“Thank
you.”
“Tell him it’s from Mason.”
“I will.”
He paused.
“Don’t tell him I’m his brother yet.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“I won’t.”
“I think somebody should know if they have a brother before everybody else does.”
I looked away before he could see my face.
Vanessa crouched.
“You’re very smart.”
Mason shrugged.
“My mom says I ask too many questions.”Track Pregnancy
“I think questions might be important in this family.”
That got the smallest smile from him.
Then Vanessa stood and looked at me.
“Claire.”
I waited.
“I am sorry.”
I believed her.
“I know.”
“I didn’t know.”
“I know that too.”
“And if you want me to stay away from Mason, I will.”
I looked at my son.
Then at the hospital photograph still tucked under her arm.
“I don’t know what I want yet.”
She nodded.
“That’s fair.”
“But don’t disappear.”
Her eyes met mine.
“Why?”
“Because Tyler told both
of us different versions of the same story.”
Priya closed her briefcase.
“And the easiest way to uncover a lie is to compare the stories told to the people it was designed to separate.”
Vanessa looked at me.
For the first time, we weren’t Tyler’s wife and Tyler’s mistress.
We were two mothers standing on opposite sides of the same secret.Track Pregnancy
“I won’t disappear,” she said.
Then she walked away.
—
Mason fell asleep in the hotel room before eight.
He insisted on keeping the curtains open because he could see planes descending in the distance.
I lay beside him until his breathing slowed.
His toy airplane rested on the pillow near his face.
