Evan’s expression changed.
“You think they were having an affair?”
“What else am I supposed to think?”
“No.”
“No?”
“Mr. Harris booked the room under his name, but he never stayed overnight.”
“How do you know?”
“I work late. I’ve seen him leave.”
“Then why was he paying for her room?”
Evan hesitated.
Before he could answer, a familiar voice came from behind me.
“You really want to know?”
I turned.
Robert stood in the doorway.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then I asked, “Who is she?”
Robert looked at Evan. “You should go.”
Evan disappeared inside.
I folded my arms. “Who is she?”
Robert looked exhausted.
“Her name is Ariella.”
“I didn’t ask her name.”
“She’s 23.”
“You’re not really answering my question.”
“She’s my granddaughter.”
I actually laughed.
“Your what?”
“My granddaughter.”
“Robert, we have three grandchildren. I know all of them.”
His face tightened. “There’s another one.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Whose child?”
He swallowed. “My son’s.”
I stared at him.
“You don’t have a son. We only have two daughters.”
“I didn’t know I did.”
I stepped back.
Robert reached toward me.
“Don’t touch me.”
I said, “Start talking.”
So he did.
Before meeting me, Robert had dated a woman named Helen for less than a year.
Robert was 22.
They broke up, and he moved away for work.
A few months later, he met me.
What Robert never knew was that Helen had been pregnant when they separated.
She never told him.
She gave birth to a son named Mike.
“And your granddaughter told you all this?”
“Yes.”
“How does she know?”
“Helen told her.”
Mike had grown up never knowing who his father was. Helen apparently planned to tell him eventually.
She thought she had time.
Then Mike died unexpectedly three years ago.
He was 41.
He had an undiagnosed heart problem.
His daughter, Ariella, was 21.
After Mike died, Helen was consumed by guilt.
She had lost her chance to tell her son the truth.
So she told Ariella instead.
She gave her Robert’s full name, where he’d grown up, and everything she remembered about him.
She also admitted she’d never told Robert about the pregnancy.
“Why tell Ariella?” I asked.
“Because she said she couldn’t die with the secret too.”
“And then?”
“Helen died a year after Mike died.”
Robert rubbed his face.
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