Norton slowly rose to his feet. For a moment, no one spoke. Even Evelyn sensed something had shifted; she leaned against his leg, suddenly quiet.
Then Norton bent, lifted her into his arms, and looked at me with eyes I barely recognized.
“You should sit down,” he said softly. “This is going to be a long conversation.”
I sat because my knees were no longer trustworthy.
Norton carried Evelyn to the couch and set her beside me. She climbed into my lap at once, playing with the ribbon tied around one of her presents. Norton stayed standing for a moment, one hand pressed to the back of a chair like he needed it to remain upright.
“I found out after we brought her home,” he said.
I frowned. “Found out what?”
He swallowed. “Evelyn is my biological daughter.”
The words landed without meaning at first. I heard them, understood each one, but together they formed something too enormous for my mind to hold.
I stared at him. “What?”
Eliza let out a bitter breath. “I told you this was cruel.”
“Mother, stop,” Norton snapped, not taking his eyes off me.
My voice came out thin. “Biological daughter? What are you talking about?”
He sat down across from me, elbows on his knees. “Before you and I met, I dated someone for less than a year. Her name was Marissa. It ended badly, but not because of cheating or anything like that. She moved away. We lost touch. When the agency gave us Evelyn’s file, the birth mother’s first name was listed as Marissa. I thought it was a coincidence.”
My heart was pounding so hard it hurt.
