That would never change.
DNA could explain biology.
It could not erase eighteen years of love.
But suddenly, my entire history had been rearranged.
William wasn’t simply the first love I had lost.
He was Anna’s biological father.
And Rick had known that possibility existed.
Maybe for years.
I looked at him.
“Did you know?”
He shook his head.
“I didn’t know about Anna.”
“But you knew William was her father?”
“No.”
His voice was barely audible.
“I suspected.”
That sentence broke something inside me.
“You suspected?”
He looked at Anna.
“I never knew for certain.”
“And you still kept everything from me.”
He had no answer.
I didn’t ask for one.
The next day, Anna and I met William.
I was terrified.
Not because I still loved him.
I didn’t know what I felt.
I was afraid of seeing the person I had once been.
When William walked into the coffee shop, we simply stared at each other.
Twenty years disappeared.
Then returned all at once.
He looked older.
So did I.
But his eyes were the same.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
I shook my head.
“For what?”
“For the years we lost.”
I looked at Anna.
“Those years weren’t yours to give back.”
