“I believe you.”
Robert said, “Can we please sit down?”
“No,” I said.
Ariella looked close to tears.
“I didn’t mean to cause problems.”
“You didn’t.”
“I just wanted family.”
That silenced all of us.
She looked at Robert.
“My dad died. Then my grandmother died. I found out there was another person out there who was connected to me, and I wanted to know him.”
Her voice cracked. “I wasn’t trying to take him from anyone.”
I walked toward her. “You didn’t.”
She wiped her eyes. “I thought maybe you didn’t want to meet me.”
That hurt in a completely different way.
He had allowed her to think my absence was a choice.
I said, “I didn’t know you existed.”
She nodded slowly.
Then she looked at him.
“Why would you do that?”
Robert sat down on the edge of the bed.
“I was afraid that if I told Irene, everything would change.”
