Vanessa looked exhausted.
"Because Robert stopped answering her."
Robert said nothing.
"Megan tried calling him. He blocked her."
"That's not true."
Vanessa looked at him.
"You changed your number."
"I had to."
"No. You wanted to make her disappear."
Sophie suddenly spoke.
"Does Megan know you're married?"
Vanessa looked at her.
"Yes."
"Then why did she believe him?"
Vanessa hesitated.
"Because Robert told her you and your mother were already finished."
Sophie looked at her father.
Robert felt something break inside him.
"You told her that?"
"I was confused."
"That's not an answer."
"No."
Robert's voice cracked.
"I lied."
Sophie nodded.
At nineteen, she was old enough to understand the ugliness of adult choices.
But she was still young enough to want her father to be better than this.
"Did you love her?"
Robert looked at his daughter.
"No."
Vanessa's face tightened.
"That's not what you told my sister."
"I didn't mean—"
"You told her you were going to leave Karen."
"I thought I might."
Karen stood.
"Why?"
Robert looked at her.
"I don't know."
That answer hurt more than any explanation.
Karen walked to the window.
Outside, the rain had started again.
She remembered twenty-two years of marriage.
Their first apartment.
Sophie being born.
Mortgage payments.
Christmas mornings.
Arguments over money.
Vacation photographs.
Robert holding her hand in the hospital.
All of it now seemed to exist beside another story she had never known.
"What is in the rest of the envelope?" she asked.
Vanessa opened it.
There was a clinic statement.
A letter from Megan.
And another document.
Karen read the first lines.
Then stopped.
"What is this?"
Robert didn't answer.
It was a letter Megan had written to him.
She had asked him to acknowledge the pregnancy.
She had told him she didn't want to destroy his family.
She had asked only for honesty.
At the bottom was one sentence:
Please don't make my child grow up believing his father was ashamed of him.
Karen closed her eyes.
Sophie turned away.
Vanessa wiped her face.
"I didn't come here to ruin your marriage," she said.
Karen looked at her.
"My marriage is not your responsibility."
"I know."
"Neither is my husband's behavior."
"I know that too."
"Then why did you take the letter?"
Vanessa looked toward Robert.
"Because he had been intercepting them."
Karen slowly turned.
"How many?"
Robert whispered, "I don't know."
Vanessa answered for him.
"At least five."
Karen's eyes filled with tears.
Not because of Megan.
Not even because of the baby.
Because every letter represented a separate decision.
Robert had seen the truth arrive.
And each time, he had chosen to hide it.
She walked toward him.
For a moment Robert thought she might touch him.
Instead she stopped several feet away.
"You didn't make one mistake," she said.
Robert looked down.
"You made the same choice over and over."
He had no answer.
Sophie picked up her phone.
"I'm going to Megan's."
Robert immediately stood.
"No."
Sophie stared at him.
"You don't get to tell me where I go anymore."
And she walked out.
Megan Reed lived in a small apartment fifteen minutes away.
When Karen arrived, Vanessa was already there.
Sophie sat quietly on the couch.
Megan stood in the kitchen.
She looked younger than Karen remembered.
Much younger.
One hand rested over her stomach.
When she saw Karen, she began crying.
"I'm sorry."
Karen stopped.
"For what?"
Megan wiped her eyes.
"For all of this."
Karen shook her head.
"Don't apologize for his decisions."
Megan looked down.
"I didn't know what to believe."
"I know."
"I thought he loved me."
Karen's jaw tightened.
"Did he say he did?"
"Yes."
Karen closed her eyes.
There was nothing she could say to that.
Megan continued.
"He said you were separated."
Karen looked at Vanessa.
Vanessa nodded.
"He told Megan you slept in different rooms."
Karen gave a humorless laugh.
"We did sometimes."
"See?"
Megan's voice broke.
"I thought it was true."
Karen sat down.
Sophie moved beside her.
Megan remained standing.
"I found out I was pregnant in March."
She explained what happened afterward.