Chapter 2 - THE NAME ON THE FILE
Ella was rushed to the hospital with a head injury.
Megan barely remembered the drive.
She remembered Andrew calling ahead.
She remembered Noah sitting in stunned silence in the back of another car with a family friend.
She remembered one nurse saying Ella was stable.
Everything after that blurred together until Megan was asked to sign paperwork.
That was when she saw Noah’s hospital file on the counter.
She should not have touched it.
She did anyway.
Under Father, a name was already listed.
Andrew Harrison.
Not emergency contact.
Not guardian.
Father.
Megan stared at the page so long that the nurse asked if she was all right.
She wasn’t.
Behind the main sheet was a visitation form.
Then another.
Then an old pediatric record.
Andrew’s name appeared again and again.
Megan flipped deeper into the file.
A photograph fell out.
Andrew stood beside a birthday cake, smiling.
Next to him was a much younger Noah.
Andrew had one hand resting on the boy’s shoulder.
The date printed on the back was seven years earlier.
Seven years.
Megan and Andrew had been married for nine.
When Andrew finally entered the hallway, Megan held up the photograph.
“How long have you been involved with her?”
Andrew looked at the picture.
Then at Megan.
“Eight years.”
For a moment, Megan heard nothing.
May you like
Eight years.
Almost their entire marriage.
