“Robert.”

Dad shook his head.

“Not tonight.”

I looked between them.

“Why not?”

Claire finally answered.

“Because your father promised your mother he would never tell you.”

My blood ran cold.

“What did he promise her?”

Neither of them answered.

Then my brother stood up.

“Dad, what is going on?”

Dad sat down again.

He looked exhausted.

And then he said:

“Claire was my first love.”

Nobody moved.

The Secret From Before My Mother

Dad told us the story slowly.

Before he met Mom, he had been engaged to Claire.

They had planned to get married.

They were young.

They had very little money.

But they loved each other.

Then Claire became pregnant.

Their families reacted badly.

According to Dad, Claire's parents wanted her to leave town.

His own father told him he wasn't ready to become a husband or a father.

The pressure became unbearable.

Then one night, Claire disappeared.

Dad believed she had left him.

He never heard from her again.

Months later, he met my mother.

They fell in love.

They married.

And eventually, they had my brother and me.

I listened in silence.

“Then why didn't you ever tell us about her?”

Dad looked at his hands.

“Because your mother knew.”

My brother's face hardened.

“You stayed in contact with her?”

Dad shook his head.

“No.”

Then Claire spoke.

“Not for many years.”

I looked at her.

“What changed?”

Claire took a deep breath.

“Your mother called me.”

Mom Knew Everything

I felt like the room had tilted.

“My mother called you?”

Claire nodded.

“She contacted me about ten years ago.”

“Why?”

Claire looked at Dad.

Then back at me.

“She wanted to know whether I was still alive.”

I didn't understand.

“What?”

Claire explained that Mom had found an old letter from Claire while cleaning the house.

The letter had been written decades earlier.

It revealed something Dad had never told anyone.

Claire had not abandoned him.

She had been forced to leave.

And there was another reason.

She had given birth to a baby girl.

A daughter.

I stared at her.

“You had a child?”

Claire nodded.

“Yes.”

My brother looked at Dad.

“Is she...?”

Dad closed his eyes.

“Yes.”

My heart started pounding.

Claire looked directly at me.

“She was your father's daughter.”

The Sister I Never Knew Existed

Nobody spoke.

I felt like I couldn't breathe.

My father had another child.

A daughter.

A child he had never told us about.

I looked at Claire.

“Where is she?”

Claire smiled sadly.

“She died when she was nineteen.”

The room fell silent.

She explained that the girl had been raised by Claire's sister.

Dad had never known where they had gone.

He had spent decades believing he had lost both of them.

Then, years later, Mom discovered the truth.

She found Claire.

And she also discovered that the daughter had died.

My mother had never told us.

“Why?” I whispered.

Claire looked down.

“Because she was protecting your father.”

I didn't understand.

“From what?”

Claire took something from her handbag.

A small envelope.

She placed it on the table.

“This.”

The Letter My Mother Left Behind

I opened the envelope.

Inside was a handwritten letter.

My mother's handwriting.