Part 2 of 3
Claire stared at the handwritten note on the table.
“Pregnancy confirmed — three babies.”
Her face had gone pale.
“Tell me what happened to the third baby,” I said.
She shook her head almost immediately.
“I don’t know.”
I stepped closer.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I knew she was pregnant.”
My stomach dropped.
“You knew?”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Before the divorce?”
She nodded.
For a second, I could not speak.
“So while you were helping me believe Megan had betrayed me, you knew she was carrying my children?”
“I didn’t know they were yours for certain.”
“You made sure I never found out.”
Claire started crying.
“Rowan, I was afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
“That you would go back to her.”
There it was.
Not confusion.
Not some complicated misunderstanding.
Jealousy.
Claire admitted she had hired Grant because she wanted proof that Megan was unfaithful.
When he found nothing convincing, she kept pushing.
She paid for more surveillance.
Then she began shaping ordinary photographs and innocent encounters into something they were not.
“You destroyed my marriage,” I said.
Claire looked at me through tears.
“I thought you were unhappy.”
“You didn’t give me the chance to decide that.”
She reached for my arm.
I stepped away.
“Where is Megan?” she asked.
“Why?”
“Because if you found her, she’ll tell you everything.”
“That’s exactly what I want.”
Claire shook her head.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain it.”
She stared at the floor.
“I never knew what happened after she left town.”
“What about the third baby?”
“I swear, Rowan, I didn’t know there were three.”
I watched her closely.
For once, I believed her.
And somehow that made the situation worse.
If Claire did not know, only Megan could tell me.
I pointed toward the door.
“Leave.”
Claire looked stunned.
“Rowan—”
“I don’t want you here when I get back.”
I walked out before she could answer.
The next several days became a blur.
I called old friends.
I checked addresses.
I drove through neighborhoods where Megan used to know people.
I contacted anyone who might have spoken to her recently.
Every hour felt heavier than the one before.
I kept thinking about the twins.
And the note.
Three babies.
Two children.
Where was the third?
Finally, my phone rang.
It was a woman named Dana, one of Megan’s old friends.
“I think I saw her,” she said.
“Where?”
“A motel outside town.”
I was already reaching for my keys.
Twenty minutes later, I pulled into the motel parking lot.
My heart was pounding.
Then I saw her.
Megan was sitting on a wooden bench outside one of the rooms.
The twins were beside her.
I got out of the car.
“Megan.”
She looked up.
For a moment, fear flashed across her face.
Then recognition softened it.
“Rowan.”
I walked closer.
“I know about Claire.”
Megan said nothing.
“I know the evidence was fake.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I tried to tell you.”
“I know.”
The words almost broke me.
“And I’m sorry.”
Megan looked away.
“Sorry doesn’t give me the last year back.”
“I know.”
“You weren’t there when they were born.”
I looked toward the twins.
“I know.”
“You weren’t there when one of them stopped breathing in the hospital.”
I froze.
Everything around me seemed to disappear.
“What did you say?”
Megan covered her mouth.
Her shoulders began shaking.
I sat beside her.
“There really was a third baby?”
She nodded.
“A girl.”
I could barely get the next question out.
“What was her name?”
“Sophie.”
I looked down at my hands.
A daughter.
I had had a daughter.
And I had never even known she existed.
“What happened?”
Megan took a long breath.
“She was born much smaller than the boys.”
“Was she sick?”
“From the beginning.”
Megan explained that Sophie had developed serious complications shortly after birth.
The doctors had tried everything they could.
She survived only a short time.
“I was alone,” Megan whispered.
Those three words hurt more than anything else she had said.
“I called you.”
I remembered the calls.
I had ignored them.
Claire had convinced me Megan was trying to manipulate me.
“I sent messages.”
I remembered those too.
Most had been deleted without being read.
“I’m sorry,” I said again.
Megan shook her head.
“I needed you then.”
There was nothing I could say.
So I let her speak.
She told me about the hospital.
About holding Sophie.
About leaving with two babies when she had expected to bring home three.
About trying to survive while believing the man she loved hated her.
By the time she finished, the sun was beginning to set.
The twins had fallen asleep beside us.
I looked at them.
“Why are you living here?”
Megan hesitated.
“Because after everything happened, I had nowhere permanent to go.”
That answer filled me with another wave of shame.
While I had been living comfortably with Claire, Megan had been raising our children alone and grieving our daughter.
“Come home with me,” I said.
She looked at me sharply.
“No.”
“Not like that. I’m not asking you to pretend nothing happened.”
“Then what are you asking?”
“Let me help.”
Megan stared at me for a long time.
“Helping isn’t the same as fixing this.”
“I know.”
“And knowing the truth doesn’t make us a family again.”
“I know that too.”
She looked toward the twins.
Then back at me.
“They deserve to know their father.”
Hope hit me so suddenly it almost hurt.
But Megan raised a hand.
“Slowly.”
“Whatever you want.”
“No promises you can’t keep.”
“I won’t.”
She nodded.
For the first time since finding her on that deserted road, I felt as if there might be a way forward.
Then Megan reached into her bag.
She pulled out a small white envelope.
My name was written on the front.
“What is that?” I asked.
“Something I was going to give you before the divorce.”
She handed it to me.
Inside was a photograph.
An ultrasound image.
Three tiny shapes.
And beneath them, Megan had written three names.
The twins’ names.
And Sophie.
I stared at it until the words blurred.
Then Megan said something that made me look up.
“There’s still one thing you don’t know about Claire.”
My stomach tightened.
“What now?”
“She didn’t just manipulate the investigation.”
Megan looked directly at me.
“She was the reason I disappeared after Sophie died.”