“There isn’t enough remaining to cover next month.”
“I know.”
“Do you have other savings?”
“We spent everything.”
“Anything valuable you could sell?”
“I already sold my jewelry.”
She hesitated.
“For his treatment?”
“Yes.”
“And you borrowed against the house?”
I nodded.
When someone offers you one more treatment that might save the person you love, you don’t stop to calculate whether hope fits into your budget.
But when hope disappears, the bills don’t disappear with it.
A week later, I returned to the hospital to collect Nathan’s belongings.
A nurse named Melissa met me.
“I’m so sorry, Emily.”
“Thank you.”
She handed me a bag.
Inside were Nathan’s watch, charger, toiletries, a paperback he’d never finished…
And a gray women’s cardigan.
I stared at it.
“This isn’t mine.”
Melissa frowned.
“I thought it belonged to the woman who visited him.”
I froze.
“What woman?”
Her face immediately changed.
“I assumed she was family.”
“Nathan didn’t have family.”
He’d grown up in foster care after losing his parents.
As far as either of us knew, there was nobody left.
Melissa looked uncomfortable.
“I’m sorry. I probably shouldn’t have assumed.”
“How often was she here?”
“Several times.”
“How many?”
“I don’t remember exactly. But during his last few weeks… fairly often.”
My stomach turned.
“What did she look like?”
“Dark hair. Maybe early forties.”
“What did they do?”
“Mostly talked.”
“That’s all?”
“There were usually documents around them.”
Documents.
Immediately, I remembered the papers hidden inside Nathan’s jacket.
My mind went somewhere I didn’t want it to go.
Another woman.
Secret meetings.
Late-night computer sessions.
Three-hour disappearances.
Had my husband been having an affair while I was pregnant?
I hated myself for even thinking it.
But once the thought appeared, I couldn’t make it disappear.
After speaking with hospital staff, I eventually saw footage that confirmed the woman existed.
There she was.
Walking into Nathan’s room carrying a folder.
Another clip showed her returning.
In one recording, she appeared to be crying.
I’d never seen her before in my life.
For the next three days, I barely slept.
Every unexplained absence Nathan had made suddenly seemed suspicious.
Every private phone call.
Every hidden document.
Every time he’d told me not to worry.
One night, lying awake at two in the morning, I whispered into the darkness:
“Were you cheating on me?”
There was something uniquely horrible about being angry at someone who could no longer answer you.
Then, three evenings later, someone knocked on my door.
Sophie was sitting at the kitchen table coloring.
“Mommy, who’s here?”
“I don’t know, sweetheart.”
I opened the door.
And my entire body went cold.
It was her.
The woman from the hospital footage.
She looked exhausted.
Her dark hair was pulled loosely behind her shoulders, and her eyes were red as though she’d been crying.
She held a sealed envelope against her chest.
“Are you Emily?”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Rebecca.”
“Why were you visiting my husband?”
She extended the envelope.
“Nathan asked me to give this to you.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“I know.”
“Were you having an affair with him?”
Her eyes widened.
“No.”
“Then why were you secretly meeting him?”
She looked down at the envelope.
“He made me promise not to give you this until after he died.”
My hands began shaking.
“What is it?”
Rebecca studied my face.
Then she asked something that frightened me more than anything the nurse had told me.
“So… you really don’t know what he left you?”
I took the envelope.
Nathan’s handwriting covered the first page.
I recognized it instantly…
PART 2
Emily,
I’m sorry you’re finding out this way.
There’s a five-year-old boy named Caleb.
You don’t owe him anything. You don’t have to become involved. If you want to stop reading and walk away, you can.
But if you find him, you’ll understand why I couldn’t.
I’m sorry I never told you.
I read those words twice.
Then a third time.
I looked up.
“Who is Caleb?”
Rebecca said nothing.
My heart started pounding.
“Is he your son?”
“No.”
“Is he Nathan’s?”
She looked away.
“Oh my God.”
