Clara glanced at me.
“That sounds ominous.”
Mother lowered the volume.
“What have you found?”
I placed the photograph on the table.
Her smile disappeared.
For a long moment she said nothing.
Then she touched Miriam’s image with one finger.
“I wondered where this had gone.”
“Tell us.”
Mother closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, something about her had changed.
Not physically.
She looked relieved.
As if another locked room inside her had finally opened.
“I met Miriam before your father and I married.”
I sat.
Clara took the chair beside me.
Mother continued.
“Thomas introduced us.”
That was not what I expected.
“Why?”
“Because he believed in being honest.”
I almost laughed.
Mother noticed.
“Yes,” she said. “I appreciate the irony.”
Clara leaned forward.
“Did you know my mother had been in a relationship with him?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know she was pregnant?”
“No.”
Mother shook her head.
