“Two days.”
I felt my knees weaken.
Then a nurse came out of the room carrying a tiny newborn girl wrapped in a pink blanket.
James looked at her, and tears filled his eyes again.But he didn’t look guilty.
He looked devastated.
Then he leaned close to me and whispered:
“She isn’t mine.”
I stared at him.
Before I could speak, he added six words that made me grab the wall.“But I promised her mother we’d come.”
Full story in the first comment ????????
I stared at James.
“What do you mean, you promised her mother?”
The nurse shifted the baby carefully against her shoulder and glanced between us.
James rubbed both hands over his face.
“Her name is Lily,” he said quietly.
“The baby?”
He shook his head.
“Her mother.”
Something about the way he said the name made my stomach tighten.
“You know her.”
It wasn’t a question.
James looked at the floor.
“Yes.”
I felt heat rush into my face.
“How?”
He opened his mouth, but the nurse interrupted.
“Mr. Carter, we need a decision soon.”
A decision?
I turned toward her.
“What decision?”
The nurse looked uncomfortable.
James quickly said, “Give us five minutes.”
She nodded and carried the baby back into the room.
The second the door closed, I stepped closer to him.
“Start talking.”
James leaned against the wall.
“Lily and I grew up together.”
I blinked.
“You’ve never mentioned anyone named Lily.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
He looked toward the room again.
“Because she’s my sister.”
For a second, I actually thought I had misheard him.
“Your sister?”
James had always told me he was an only child.
His parents were both dead. I had met almost every relative he still spoke to.
“You don’t have a sister.”
“I do.”
My voice rose.
“Then why have you spent eleven years telling me you don’t?”
People in the corridor turned toward us.
James lowered his voice.
