“Dad?” Andrew’s adopted daughter, Louise, yelled down the hall. “I’ve found something really weird in here.”
Andrew hurried to his mother’s bedroom. Louise was sitting cross-legged on the bare mattress with a folder. She wrinkled her nose and furrowed her brow as she studied the pages within.
“I thought you were packing up clothes,” Andrew said as he sat on the edge of the bed. “What’s this?”
Louise waved her hand at several trash bags near the door. “I’m done with the clothes and this is way more important. It’s about Mom.”
Andrew’s breath hitched in his lungs. If that folder was what he thought it was… Fear set his heart knocking in his chest and spread ice through his veins. He faked a smile and held out his hand to take the folder.
“If those are medical records from Mom’s gynecology practice then they need to be burned, Louise. Hand it over.”
“Didn’t you hear me? This is about Mom, and there’s something strange going on here, look,” Louise pointed to a note on the first page, “it says Mom is infertile, but you’ve always told me that the reason you adopted me is because you’re infertile, Dad.”
Andrew shrugged and wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans. “It must be a mistake. We all make mistakes, Louise, but now you really must give that to me. Even if it’s about Nina, patient-doctor confidentiality still applies.”
“Are you hiding this from Mom?”
“Of course not!” Andrew tried to laugh casually and failed. “What would I be hiding?”
Louise looked him up and down, then shrugged. “If you’re not hiding something, then I’m showing this to Mom.”
Andrew ran his fingers through his hair. It was clear nothing he said would dissuade Louise from showing the folder to Nina, except maybe the truth.
Andrew spent years hiding the terrible steps he took to cover up a mistake he made as a teenager. When his adopted daughter stumbles upon his secret, Andrew realizes he can’t hide the truth anymore and confesses the reason why his wife is infertile.
