Claire told me what happened.
After I left, she discovered she was pregnant.
She tried to contact me.
Margaret intercepted the information.
When Claire eventually found Margaret, she begged her to tell me.
“She told me you didn’t want children,” Claire said.
“That you were starting a new life.”
I shook my head.
“I always wanted children.”
“I know that now.”
Claire looked at the photograph again.
“My daughter grew up believing her father abandoned us.”
I felt as though someone had punched me in the chest.
“What is her name?”
Claire hesitated.
“Emily.”
“Where is she?”
Claire looked at me.
“She lives twenty minutes from here.”
I couldn’t speak.
“Does she know about me?”
“No.”
I sat back down.
“Then why are you telling me now?”
Claire’s answer was quiet.
“Because Margaret asked me to.”
PART 7 — MARGARET’S LAST CONFESSION
Claire went to another room and returned carrying an envelope.
My name was written across the front.
In Margaret’s handwriting.
My hands trembled before I even opened it.
Inside was a letter.
I read:
My love,
If you are reading this, then I am gone.
I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness.
I spent forty years carrying something I should have told you about.
When you were young, Claire was pregnant with your child.
She came to me because she didn’t know where you were.
I told her you had moved on.
I lied.
I had to stop reading.
My vision blurred.
Claire sat beside me.
I continued.
I was afraid of losing you.
I convinced myself that if Claire disappeared from your life, eventually you would love me.
And you did.
You married me.
We built a life together.
You gave me thirty-six beautiful years.
But every anniversary, every birthday, every time I watched you hold our children, I remembered what I had taken from you.
I covered my mouth.
Then I read the final lines.
You always deserved the truth.
And now, before I die, I want you to meet the daughter I kept from you.
Her name is Emily.
Please don’t punish Claire.
She lost forty years too.
PART 8 — MEETING MY DAUGHTER
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