Chapter 16 - THE SECOND VISITOR
Ryan did not call Nora from the school parking lot.
That was progress.
He drove Ethan to class.
Watched his son disappear through the front doors.
Then sat in the car for another thirty seconds.
Only then did he take out the photograph.
Mara in the hospital bed.
Evelyn holding newborn Lily.
And reflected in the dark window behind them:
Adam.
Ryan's younger brother.
Dead two years.
Alive in the photograph.
Watching.
Ryan called Nora.
“I need to ask you something.”
Nora heard his voice.
“What did you find?”
“Adam was at the hospital.”
Silence.
Then:
“What?”
Ryan sent the photograph.
Nora called back immediately.
“I've never seen this.”
“Did Mara ever tell you he came?”
“No.”
“Think.”
“I am thinking.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
Nora continued.
“She told me Adam knew about the pregnancy.”
“When?”
“I thought later.”
“So did everyone.”
Another silence.
Then Nora said:
“There might be something.”
Ryan opened his eyes.
“What?”
“Mara kept a blue box.”
Ryan waited.
“She called it Lily's beginning box. Hospital bracelet. First blanket. Cards. Things like that.”
“Where?”
“My attic.”
Ryan was there an hour later.
Nora placed the box on the dining-room table.
Neither of them touched it for several seconds.
Then she opened it.
Hospital bracelet.
Tiny pink hat.
Ultrasound prints.
A dried flower.
Three envelopes.
One marked:
MOM.
One:
LILY.
And one:
ADAM.
Ryan stared at it.
“Opened?”
“No.”
“Why did Mara keep a letter she sent him?”
Nora turned it over.
No stamp.
No address.
Just a date.
Two days after Lily's birth.
Ryan opened it.
Mara's handwriting filled two pages.
Adam,
You came.
You held her for eleven minutes.
You asked me three times if I was sure Ryan could be the father.
I told you the same thing every time.
I am not sure.
Ryan stopped.
Nora sat down.
He kept reading.
You said we should test.
I said yes.
Then you asked me not to call Ryan until we knew.
I agreed for forty-eight hours.
Not forever.
Ryan lowered the letter.
Nora whispered:
“He knew from the beginning.”
Ryan looked at the final paragraph.
Adam, if you are her father, we deal with that.
If Ryan is her father, we tell him.
Those are the only two honest options.
Ryan turned the page.
May you like
At the bottom Mara had added one sentence.
But Adam never came back for the letter.
