Chapter 2
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
The only sound in the hospital room was the soft electronic beeping from the monitor beside Emily’s bed.
I stared at the message.
Then at the baby.
Then back at my wife.
My hands started shaking.
“What does this mean?”
Emily swallowed.
“James…”
“What does it mean?”
Susan stepped toward me.
“Maybe we should all calm down.”
I turned on her so fast she stopped moving.
“You don’t get to tell me to calm down.”
“James,” Emily snapped.
I looked at her.
There were tears in her eyes now.
But I didn’t know whether they were tears of guilt, fear, exhaustion, or something worse.
I held up the phone.
“You told him about the baby.”
She said nothing.
“You sent him sonograms.”
Still nothing.
I scrolled.
There were messages about doctor appointments.
Messages about morning sickness.
Messages about names.
Then I saw one that made my chest tighten.
Adrian had written:
If there’s even a chance he’s mine, I need to be ready.
Emily had replied:
I know.
My knees almost gave out.
I dropped into the chair beside the bed.
There was a strange buzzing in my ears.
I could barely hear myself when I asked, “Is there a chance?”
Emily started crying.
That was my answer.
I stood again.
“No.”
“James, please.”
“No.”
I backed away from the bed.
“You let me paint his room.”
Emily covered her mouth.
“You watched me build the crib.”
“I know.”
“You watched me talk to him every night.”
“I know.”
“I put my hand on your stomach and told him I was his dad.”
“James—”
“And you knew another man might be his father?”
Her face crumpled.
Susan stepped forward again.
“She didn’t know.”
I looked at her.
“Stay out of this.”
“I’m trying to help.”
“Then tell me how long you’ve known.”
Susan went silent.
Emily closed her eyes.
I laughed bitterly.
“Oh, this is unbelievable.”
“James, my mom only found out recently.”
“How recently?”
Neither woman answered.
“One week?”
Nothing.
“One month?”
Susan looked down.
I felt sick.
“Three months?”
Emily whispered, “Five.”
Five months.
Her mother had known for five months.
I pointed toward the door.
“Get out.”
Susan stared at me.
“James, this is my daughter.”
“And that might be another man’s son.”
The words left my mouth before I could stop them.
Emily flinched as if I had slapped her.
The baby began to cry.
The sound cut through all of us.
Emily immediately looked down and rocked him.
My anger broke for one second.
He was tiny.
Red-faced.
Completely innocent.
Whatever Emily had done, the baby had done nothing.
That almost hurt more.
I stepped closer without thinking.
His little hand had slipped free from the blanket.
I had imagined that hand holding my finger a thousand times.
Now I couldn’t move.
Emily looked at me.
“James, please. He needs you.”
I stared at her.
“You don’t get to say that.”
“He does.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I mean regardless of biology.”
I almost shouted.
“Regardless?”
A nurse appeared in the doorway.
“Is everything okay?”
“No,” I said.
Emily quickly wiped her face.
“Yes.”
The nurse looked between us.
“I need everyone to keep their voices down. There are other patients.”
I handed Emily her phone.
“No problem.”
Then I walked out.
“James!”
I kept going.
Emily called my name again.
I didn’t turn around.
The hallway looked too bright.
Families were carrying balloons.
A grandfather was holding flowers.
Somebody laughed near the elevators.
It felt obscene.
I had entered that building believing it would be the happiest day of my life.
Ten minutes later, I didn’t know whether I had a son.
The elevator doors opened.
I stepped inside.
Just before they closed, I heard Susan shout my name.
I pressed the button harder.
The doors shut.
Downstairs, I walked past the gift shop, past the front desk, and straight outside.
The air hit my face.
I bent over near the curb and threw up.
A security guard watched me from twenty feet away.
I didn’t care.
My phone buzzed.
Emily.
I rejected the call.
She called again.
Rejected.
Again.
Rejected.
Then a text came through.
Please don’t leave the hospital. We need to talk.
I typed a response.
Are you still sleeping with him?
My thumb hovered over Send.
Then I deleted it.
I didn’t want a text message.
I wanted the truth.
All of it.
And suddenly I realized something terrifying.
I had no idea how much truth was left.
I walked toward the parking garage.
