That sentence scared me more than the cardigan ever had.
I snatched the envelope.
Jack asked me to bring you this.
Jack’s handwriting was on the first page.
‘Claire,
I’m sorry you’re learning this without me.
There’s a five-year-old boy named Ethan.
You don’t owe him anything. If you want to stop here, stop.
But if you find him, you’ll understand why I couldn’t walk away.
I’m sorry I never told you.’
That sentence scared me.
I read it twice.
“Ethan who?”
Mara said nothing.
“Is Ethan your son?”
“No.”
There’s a five-year-old boy named Ethan.
“Were you sleeping with Jack?”
“No.”
“Then who is he?”
“I can’t tell you.”
I actually laughed. “You come to a pregnant widow’s house with a letter from her dead husband telling her to find a five-year-old boy, and you can’t tell me who he is?”
‘I’m sorry I never told you.’
“Jack wanted you to decide whether to keep looking.”
“Why?”
“Because once you know, you can’t unknow it.”
“Stop talking like you’re in a movie.”
She flinched. “You’re right.”
I can’t tell you.
“Who are you?”