He stared at me for a long moment, then sat back down like all the fight had gone out of him.
When he spoke, his voice was flat.
“You’re not going to like the truth.”
I remember gripping the doorframe so hard my nails bent.
“Try me.”
He rubbed both hands over his face. “That baby is mine.”
My ears rang. “What?”
He looked up at me with dead eyes. “She’s my daughter.”
I said, “Of course she’s your daughter. She’s our daughter.”
He shook his head once.
“No. Not ours.”
I don’t know how long I stood there. Long enough for the silence to become its own living thing.
Then I heard myself ask, “Whose baby is in my nursery?”
He swallowed. “Her name is Ava.”
My voice rose. “Whose. Baby.”
He stared at the desk. “Mine. And Nicole’s.”
Nicole.
I knew the name before he said anything else. A woman from his office. Pretty in a soft, expensive way. The kind of woman men call easy to talk to when what they mean is willing to flatter them.
