I knew before Lauren asked.
“Who is this child?”
Mark looked sick.
“Lauren.”
“Who?”
His eyes filled.
“My daughter.”
Lauren stared at him.
I heard someone behind me gasp.
She looked down at the photograph.
Then back at her husband.
“You have a daughter?”
“Yes.”
“How old?”
“Three and a half.”Download Reference Apps
My stomach dropped.
Three and a half.
Lauren had spent four years trying to have a baby.
Four years of doctors.
Two miscarriages.
Three failed treatments.
And somewhere inside those years, her husband had fathered a child with another woman.
Lauren seemed to do the same calculation.
“No.”
Mark reached toward her.
She pulled away.
“No.”
“It happened once.”
Her eyes snapped toward him.
“You cheated on me?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
Mark didn’t answer.
“When?”
“After the second miscarriage.”
Lauren made a sound I had never heard before.
Not quite a laugh.
Not quite a sob.
“After I lost our baby?”
“We were barely speaking.”
Her face changed.
I knew immediately he had said the wrong thing.
“So?”
“I’m not blaming you.”
“You just did.”
“No.”
“You said we were barely speaking as if that explains why you slept with someone else while I was grieving our child.”
“I was grieving too.”Start Baby Registry
Lauren stared at him.
“And that’s what you did with your grief?”
Mark lowered his head.
“I made a terrible mistake.”
“A mistake?”
She held up the photograph.
“This child is three and a half years old.”
“I know.”
“A mistake lasts one night.”
Her voice shook.
“You’ve lied every day since.”
Mark started crying.
“I was afraid you’d leave me.”
Lauren laughed bitterly.
“You should have been.”
She unfolded the note.
Her eyes moved across it.
Then stopped.
She looked at Mark.
“You knew about her?”
He didn’t answer.
“For how long?”
“Tania told me when she was pregnant.”
I felt sick.
Lauren looked like someone had struck her.
“So this wasn’t something you discovered recently.”
“No.”
“You knew before she was born.”
“Yes.”
“You knew while I was going through treatments.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me cry every month.”
“Lauren—”Consult Family Lawyer
“You watched me blame my body.”
His face crumpled.
“I hated myself.”
“Apparently not enough to tell me.”
Nobody moved.
My sister quietly began guiding the children inside.
Some guests drifted toward the house.
Others stood frozen.
Lauren looked down at the note again.
