PART 2

Daniel stepped toward me.

“Megan, please let me explain.”

I pointed toward the photographs Isla was holding.

“You brought her pictures of Kai and Theo.”

Daniel nodded.

“She’s their sister.”

That word hurt more than the affair I had imagined.

I turned toward Isla.

“How old are you?”

“Seventeen.”

Then I looked at Daniel.

“You have a seventeen-year-old daughter, and you never told me?”

He lowered his eyes.

“I was nineteen when she was born.”

Beside the oak tree stood a memorial plaque bearing the name Esme.

Isla’s mother.

She had died seven months earlier.

Daniel explained that when Isla was born, his parents had strongly pressured him to stay away.

They told him Esme wanted nothing from him and convinced him that leaving would protect everyone’s future.

But Isla interrupted.

“My mom kept his letters.”

Daniel stared at her.

“What?”

“All of them. She gave them to me before she died.”

So Daniel had written to Esme and Isla.

And Esme had never destroyed those letters.

The story Daniel’s parents had told him all those years ago was not the complete truth.

But another problem remained.

“When did Isla contact you?” I asked.

Daniel hesitated.

Isla answered.

“Before the twins were born.”

I stared at him.