I could still see him.
Only then did I turn back toward Tyler.
“Now,” I said. “Tell me everything.”
—
Tyler’s story came out in pieces.
Not because it was complicated.
Because lies never fit neatly together once you start pulling them apart.
He and Vanessa had known each other before he met me.
That part, apparently, was true.
They had dated for three years.
They had broken up when Tyler began flight
training in another state.
Then, months later, Vanessa learned she was pregnant.
With twins.
Tyler said he panicked.
Vanessa sat perfectly still while he spoke.
“You told me you were excited,” she said.
“I was.”
“You bought two car seats.”
“I know.”
“You painted stars on the nursery wall.”
“I remember.”
“Then why are you saying you panicked?”
“Because my father got involved.”
That made me look up.
Tyler’s father, Richard, had died three years earlier.
A stern, controlled man who had worked in hospital administration for most of his career.
He had never been warm toward me.
But he had adored Mason.
Or at least I had thought he did.
“What does your father have to do with this?” I asked.
Tyler rubbed the back of his neck.
“He thought I was ruining my life.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“You were twenty-eight.”
“He thought I should focus on my career.”
“
And?”
“And he knew someone at the hospital.”
Something cold moved through me.
Vanessa pushed back from the table.
“No.”
Tyler looked at her.
“My father arranged things.”
“What things?”
“You went into labor early.”
“I know how my children were born.”
“Elliot needed extra monitoring. You were sedated for a while after surgery. There was confusion.”
“There was not confusion.”
Her voice sharpened.
“There was a plan.”
Tyler didn’t deny it.
I stared at him.
“What did your father arrange?”
Tyler’s lips pressed together.
I leaned forward.
“What did he arrange?”
He looked at the door.
At Mason.
Then back to me.
“He arranged for one of the babies to be taken out of the maternity ward.”
Vanessa stood so quickly that her chair struck the wall.
