Natalie turned toward him.
“What?”
“You know I was.”
“You said it was private.”
“It was.”
I stared at him.
“Where?”
“Richmond.”
My knees weakened.
“What agency?”
He named it.
The same agency Helen remembered seeing on Paul’s folder.
PART 10 — THIS COULD NOT BE TRUE
“No,” I said.
Natalie stared at us.
“Wait.”
She looked from Aaron to me.
“You think Aaron is Mom’s son?”
“No one thinks anything yet,” Christopher said sharply.
He was right.
Dates and scars were not proof.
Birthmarks were not proof.
Memory after four decades was not proof.
Aaron looked at me.
“We can test.”
I could not answer.
Because another realization had just hit me.
If Aaron was my biological son, then he was Natalie’s husband.
My daughter.
My son.
Married.
The thought made me physically ill.
PART 11 — NATALIE
Natalie backed away.
“No.”
Aaron reached for her.
She recoiled.
“Don’t.”
