PART 3

Daniel stared at me.

“Megan, are you sure?”

“I’m not forgiving you.”

I paused.

“But Isla isn’t going to pay for your choices.”

The next afternoon, Daniel brought her to our house.

Isla stopped inside the doorway when Theo began crying.

She looked nervous.

“Can I hold him?”

I gently placed Theo into her arms and showed her how to support his head.

Her eyes immediately filled with tears.

Within an hour, she was sitting between the twins’ cribs learning everything about them.

Kai always kicked off his blanket.

Theo disliked the stuffed fox.

One settled faster when someone hummed.

The other loved being carried near the window.

Daniel watched from the hallway.

I turned toward him.

“Don’t confuse my kindness toward Isla with forgiveness for you.”

“I won’t.”

Over the following weeks, Daniel gave me access to every message, withdrawal, and account.

He began counseling.

He also finally confronted his parents.

His mother tried to defend what they had done years earlier.

“We were protecting Daniel’s future.”

“No,” I told her. “You protected his comfort. Esme raised his daughter.”

Then I looked at Daniel.

“He was nineteen when you pressured him. But he was thirty-six when Isla came back into his life, and he chose to hide her again.”

Daniel finally said the words he should have spoken months earlier.

“Isla is my daughter. Kai and Theo are not my only children. Megan wasn’t too fragile for the truth. I was too afraid to face it.”

Months passed.

Isla began visiting regularly.

I never tried to replace Esme.

That wasn’t my role.

But I made sure Isla knew she had a place in our home.

She left a toothbrush in the guest bathroom.