I’m sorry I never told you.
I read the letter twice.
“Who is Ethan?”
Mara hesitated.
“I can’t answer that.”
“You came to my house with a letter from my husband telling me about a child, and you can’t tell me who he is?”
“Jack wanted you to decide whether you wanted to keep looking.”
“Why?”
“Because once you know something, you can’t unknow it.”
Mara explained that she had known Jack since childhood and had spent years working with families and children.
She had helped him learn more about Ethan’s situation.
Before she left, she gave me one final piece of information.
“Jack wanted you to discover the truth in your own way.”
The next morning, I opened Jack’s laptop.
He had changed the password, but eventually I remembered one that mattered to both of us.
The computer opened.
One name appeared repeatedly in his files.
