“And kept letting me believe I was his biological father.”
“I never thought biology changed your relationship.”
“Then why hide it?”
She cried.
“Because I was terrified.”
“Of what?”
“Losing you.”
“That is not protecting our family.”
I pointed at her.
“That is protecting yourself from consequences.”
She flinched.
“That's not fair.”
“It’s exactly fair.”
I picked up the duffel bag.
Marcus stepped forward.
“That’s mine.”
“I know.”
I opened it.
He did not stop me.
Clothes.
Toiletries.
A paperback novel.
A phone charger.
Then photographs.
Dozens.
Lucas at four in a playground.
Lucas at five beside a Christmas tree.
Allison and Marcus at a park.
Marcus holding Lucas on his shoulders.
Birthday pictures.
Ice cream.
An aquarium.
A baseball game I had missed because I was working.
I stared.
These were not recent.
“How long?”
Allison said nothing.
Marcus answered.
“About three years.”
I turned.
“You’ve been seeing my son for three years?”
“Not consistently.”
“Don't soften it.”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“And I never knew.”
“No.”
“How did Lucas know?”
Allison whispered:
“Three months ago.”
“Three months.”
That explained things.
Stomachaches before my night shifts.
Asking whether families could stop being families.
Suddenly insisting I attend bedtime even when he had never cared before.
“Why did he find out?”
Marcus answered.
“He overheard us.”
“Where?”
Silence.
I looked at Allison.
“Where?”
“In the house.”
I stood.
My chair scraped hard against the floor.
“You brought him here.”
“I didn't want anyone seeing us in public.”
“Because that would reveal the lie.”
“I was trying to keep things controlled.”
“Hidden.”
She lowered her eyes.
“Yes.”
That was the first fully honest word she had given me.
I looked at Marcus.
“How did this begin?”
He sat.
“I dated Allison before you.”
“I know that.”
Allison had told me she had a serious boyfriend in her twenties.
She said they broke up almost a year before we met.
Marcus shook his head.
“She told you it ended earlier than it did.”
I looked at her.
“Of course she did.”
She folded her arms.
“Our relationship was falling apart.”
“That wasn't my question.”
Marcus continued.
“We were together off and on when she started dating you.”
Allison snapped.
“You make it sound different than it was.”
Marcus looked at her.
“Everything sounds different when someone else tells the part you leave out.”
I almost laughed.
Allison went pale.
I asked:
“Were you still sleeping with him after we became exclusive?”
“One time.”
Marcus looked toward the floor.
She turned.
“Don't.”
He sighed.
“It was more than one.”
Allison stood.
“Marcus.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“He deserves the truth.”
“What a refreshing development.”
Marcus continued.