Then Maya asked the question I was already thinking.
“If Mark did all this, why is he still your friend?”
“He’s probably on his way here right now,”
Shame crossed Daniel’s face.
“We’re not close. I kept him at a distance.”
“He is literally coming here tonight,” Maya said.
Daniel looked down. “I know.”
Evan’s voice was quiet. “Did you ever tell him you helped my mom?”
“No. I promised Claire I wouldn’t tell him where she’d gone. That’s why he can’t see you.” He paused. “You look so much like her… and him.”
“Did you ever tell him you helped my mom?”
I stared at Daniel.
I loved my husband. But in all our time together, I’d never known him to be such a… coward.
“Evan, you need to go,” Daniel repeated.
“No,” I said.
Daniel’s face hardened. “We can’t just put them in a room together and hope everyone comes out okay. Didn’t you hear what I said about Mark?”
I’d never known him to be such a… coward.
I turned to Evan.
“You can go if you want to, Evan. You can hide upstairs until Mark leaves. That’s your choice to make, but you…” I turned back to Daniel. “You’ve spent nearly twenty years avoiding one uncomfortable sentence.”
Daniel stared at me. “What sentence?”
“The one where you tell Mark what you actually think of what he did.”
Daniel never got the chance to answer me.
The doorbell rang.
“You’ve spent nearly twenty years avoiding one uncomfortable sentence.”
Nobody moved.
A few seconds later, it rang again.
Daniel looked at Evan.
Then at me.
I nodded.
Finally, he walked into the hallway and opened it.
The doorbell rang.
Mark came in holding a red plastic tool case.
“Sorry I’m late. Traffic was—”
He broke off when he saw Evan.
The tool case lowered slightly in his hand.
Mark’s face looked strange. Confused first.
Then frightened.
He broke off when he saw Evan.
“Who… are you?”
Evan’s jaw clenched. I watched him stand, watched his hands curl into fists at his sides, and knew Evan was going to face this head-on.
“My name is Evan. My mother was Claire.”
The tool case hit the floor.
Evan was going to face this head-on.
My daughter flinched.
Mark looked at Daniel.
“No… is he?”
“Yes,” Evan said. “It seems I’m your son.”
Mark glanced at him, then he rounded on Daniel.
“What is he doing here? And where’s Claire? Did you know where she ran off to all this time?”
“It seems I’m your son.”
Daniel hesitated.
“Answer me!” Mark snapped. “You’re the one that took her from me all those years ago, aren’t you? Were you sleeping with her?”
“No. Never.” Daniel straightened. “But I did help her leave.”
“You son of a—” Mark curled his hand into a fist. “You helped her take my child.”
“She wanted to leave, Mark. You made it almost impossible. I did the right thing.”
Mark curled his hand into a fist.
Mark stopped.
“You emptied the account. You locked down her cards. You told a pregnant woman that if she wanted to leave you, she could find a way to pay for it herself.”
Mark glanced at Evan.
“You don’t know what our relationship was like.”
“I knew enough.”
“No, you didn’t.” Mark gave a bitter laugh.
“I did the right thing.”
“Claire was always overreacting,” Mark continued. “She’d get upset, threaten to leave, spend money we didn’t have. Somebody had to be the responsible one. I was trying to stop her from making another stupid decision.”
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