She looked at Ben.
“Mom,” he said quietly. “Tell her.”
Diane sat down. “Ben was adopted.”
I stared at her. “What?”
I can explain.
Luke looked at Ben. “That’s what you found out last week?”
Ben nodded. “I found the papers and asked her about them.”
“And then you called me.”
“Because I didn’t know what any of it meant.”
Luke looked at me. “That’s why I moved in. I thought there had to be another explanation.”
Ben was adopted.
“And now?”
He glanced at the document. “Now I don’t know what to think.”
I turned to Diane. “Where did those papers come from?”
“After my husband died, I requested additional records.”
“When?”
I thought there had to be another explanation.
“Three years ago.”
“You’ve had them for three years?”
“Yes.”
“And Ben only found them last week?”
Diane lowered her eyes. “Yes.”
I requested additional records.
“And you never told him?”
“I was scared.”
“Of what?”
Her eyes filled. “What would happen if I started asking questions I couldn’t take back.”
Ben shook his head. “So you hid everything?”
Ben only found them last week?
“I thought I was protecting you.”
“From what?”
Diane looked at me but didn’t answer.
I pulled the document closer.
There were details I hadn’t noticed in my kitchen.
I was scared.
A date I knew too well.
The maternity ward where Luke had been born.
And one line I couldn’t make sense of.
I recognized enough. “Where did this come from?”
“The original adoption file.”
There were details I hadn’t noticed in my kitchen.
“Is there more?”
Diane opened a folder. “Yes.”
I reached for it.
