Chapter 2: The Face in the Photograph
Inside the box was my husband’s silver watch—the one he claimed he had lost years ago.
His initials were still engraved on the back.
“Where did you get this?” I whispered.
Annie’s mother pulled her daughter closer.
“Lily brought it to me yesterday.
She found my name hidden inside with an old address.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why would my husband have your address?”
Before she could answer, Lily appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Don’t blame her, Mom,” she said, her face wet with tears.
“She didn’t tell me.
I figured it out.”
“Figured out what?”
Lily slowly came downstairs and stood beside Annie.
Looking at them together, I finally understood why Annie’s face seemed so familiar.
“Tell her what you asked me,” Annie’s mother said.
Lily’s voice shook.
“I asked if Annie was Dad’s daughter.”
I gripped the doorframe.
“That’s impossible.”
Annie’s mother opened her bag and removed a faded envelope.
“Your husband sent money every month,” she said.
“But he made me promise never to contact you.”
A photograph slipped from the envelope and landed faceup.
It showed my husband holding Annie as a baby.
Then I saw the date written beneath it—and realized Lily still hadn’t told me the worst part.
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Why had Lily’s father hidden Annie, and what else was inside that envelope?
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