“What if they think I’m a bad mother?”
“Tell them the truth.”
“I think she needs her mother.”
She picked up her phone. “Will you stay?”
“Yes.”
When she hung up, she reached for her bag. “They’ll help me sort everything out tomorrow.” Then she looked at me. “Take me to my daughter.”
***
When we pulled in, Sophie was at the window with the baby.
She opened the door and froze. “Mom?”
“Your father never knew about Mia.”
I stepped aside. Mia stood behind me with her bag.
Sophie’s face crumpled.
“I think she needs her mother.”
Mia was already moving. The two girls met in the doorway, the baby between them.
Later, at the kitchen table, I told Sophie the truth.
I found her holding an old photograph of Daniel.
“Your father never knew about Mia. Neither did I.”
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
“I spent the whole summer lying to you. I thought I was protecting everyone.”
