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Daniel stared at me.
“You had a baby?”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me?”
“You told me you didn’t want anything connecting us.”
He shook his head.
“I didn’t mean…”
“You said it very clearly.”
Vanessa was crying now.
Daniel turned toward her.
“You knew?”
She looked away.
“Daniel…”
“You knew about the baby?”
Vanessa didn’t answer.
That was enough.
His face hardened.
“How?”
She finally whispered, “I found the photograph.”
“Where?”
“In your mother’s things.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Vanessa looked toward Lily.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
“That you’d want to find her.”
Silence fell around us.
I looked at Vanessa.
“You weren’t afraid of losing him.”
She started crying harder.
“You were afraid he’d discover the truth.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Is Lily really my daughter?”
I didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, I looked at Lily.
She was watching us with the confused expression of a child who understood that the adults were discussing something important but didn’t understand why.
I placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Lily, why don’t you go sit with Aunt Rachel for a few minutes?”
She nodded.
Before leaving, she looked at Daniel.
“Are you the man in Mommy’s old picture?”
Daniel couldn’t speak.
I answered gently.
“Yes.”
Lily smiled faintly.
“Okay.”
Then she ran back toward the other children.
Daniel watched her go.
“She knows?”
“She knows you were someone important to me once.”
He swallowed.
“And now?”
“Now she’s my daughter.”
He looked down…..