Halfway there, my phone buzzed again.
This time it wasn’t Emily.
It was my younger sister, Rachel.
She almost never called during work.
I answered.
“Hey.”
“James?”
Something in her voice made me stop.
“What?”
“Where are you?”
“The hospital.”
Silence.
“Why?”
Rachel exhaled.
“I need to ask you something.”
My stomach tightened.
“Ask.”
“Did Emily have the baby?”
“Yes.”
Another pause.
“Okay.”
“Rachel, what is it?”
She sounded like she was trying not to cry.
“Has Adrian Cole contacted you?”
My skin went cold.
“What?”
“Has he contacted you?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
I heard her whisper a curse.
“Rachel.”
“I didn’t know if I should tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
“He messaged me three weeks ago.”
The parking garage entrance was ten feet away.
I stopped completely.
“What did he say?”
“He asked whether you and Emily were still together.”
I squeezed my phone.
“And?”
“I told him yes and blocked him.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I thought he was trying to create trouble again.”
“He was.”
“I know that now.”
“What else did he say?”
Rachel hesitated.
“James…”
“Tell me.”
“He asked whether you were excited about becoming a father.”
I felt my heart hammer.
“And then he said something weird.”
“What?”
“He said, ‘He should enjoy it while he can.’”
I gripped the concrete railing beside me.
“Are you sure those were his words?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
Rachel continued.
“I screenshotted it before I blocked him.”
“Send it.”
“James, what’s happening?”
I looked back toward the hospital.
“My son was born twenty minutes ago.”
“Oh my God. Congratulations.”
“Emily named him Adrian.”
Silence.
Then Rachel said, “What?”
“After Adrian Cole.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“James…”
“And I found messages.”
Her voice changed.
“What kind of messages?”
“The kind that make me wonder whether I’m the father.”
Rachel didn’t speak for several seconds.
Then she said, “I’m coming.”
“No.”
“I’m coming right now.”
“Rachel—”
“You should not be alone.”
I almost told her I was fine.
But that would have been another lie in a day already full of them.
“Okay.”
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
She hung up.
A second later, the screenshot arrived.
Adrian’s message was exactly what she had described.
But there was another line beneath it.
One Rachel hadn’t mentioned.
Maybe she hadn’t noticed.
Maybe she didn’t understand.
He had written:
Ask your brother if he knows where Emily was the night of February seventeenth.
I stared at the date.
February seventeenth.
I remembered it immediately.
Emily had told me she was staying overnight at her mother’s house because Susan had fallen in the kitchen.
I had even offered to come help.
Emily told me Susan was embarrassed and didn’t want anyone else there.
The next morning, Emily came home wearing the same clothes.
She had kissed me.
Made coffee.
Then we went shopping for nursery furniture.
My fingers went numb.
I called Susan.
She answered after three rings.
“James.”
“Did you fall on February seventeenth?”
Silence.
I didn’t even need another answer.
“Did you?”
Susan whispered, “James…”
I hung up.
I turned toward my car.
Then I noticed a man standing near the far side of the garage.
Tall.
Dark hair.
Gray jacket.
He was watching me.
For one second, neither of us moved.
Six years had passed.
But I recognized him instantly.
Adrian Cole.
He took one slow step toward me.
“James.”
Every muscle in my body tightened.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
He stopped about fifteen feet away.
His face looked tired.
Not nervous.
Not ashamed.
Tired.
“I came to see Emily.”
“You’re not going near her.”
His jaw tightened.
“I’m not here to fight you.”
“That makes one of us.”
He looked toward the hospital entrance.
“Did she tell you?”
I moved closer.
“Tell me what?”
He studied my face.
Then something in his expression changed.
“You really don’t know.”
I wanted to hit him.
Instead, I said, “Know what?”
Adrian reached into his jacket.
I stepped back immediately.
He pulled out an envelope.
Nothing else.
He held it toward me.
“She was supposed to tell you before the baby came.”
I stared at the envelope.
“What is it?”
“Something Emily should have shown you months ago.”
I didn’t take it.
“What?”
Adrian looked me directly in the eyes.
“A paternity test.”
My lungs stopped working.
May you like
He extended the envelope farther.
“She already knows who the father is.”
