PART 2 — “WHO ARE THOSE BOYS?”
The competition continued, but I barely heard a word.
My heart was pounding so hard I thought the people sitting beside me could hear it.
Daniel remained near the judges’ table.
He kept glancing toward my sons.
Every time he looked at them, his face became more unsettled.
My sons, meanwhile, had no idea who he was.
To them, he was just another important-looking man in a suit.
Ethan was focused on the competition.
Evan was enjoying the attention.
They advanced through the first two rounds.
Then the third.
Finally, the announcer called their team name.
“Ethan and Evan Parker!”
The auditorium erupted in applause.
I stood and cheered.
Daniel looked at me.
Our eyes met.
For a few seconds, neither of us moved.
Then he slowly walked toward me.
I stood.
“Daniel.”
He stopped several feet away.
His voice was barely audible.
“Those are your sons?”
I laughed bitterly.
“You know they’re my sons.”
His eyes returned to the stage.
“Twins.”
“Yes.”
“How old?”
“Thirteen.”
He closed his eyes.
For a moment, he looked like a man who had just been struck.
“I thought…”
He stopped.
“What?”
He shook his head.
“Nothing.”
I stared at him.
“You don’t get to say nothing.”
His jaw tightened.
“I didn’t know.”
I almost shouted.
“You didn’t know?”
People nearby began looking at us.
I lowered my voice.
“You walked away.”
He flinched.
“I thought they were…”
Again, he stopped.
“What?”
He looked at me.
“Dead.”
I stared at him in disbelief.
“What did you just say?”
His voice cracked.
“I was told they died.”
Silence.
Everything inside me went still.
“Who told you that?”
Daniel looked around.
“Not here.”
“Oh, we’re doing secrets now?”
“I need to explain.”
“You had thirteen years.”
He looked toward the stage.
The boys were preparing for the next round.
“Please,” he whispered. “Let me talk to you after the competition.”
“No.”
He looked stunned.
“No?”
“You don’t get to enter their lives because you saw them on a stage.”
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
I sat back down.
He walked away.
The rest of the competition passed in a blur.
My sons won first place.
They were awarded a large scholarship and an invitation to a national competition.
They hugged me on stage.
Evan cried.
Ethan tried not to.
I laughed and cried with them.
For those few minutes, Daniel didn’t exist.
Then, after the ceremony, I found a folded piece of paper tucked beneath the windshield wiper of my car.
It had one sentence.
You deserve to know what really happened thirteen years ago. Meet me at the old Jefferson Hotel at 8:00. Come alone.
I almost threw it away.
But curiosity is a dangerous thing.
Especially when your entire life was built on a mystery you thought you had solved.
At 8:00 p.m., I entered the hotel restaurant.
Daniel was waiting in a corner booth.
I sat across from him but refused to order anything.
“Talk.”
He took a breath.
“Do you remember the week before I left?”
“Every second.”
“Your mother came to our house.”
I frowned.
“She was angry.”
“My mother was always angry.”
“No. She accused me of stealing money.”
I remembered.
There had been an argument.
A huge one.
At the time, I thought Daniel had simply been overwhelmed by the pressure.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Everything.”
He explained that during the final months of our marriage, someone had been transferring money from his family’s investment accounts.
His father accused him.
Daniel’s sister accused me.
Daniel’s mother accused both of us.
Then, the night before he disappeared, Daniel claimed his father had shown him documents proving I had been involved.
“I knew the documents were fake,” Daniel said.
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I was threatened.”
I frowned.
“By whom?”
“My father.”
I stared at him.
Daniel continued.
“He told me if I stayed with you, he’d destroy your parents financially. He said he’d make sure you lost everything.”
I almost laughed.
“You’re telling me you abandoned your wife and babies because your father threatened your family?”
“I thought I was protecting you.”
“You protected me by disappearing?”
“I was young.”
“So was I!”
He looked down.
“I know.”
I shook my head.
“You could have told me.”
“I tried.”
“You never called.”
“I did.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“I called from a pay phone.”
“When?”
“The week after I left.”
I remembered no call.
Daniel reached into his wallet and pulled out an old folded piece of paper.
“My father had someone intercept the messages.”
I studied him.
He continued.
“He told me you’d received a huge settlement and moved away.”
My stomach tightened.
“What settlement?”
He shook his head.
“There wasn’t one.”
Then he said something that changed everything.
“Your mother was involved.”
My breath caught.
“My mother?”
“She knew my father.”
I stared at him.
“My mother barely tolerated your family.”
“That wasn’t the story I was told.”
He placed another document on the table.
A copy of a bank transfer.
The date was three days before he left.
The amount was $250,000.
The receiving account belonged to a company I had never heard of.
I looked at him.
“Where did this go?”
Daniel swallowed.
“That’s what I’ve spent thirteen years trying to find out.”
