But that night, he seemed like a completely different man. He had booked a private table at an expensive restaurant and was wearing the black suit he had kept in his closet for years. In the center of the table lay a thick brown envelope with my full name written on it.
“What’s inside?” I asked.
“You’ll open it after dinner.”
“Why not now?”
“Because if you open it now, you might not want to stay until the end.”
His answer made my blood run cold.
I began to wonder if he was seriously ill and the envelope contained his will. Then I noticed his friends avoiding eye contact with me. We ordered our meal, but I couldn’t swallow a single bite.
The men talked about their younger years. Every now and then, they mentioned a woman named Laura, but whenever they said her name, my father would tense up.
Laura was my mother’s name.
“You really look a lot like her,” Robert said finally.
“Did you know my mother well?”
He was about to answer when my father cut him off.
“We didn’t come here to talk about her.”
“Then why *did* we come?” I asked. “What are you all hiding from me?”
No one answered. A few minutes later, my father received a call and stepped away from the table. As soon as he walked out onto the balcony, Robert leaned toward me.
“Listen to me carefully. Whatever you find out tonight, don’t judge it until you’ve heard the whole story.”
“Why? What did he do?”
Robert glanced toward my father.
“Twenty-two years ago, he made us all promise that you would never find out what happened that night.”
“What night?”
“The night your mother placed the baby in his arms and told him she was never coming back.”
I stopped breathing.
“What are you talking about? I was told my mother had died.”
Robert’s expression changed. He seemed to realize he had already said too much.
At that moment, my father returned.
I stood up abruptly.
“My mother handed you a baby and disappeared? She’s been alive all this time?”
My father didn’t answer.
His silence seemed like an answer.
I grabbed my bag. “You’ve lied to me my whole life.”
“Emily, sit down.”
“I grew up believing my mother was dead because of you. And now I find out she might still be alive somewhere.”
