But one thing is obvious. He wasn't someone who only started showing up after Lily was born."

I looked at the photo from the maternity ward.

"Keep digging."

"What exactly do you want to know?"

"When it started."

Mara paused.

"I can go further back. Records from Claire's pregnancy, old addresses, social media accounts, Nathan's travel history from that time. But the farther back I go, the less there will be left to find."

"Then go back as far as you can."

I closed the maternity ward photo and looked once more at Lily's date of birth.

By the time she was born, Nathan was already standing beside Claire's hospital bed.

So that wasn't the date I was looking for.

Neither was the day Claire became pregnant.

I wanted to know how long they had already been lying to me before any of this happened.

"Don't start with Lily," I said.

"I want the earliest record you can find connecting the two of them."

Mara was quiet for a moment.

"No matter how far back it goes?"

"No matter how far."

After the call ended, I sat alone in the study for a long time.

Yesterday, I thought I had discovered my husband's secret daughter.

Today, I realized Lily was only the result of a much older secret.

She was already seven.

But when had Nathan and Claire's story really begun?

I still didn't know.