“Vanessa…”
“No.”
She raised her hand.
“Don’t start with my name. Not yet.”
The room fell silent.
She looked at the woman.
“Who are you?”
The woman stood slowly.
“My name is Claire.”
“Claire what?”
“Claire Morgan.”
Vanessa stared.
The name meant nothing.
“Why are you here?”
Claire looked at Eric.
Then back at Vanessa.
“Because I think you deserve the truth.”
Eric closed his eyes.
“Claire…”
“No, Eric. It’s time.”
Vanessa’s heart pounded.
“What truth?”
Claire took a deep breath.
Then she looked at the baby.
“That baby’s name is Noah.”
Vanessa waited.
But Claire didn’t continue.
“What does that mean?” Vanessa asked.
Claire’s eyes filled with sadness.
“Noah is my son.”
The words hit Vanessa like a wave.
She looked at Eric.
Her husband didn’t deny it.
And somehow, that hurt more than anything.
“You knew his mother?”
Eric nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
“How?”
Eric sat down.
For the first time since Vanessa had arrived home, he looked completely defeated.
“Because Claire and I knew each other before I met you.”
Vanessa felt a sharp pain in her chest.
Before she met him?
How long before?
She suddenly remembered.
When they first started dating, Eric had told her he had very few connections from his childhood.
No family.
No close friends.
Nobody who could tell stories about his past.
She had accepted that.
She loved him for who he was.
But now she realized there was a part of his life she had never seen.
“How long?” she asked.
Eric looked away.
“Twenty years.”
Vanessa blinked.
Twenty years.
Eric was thirty-eight.
Claire looked down.
“Eric and I were in the same foster system.”
Vanessa’s expression changed.
The anger paused.
Claire continued.
“We met when we were teenagers. We were both kids nobody wanted.”
Eric said nothing.
Claire smiled sadly.
“He was the person who made me believe I mattered.”
Vanessa looked between them.
She felt a thousand questions fighting inside her.
“So you two were…”
“No,” Eric interrupted quickly.
The urgency in his voice surprised her.
“No. Vanessa, it wasn’t like that.”
Claire nodded.
“We weren’t together romantically.”
She looked at Eric.
“He was my best friend.”
Vanessa remained silent.
Eric continued.
“When we aged out of the system, we lost contact.”
He looked at the floor.
“I moved away. Claire started a new life. Years passed.”
“Then why is her baby here?”
Eric’s face changed.
Pain.
Real pain.
“Because Claire is dying.”
The room became completely still.
Vanessa stared.
“What?”
Claire looked down at her hands.
“I found out six months ago that I had a serious illness.”
She forced a small smile.
“I thought I had more time.”
Vanessa’s anger disappeared.
Not completely.
But enough for compassion to enter.
Claire continued.
“When things got worse, I started making arrangements for Noah.”
She looked at Eric.
“And then I realized there was only one person in this world I trusted enough.”
Eric’s voice became quiet.
“She contacted me two weeks ago.”
Vanessa looked at him.
“While I was in New York?”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
Eric looked ashamed.
“I wanted to.”
“But?”
He rubbed his face.
