“Twelve.”
I sat down.
Twelve years.
Twelve Christmases.
Twelve birthdays.
For years, I had mailed Claire cards, gifts, invitations, and holiday packages.
Every December, I asked Frank whether we should send something extra.
Every December, he told me Claire preferred keeping things simple.
Apparently, “simple” meant leaving an entire human being out of the story.
I looked at Claire.
“Did Frank know?”
Her silence answered before her mouth did.
Something inside me cracked.
“How long?”
“Since Eli was little.”
“How little?”
“Three.”
I pushed up from the chair so quickly it scraped across the floor.
“Nine years?”
“Diane, please.”
“Frank knew for nine years?”
Claire covered her face.
“Yes.”
My anger changed direction so quickly it made me dizzy.
The warning carved inside the ring was still in my purse.
DON’T BELIEVE HER.
But Frank had been lying to me too.
I set his phone on the table.
“Tell me everything.”
Claire shook her head.
“I can’t do this right now.”
“Your father is sitting in an urn, Claire. He left me a warning inside his wedding ring. We are absolutely doing this now.”
Her head jerked up.
“What?”
I took the ring from my purse and held it out.
She stared at the engraving.
“Oh, Dad.”
“You knew?”
“Not what he wrote.”
“Then start explaining.”
Claire sat across from me.
“Eli’s father left before he was born. Dad and I weren’t speaking then.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was ashamed.”
“Of having a child?”
“Of everything.”
She wiped at her face.
“When Dad and I finally started talking again, Eli was three. Dad came to visit. I asked him not to tell anyone yet.”
“Anyone?”
“You.”
That answer hurt more than I expected.
“Why me?”
“Because you had spent years trying to make me feel like part of your family, and I kept pushing you away. Then suddenly I had an entire child I’d hidden from you.”
“So you just kept hiding him.”
“At first, I thought I would tell you soon.”
“And then?”
“Every year made the lie worse.”
I gave a bitter laugh.
“That’s usually what lies do.”
Claire nodded.
“Dad started saying the same thing.”
I looked down at the ring.
“Is that why he came here?”
She hesitated.
“Partly.”
Claire was selling the house.
She and Eli were preparing to move back to our town.
Frank had come overseas determined to convince her that she had to tell me about Eli before they arrived.
“He said we couldn’t just walk into your life and pretend the last twelve years never happened,” Claire said.
“So he finally developed a conscience?”
She flinched.
“He had been telling me for years that I needed to tell you.”
“But he still protected your secret.”
“Yes.”
That one word mattered.
Claire didn’t try to defend him.
