“After everything, I’m surprised she stayed in Boston.”

I looked up.

“After what?”

Mom put a coffee cup down harder than necessary.

“Lorraine, leave it alone.”

My aunt stared at her.

Then she looked at me.

Confusion spread across her face.

“Wait. You never told him?”

The kitchen became silent.

I felt my heartbeat quicken.

“Told me what?”

Mom stepped between us.

“This is unnecessary.”

Lorraine ignored her.

“Grant, I thought you knew about the babies.”

Babies.

Not baby.

Babies.

The word didn’t make sense.

“What babies?”

Mom closed her eyes.

Lorraine’s face changed as she realized what she had done.

But it was too late.

The Rainy Night I Never Knew About

Lorraine sat down across from me.

“Three weeks after your divorce became final, Tessa came here.”

I stared at her.

“I was already in Seattle.”

After the divorce, I had accepted a promotion across the country. I had wanted distance from everything connected to my marriage.

Lorraine nodded.

“She knew. She wanted your new address.”

I turned toward my mother.

She wouldn’t look at me.

“Why?”

Lorraine swallowed.

“Because she was pregnant.”

The room seemed to tilt.

“Pregnant?”

Nobody answered.

I stood.

“Mom, look at me.”

She slowly raised her eyes.

“Did Tessa come to this house because she was carrying my child?”

Mom’s voice became quiet.

“Yes.”

I couldn’t breathe properly.

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“You had just started rebuilding your life.”

I laughed once, but there was nothing funny about it.

“That wasn’t your decision.”

“You don’t understand what things were like then.”

“Then explain it.”

Mom gripped the counter.

“Tessa came here upset. You were finally doing well. You had a new job, a new city, a future. I thought if you found out, you would throw everything away and run back to her.”

“She was carrying my child.”

Lorraine quietly corrected her.

“Children.”

I turned.

“What?”

My aunt’s eyes filled with regret.

“She was expecting twins.”

Two Children I Had Never Met

I sat down because my legs suddenly felt unreliable.

Twins.

Somewhere in Massachusetts, there might be two children who were nearly five years old.

My children.

“Did she know they were mine?”

Mom nodded.

“She said there was no question.”

I stared at her.

“What did you tell her?”

Mom didn’t answer.

That frightened me more than anything else.

“What did you tell her, Mom?”

Finally, she whispered:

“I told her you didn’t want contact.”

I stood so quickly the chair scraped across the floor.

“You told her WHAT?”

“I thought I was protecting you.”

“From my own children?”

Lorraine looked down.

Mom’s voice shook.

“I thought you would eventually have another family.”

At that moment, footsteps sounded behind us.

Brielle stood at the kitchen entrance.

She had heard enough.

And the expression on her face told me something worse.

She wasn’t surprised.

The Second Secret

I looked at her.

“You knew.”

Brielle shook her head.

“Grant—”

“You knew something.”

She stepped backward.

Mom immediately said:

“Don’t involve her.”

That confirmed it.

I felt something inside me go cold.

“How long?”

Brielle started crying.

“Your mother told me last year.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“Last year?”

“She was afraid Tessa might contact you after you announced our engagement.”

I looked at my mother.

“So this wasn’t one bad decision five years ago. You kept choosing to hide it.”

Mom had no answer.

I turned to Brielle.

“And you agreed?”

“I was scared.”

“Of what?”

“That you’d leave.”

Her honesty hurt more than an excuse would have.

I picked up my keys.

Mom followed me toward the door.

“Grant, where are you going?”

I looked back.

“To find my children.”

The Address on the Employee Form

I returned to Logan Airport, but Tessa wasn’t working.

A supervisor told me she had finished her shift.

I couldn’t ask for her address, so I left my number.

At 6:14 that evening, my phone rang.

Tessa.