PART3
They’re terrible at keeping other people’s secrets.
“Since you told him about the baby?”
“Since that exact conversation.”
So our whole family had rallied around her.
My husband, Callum, had been supportive too.
“You need anything?” he’d ask whenever Lisa came over.
Our whole family had rallied around her.
“I’m pregnant, not helpless.”
“Didn’t say you were.”
They’d never been particularly close, but lately, she was around more often – and I was glad they were getting along.
Lisa hadn’t seemed quite herself lately.
I’m pregnant, not helpless.
“You barely ate.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’ve said that three times while sitting down four.”
“Seven months pregnant,” she said with a tired smile. “I’m allowed to be dramatic.”
I never thought twice about it.
Lisa hadn’t seemed quite herself lately.
To cheer Lisa up, we decided to throw her a baby shower. In the middle of it, Ellie tugged on my dress while Callum helped me gather wrapping paper nearby.
“Mommy, Daddy told me not to tell you what he and Aunt Lisa do when you’re at work.”
I laughed at first. “What are you talking about, baby?”
But before Ellie could answer, Lisa hurried over, grabbed her hand, and said, “Honey, don’t make things up.”
Something about how quickly she reacted made me uneasy.
Daddy told me not to tell you.
When I glanced at Callum, he looked just as stunned that Ellie had said it out loud.
“Lisa,” I said, “let go of my daughter.”
“Kids say things they don’t understand,” Lisa said.
“Then this should be easy to clear up.”
I knelt in front of Ellie. “Sweetheart, what did Daddy tell you not to tell me?”
Kids say things they don’t understand.
Lisa tried to interrupt again, but I stopped her.
Ellie looked at her dad, then at Lisa, and finally back at me.
“Aunt Lisa comes to our house when you’re at work,” Ellie said.
“How often?”
She shrugged. “Lots.”
What did Daddy tell you not to tell me?
“Ellie,” Callum said quietly, “maybe we should talk about this later.”
“No. We’re talking now.”
Lisa went pale.
Ellie continued. “They go in Daddy’s office and close the door.”
My stomach tightened. “What do they do in there?”
Maybe we should talk about this.
“I don’t know. Aunt Lisa cries sometimes.”
“Anything else?”
“Daddy hugs her.”
Lisa covered her face.
Then Ellie added, “They talk about the baby.”
Aunt Lisa cries sometimes.
Nobody spoke.
“What about the baby?” I asked.
“Daddy said he’d take care of both of them.”
I looked at Callum.
His expression changed instantly. “That is not what it sounds like.”
Daddy hugs her.
“Then tell me what it sounds like.”
“I can’t.”
I actually laughed. “You can’t?”
“It’s Lisa’s business.”
“Apparently it’s happening in my house.”
That is not what it sounds like.
“Please,” Lisa whispered. “Not here.”
But there was one more thing.
Ellie frowned as if remembering something important.
“Oh! Aunt Lisa had papers. She told Daddy you couldn’t see them.”
That was the moment my husband’s silence stopped feeling protective and started feeling like a confession.
It’s Lisa’s business.
I spent the rest of the shower pretending I wasn’t unraveling.
Three years earlier, after my car accident and surgery, Lisa had practically lived beside my hospital bed.
Back then, she’d tease me whenever I studied a doctor’s face too closely.
“Stop trying to diagnose yourself from his eyebrows.”
“I can’t help it.”
It started feeling like a confession.
“I know.”
She’d known every fear I had.
Now she and my husband shared a secret I wasn’t allowed to know.
***
After the last guest left, I closed the front door and turned around. “Is that your baby?”
Callum stared at me. “What?”
Stop trying to diagnose yourself.
“Lisa’s baby. Is it yours?”
“No!”
“Then explain the closed doors. The crying. The papers.”
“It isn’t my secret.”
I turned to Callum. “You’re sleeping on the couch.”
Is that your baby?
He stepped toward me. “I’ve never cheated on you.”
“Then help me understand.”
“I promised Lisa I wouldn’t tell you why she’s been coming here.”
“Why?”
“That’s the part that isn’t mine to tell.”
It isn’t my secret.
“Then what can you tell me?”
He hesitated. “Nothing is happening between us. And I haven’t agreed to anything that changes our family without you.”
“What does that mean?”
His face tightened. “You need to ask Lisa.”
I thought Lisa’s answer would tell me whether I could trust my husband. I had no idea it would raise a much bigger question about my own future.
Nothing is happening between us.
***
For the next two days, Lisa ignored my calls, and Callum kept his promise to her.
I stopped asking him the same questions.
Then Ellie gave me a new one.
On the third evening, I was putting my daughter to bed when she pointed toward the old crib stored in the corner of her room.
“Daddy showed Aunt Lisa that.”
It raise a much bigger question about my own future.
I froze. “What did he say?”
