“You just told me my husband had a daughter with you, but the affair somehow came later?”
Emily closed her eyes.
Susan looked at her daughter, then back at me.
“We slept together once before you and Michael married.”
The room went completely still.
There are betrayals you can picture.
That one I could not.
Susan had stood beside me at my wedding.
She had buttoned the back of my dress.
Held my bouquet while I fixed my veil.
Cried during the ceremony.
And somewhere beneath all of that existed a night she and Michael had already shared.
“When?”
“Eight months before your wedding.”
I felt physically sick.
“Did he know you were pregnant?”
“Not then.”
“When did he find out?”
“After Emily was born.”
“And you told him?”
“Yes.”
“While I was married to him?”
“Yes.”
My mouth went dry.
Emily spoke quietly.
“I didn’t know any of this until I was sixteen.”
