Born in 1978.
Father listed as Charles Reed.
Daniel’s father.
Mother listed as Margaret Ellis.
Not Eleanor.
I looked up.
Eleanor had reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Your husband had another son?” I asked.
Her eyes filled with something I had never seen before.
Shame.
“Yes.”
Daniel sat down again.
“Dad had a son before he met Mom. Nobody talked about him.”
“Why?”
Eleanor answered this time.
“Because Thomas had problems.”
“What kind?”
“He struggled.”
“With what?”
She hesitated.
Daniel spoke.
“Everything.”
That answer told me nothing.
I turned back to the folder.
One of the letters had been written by hand.
The date was seven years earlier.
Daniel’s name was on the envelope.
I unfolded it.
The handwriting was uneven.
I read the first line.
Daniel, if anything happens to me, I need you to promise Noah won’t end up with the state.
I stopped.
My eyes moved slowly toward him.
