“Diane.”
“No.”
“
I wanted to tell you.”
My hands began trembling.
“Tell me what?”
She looked at the little boy.
“Beau, sweetheart, can you go play with Jasper?”
He hesitated.
“Can I have crackers?”
“Yes.”
“Two?”
Sadie managed a weak smile.
“Two.”
He disappeared toward the kitchen, with Jasper following closely behind him.
I waited until he was gone.
Then I faced Sadie.
“Tell me.”
Sadie slowly sat down.
I remained standing.
“Beau is Caleb’s son.”
The room seemed to tilt beneath me.
I grabbed the back of a chair.
“What?”
Sadie wiped her face.
“I found out I was pregnant after Caleb died.”
I stared at her.
Every sound around me suddenly seemed distant.
The refrigerator hummed.
A dog collar jingled somewhere in the kitchen.
A child opened a cabinet.
I heard all of it.
Yet I could barely understand what the woman sitting five feet away from me had just
