PART 2
Emily,
I’m sorry you’re finding out this way.
There’s a five-year-old boy named Caleb.
You don’t owe him anything. You don’t have to become involved. If you want to stop reading and walk away, you can.
But if you find him, you’ll understand why I couldn’t.
I’m sorry I never told you.
I read those words twice.
Then a third time.
I looked up.
“Who is Caleb?”
Rebecca said nothing.
My heart started pounding.
“Is he your son?”
“No.”
“Is he Nathan’s?”
She looked away.
“Oh my God.”
“Emily—”
“Were you sleeping with my husband?”
“No.”
“Then tell me who this child is!”
“I can’t.”
I actually laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because the situation was becoming absurd.
“You show up at the home of a pregnant widow with a secret letter from her dead husband telling her to find a five-year-old boy, and now you’re telling me you can’t explain who he is?”
“Nathan wanted you to choose whether you wanted the answer.”
“Why?”
“Because once you know, you can’t unknow it.”
I stared at her.
“Stop speaking in riddles.”
She flinched.
Then finally, she told me something useful.
“Nathan and I knew each other as children.”
“What?”
“We grew up in the same foster-care system.”
I stopped breathing for a second.
Nathan almost never discussed that part of his childhood.
“You knew him back then?”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
“I work with children and families connected to the system.”
“Is that why you were meeting him?”
Rebecca nodded.
“I was helping Nathan locate Caleb and understand what options were available.”
“Then tell me whose child Caleb is.”
“I promised Nathan I wouldn’t.”
“That makes no sense.”
“He didn’t want to put another responsibility on you immediately after his death.”
“Did Nathan have another family?”
Rebecca remained silent.
I felt sick.
“That’s a yes.”
“No. It means I promised not to answer that question.”
Then she left.
By the time the door closed, I was convinced of one thing.
My husband had another son.
The next morning, I opened Nathan’s laptop.
His password had changed.
I tried birthdays.
Anniversaries.
Nothing worked.
Then I typed the date Nathan and I first met.