I waited until the following afternoon before calling Luke's father.
I had rehearsed what I wanted to say.
Several times.
But when he answered, every prepared sentence disappeared.
"Hello?"
"It's me."
There was a pause.
"Is everything all right?"
"No."
He became quiet.
"What's happened?"
I looked at the photograph on the shelf.
It showed Luke when he was about five.
He was sitting on his father's shoulders, laughing with his arms stretched outward.
"Luke knows."
Another pause.
"Knows what?"
"About Robert."
I heard him take a breath.
Then he asked the question I had been dreading.
"How did he find out?"
"Ben found some old documents at his parents' house."
He didn't speak.
I continued.
"Luke read them."
"Who showed him?"
"He found them himself."
My former husband sighed.
"Then it's finally happened."
I closed my eyes.
"What do you mean?"
He didn't answer immediately.
"I always wondered how long everyone could keep pretending."
I felt a wave of anger.
"Everyone?"
He was silent.
"Did you know?"
He took a long breath.
"I suspected."
I sat down.
"What?"
"I suspected Robert might have been Luke's biological father."
I gripped the telephone.
"Since when?"
"Since before you and I separated."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because you never gave me a reason to believe you wanted to discuss it."
I felt tears gathering.
"That doesn't mean you should have stayed silent."
He sighed.
"I was angry."
"So was I."
"I know."
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then he said something I hadn't expected.
"I never stopped loving Luke."
I looked at the photograph.
"I know."
"I may not have been the father he needed all the time. But I never wanted him to feel unwanted."
I swallowed.
"He doesn't."
"Good."
Then he asked whether Luke had spoken to him.
I told him about the phone call.
He sounded relieved.
"I'll speak to him whenever he wants."
I nodded.
"There's something else I need to ask."
"What?"
"Why didn't you demand a proper explanation back then?"
He was quiet.
"Because I thought the answer would hurt everyone."
I looked at the kitchen table.
It was the same table where Luke had first shown me the document.
I remembered how his hands had shaken.
I remembered his words.
Please don't lie to me.
"Maybe we all thought silence was protecting him," I said.
My former husband answered quietly.
"Maybe."
The conversation ended without any argument.
But I felt exhausted.
I had expected anger.
Instead, I had been left with the uncomfortable knowledge that more than one adult had chosen not to speak.
That evening, Luke came home.
He brought a small bag with him.
I opened the door.
"Hello, sweetheart."
He stepped inside.
"Hi, Mom."
I noticed he looked tired.
But he wasn't crying.
He placed the bag beside the sofa.
"Is Ben with you?"
"No. He's at the apartment."
"Did you two argue?"
He shook his head.
"No."
He sat down.
"I just needed some time alone."
I brought him a glass of water.
He drank half of it before speaking.
"I talked to Dad."
I sat opposite him.
"How did it go?"
"Strange."
I nodded.
"He said he always suspected."
I looked down.
Luke watched me.
"Did you know that?"
"No."
He seemed disappointed.
"Okay."
I reached for his hand.
"Did he tell you anything else?"
"He said he never wanted me to feel unwanted."
I felt a lump in my throat.
"That's true."
Luke nodded.
Then he looked toward the hallway.
"Mom, I want to ask you about the letter."
I sat straighter.
"All right."
"Why did Diane write it?"
I took a breath.
"I think she was trying to record what happened because she was afraid the truth would eventually become impossible to hide."
"But why keep it?"
"I don't know."
"Did she ever give you a copy?"
"No."
He looked at me.
"Did you know she had one?"
I shook my head.
"Not until you showed me."
Luke took his phone out.
He opened a photograph.
It was a picture of the handwritten letter.
"I took this before we left."
I looked closely.
The words were clearer in the photograph.
I could read the entire final paragraph.
It referred to a conversation between Diane and Robert.
It also mentioned a promise.
I felt my stomach tighten.
"What promise?" Luke asked.
I looked at the image again.
Diane had written that Robert would not interfere with the life I was trying to build.
In return, she would not reveal what she knew about the circumstances surrounding Luke's birth.
I read it twice.
Then I looked at Luke.
"She was trying to protect her marriage."
"By keeping the truth from me?"
I nodded slowly.
"That's what it looks like."
Luke leaned back.
"Everyone was protecting something."
I couldn't disagree.
He looked at the photograph again.
"There's another sentence."
I leaned closer.
He enlarged the image.
It referred to a separate record that Diane had asked Robert to keep.
I felt my heart beat faster.
"What record?"
"I don't know."
Luke turned the phone toward me.
The handwriting was faint.
But the sentence was clear enough.
There had been another document.
Something that had not been included in the folder Luke found.
I looked at him.
"Did you ask Diane?"
"Not yet."
I took a breath.
"Then we need to ask her."
Luke nodded.
He put his phone away.
For a moment, we sat quietly.
Then he said something that made me feel both proud and ashamed.
"I don't want to spend the rest of my life hating everyone."
I looked at him.
"That's understandable."
"But I also don't want to pretend nothing happened."
I squeezed his hand.
"You shouldn't have to."
He nodded.
That evening, I made dinner again.
This time, Luke helped me.
He chopped the vegetables while I prepared the rice.
We didn't talk much.
But when I placed the plates on the table, he smiled faintly.
It was the first ordinary moment we had shared since he returned with the document.
I wanted to hold on to it.
But I knew we still had questions.
And the next conversation with Diane would determine whether we could finally understand why the documents had been kept for so long.
Click here to continue reading: PART 11: Diane Finally Explained Why She Had Preserved the Letter, but Her Reason Made Me Question the Years We Had Spent Together
My Son Had Barely Been Gone Two Days When He Returned With a Secret That Changed Everything I Thought I Knew
Part 10 of 20
