Chapter 3 - THE SECRET IN THE CHRISTMAS PHOTOGRAPH
Lily came out of the dressing room wearing the red dress.
The velvet bodice fit perfectly. The tulle skirt swayed around her knees, and the tiny beads caught the boutique lights whenever she moved.
She looked like a little girl who had never heard the words overdue notice.
“Mom!” she cried. “Look!”
I smiled before I could stop myself.
“You look beautiful.”
“Like a princess?”
“Like my princess.”
She spun once, then stopped.
“Is it too expensive?”
The saleswoman looked uncomfortable.
Dominic answered before I could.
“It's a gift.”
I straightened.
“No.”
He turned toward me.
“It's a dress.”
“And I'm her mother.”
“I understand that.”
“Then understand this. I won't have my daughter believing that expensive gifts are how people earn a place in her life.”
His expression changed.
Not anger.
Recognition.
“All right,” he said. “Then let me buy it as an apology.”
“For what?”
“For not being there.”
I had no answer.
Lily looked between us.
“Did you know my daddy?”
The question silenced the room.
Dominic went completely still.
I knelt beside her.
“Sweetheart, why do you ask?”
“Because you both look like you want to cry.”
I pulled her into my arms.
“Your father was someone I loved very much.”
“Was he nice?”
I glanced at Dominic.
“He could be.”
“Where is he?”
Dominic lowered himself to one knee.
“Lily, I don't know how much your mother has told you about him.”
“Not much. She gets sad.”
He swallowed.
“I think I may be able to tell you more.”
Lily studied his face.
“Are you my daddy?”
The question seemed to stop time.
Dominic looked at me, waiting.
I wanted to protect Lily from a revelation she could not possibly understand. I wanted to protect myself from the man who had once broken my heart without even knowing he was doing it.
But Lily deserved honesty.
“Yes,” I whispered. “Mr. Moretti is your father.”
She stared at him.
Then she asked the question that hurt him most.
“Why didn't you come to my birthday parties?”
Dominic's eyes filled.
“I didn't know about them.”
“You didn't know I existed?”
“No, sweetheart.”
“Why not?”
He looked at me.
I could see the question in his eyes.
How could you keep my child from me?
My own question was just as painful.
How could you believe I had abandoned you?
“We'll explain everything,” I told Lily. “But not here.”
Dominic stood and paid for the dress without another argument. He also purchased a warm winter coat after Lily admitted that hers was getting tight around the shoulders.
I made him return the coat.
He did.
Then, at my insistence, he bought a box of groceries for the neighborhood food pantry instead.
It was the first compromise we'd made in six years.
Outside, Dominic's driver waited beside the sedan.
“I'll have someone take you home,” Dominic said.
“I can take the bus.”
“It's freezing.”
“I've survived colder days.”
His jaw tightened, but he stepped aside.
“Then let me walk you to the stop.”
I almost refused.
Lily took his hand before I could answer.
“Can you come to my winter concert?”
Dominic looked down at her.
“When is it?”
“Friday.”
He glanced at me.
I nodded reluctantly.
“Seven o'clock. At the elementary school.”
“I'll be there.”
Lily smiled.
“Promise?”
Dominic knelt.
“I promise.”
She held out her little finger.
He hooked his around hers.
For a moment, I saw the man I had loved before fear and family secrets had destroyed us.
Then his phone rang.
He checked the screen, and his face hardened.
“What is it?” I asked.
He turned away to answer.
“Yes?”
A man's voice came through loudly enough for me to hear the tension, though not the words.
Dominic's expression grew colder.
“Where?”
A pause.
“No. Don't touch anything until I arrive.”
He ended the call.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Someone broke into my private office.”
“Was anything stolen?”
“Not money. Not jewelry.”
He looked at Lily.
“An old photograph.”
My stomach dropped.
“What photograph?”
Dominic hesitated.
Then he described it.
A picture taken six years earlier, at a small Christmas party in his family home. I was standing beside him, one hand resting on his chest. My hair was longer then, and I was wearing the silver necklace his mother had given me.
I had never seen that photograph after the night I left.
“Why would anyone steal it?” I whispered.
Dominic's gaze locked onto mine.
“Because someone has known about Lily for a long time.”
My hands went cold.
Before I could answer, my phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
A photograph appeared on the screen.
It showed Lily standing in the boutique wearing her red dress.
Taken through the window.
May you like
Beneath it were eight words.
You should have stayed away from the Morettis.
