Not mine.
Naomi’s.
Mother:
Caroline Hayes.
Father:
Raymond Michael Cole.
I read the name twice.
Then a third time.
My brain refused to understand it.
Finally I looked at Naomi.
“No.”
She was crying.
“Harper…”
“No.”
“He was my father too.”
I laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
It was the sound your body makes when reality becomes too ridiculous to accept.
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“You’re adopted.”
“Yes.”
“By my mother.”
“Yes.”
“But Dad—”
“Was my biological father.”
I backed into an old workbench.
“No. Mom would’ve told me.”
Naomi said nothing.
And that silence answered me.
The story came out in pieces.
Raymond had known Naomi’s mother, Caroline, years before he met Mom.
They had been young.
They had been reckless.
Caroline became pregnant.
Raymond promised to help.
According to the letters inside the safe, he kept that promise for less than a year.
Then he disappeared.
Caroline raised Naomi alone.
