“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe he, uh, maybe he didn’t see you.”
“Nora, stop,” I said. “Something’s not adding up. Why would Todd drive away like that? And why does that girl look so much like Demi?”
At that point, Demi walked into the room.
She crossed her arms and said, “Why don’t you just tell him, Mom?”
“Demi, what are you talking about?” Nora asked with eyes wide open.
“You’ve been hiding this for so long!” Demi shouted. “I know the truth, and it’s time Dad knows too!”
“Sweetheart, what truth?” I asked Demi. “What’s going on?”
“That girl you saw today… Sierra?” Demi said as her eyes welled up. “She’s my sister.”
“What?” I shouted. “How is that possible?”
“A few weeks ago, her father, Todd, came to pick her up from school,” Demi began. “I was waiting for you, and he… he walked up to me. He said something weird, like, ‘You’ve grown so much. You look just like your mom at your age.’ I thought he was just being creepy at first, but then he pulled out a photo.”
For illustrative purposes only.
“It was a photo of him and Mom,” she said. “They looked young and Mom… she was pregnant. He told me this was taken before I was born. He said he’s my biological father.”
“Demi, please!” Nora protested. “How could you believe him? What if he was lying?”
“I thought so too, Mom,” Demi said. “I thought he must be lying but then I heard you on the phone the other day. You were talking to Todd, telling him not to bother you. I heard you say his name, Mom. That’s when I understood he was right. Sierra even told me her father says we look alike because we’re sisters.
I turned to Nora. “Tell me the truth, Nora. Tell me the truth!” I yelled. “Is she Todd’s daughter?”
“I-I’m so sorry, Billy,” she said between sobs. “I cheated on you. Years ago. With Todd. Demi is his daughter. “It was a mistake. I regretted it the moment it happened. I cut Todd out of my life because I didn’t want him to ruin what we had. I didn’t want you to know.”
“You lied to me,” I said as I stood up. “You lied to me, and you lied to Demi. For 13 years!”
Demi started crying. I immediately pulled her into a hug.
“None of this is your fault. I love you, and I always will.”, I said softly.
She clung to me, sobbing into my chest.
“I hate her,” she whispered. “I hate her for lying.”
Once Demi had calmed down, I walked her to her room.
Then, I returned to the living room.
“How could you do this to me?” I asked Nora . “How could you lie about something so big?”
“I was scared,” she whispered. “I thought if you knew, you’d leave me. I didn’t want to lose you.”
“You didn’t just lie to me,” I said. “You lied to Demi. She’s been living with this confusion because of your selfishness.”
“Please, Billy, don’t leave me. We can work through this.”
I shook my head, “If you had told me back then, maybe I could’ve forgiven you. But hiding this for 13 years? Letting me believe a lie? I can’t forgive that. We’re done, Nora.”
She begged and pleaded, but my mind was made up.
A few months later, Demi and I moved into a new place. I filed for divorce and gained full custody of my daughter.
Though it wasn’t easy, we started rebuilding our lives together, one step at a time.
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