Shock.
Confusion.
Almost disbelief.
Then he asked,
**“Why didn’t you tell me before?”**
My stomach tightened.
“Tell you what?”
He carefully picked Lily up and brought her toward me.
“Look at her.”
“I am looking at her.”
“Don’t you see it?”
His reaction frightened me.
For one awful moment, I wondered whether he thought Lily wasn’t his.
Or whether he had noticed something the doctors hadn’t mentioned.
“She’s your daughter, Ethan. What are you talking about?”
Then tears appeared in his eyes.
“No. Eloise, that isn’t what I mean.”
He dropped into the chair beside my bed and covered his face.
When he finally looked at me again, he seemed exhausted.
“That came out completely wrong. I’m sorry.”
“Then tell me what you mean.”
Ethan looked toward Lily.
**“There’s something you need to know about me.”**
I stared at him.
“Something I should have told you a long time ago.”
“How long?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
“I kept convincing myself it didn’t matter.”
Then he looked at our daughter again.
**“Now it matters.”**
