Chapter 5: The Voice From My Past
I stared at the phone screen.
I couldn’t blink.
I couldn’t breathe.
The name glowing on Ellie’s screen belonged to a person who was supposed to exist only in old photographs and forgotten memories.
A person whose face I barely remembered.
A person my mother had spent my entire childhood teaching me to forget.
*Daniel.*
My father.
The phone kept ringing.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Nobody moved.
Finally, Ellie looked at me.
“Emma…”
My voice came out barely above a whisper.
“Answer it.””
Her eyes widened.
“What?””
“Answer it.””
“Are you sure?””
I looked at the screen again.
The name was still there.
Daniel.
After twenty-seven years of believing he had walked away from me, abandoned me, disappeared without looking back…
He was calling.
Right now.
At my husband’s birthday party.
Through my best friend’s phone.
“No,” I said quietly.
My voice hardened.
“I’m not sure about anything anymore.””
Ellie swallowed.
Then she answered.
“Hello?””
She put the phone on speaker.
At first, there was only silence.
A faint sound of breathing.
Then a man’s voice.
Older than the voice I remembered from childhood videos.
But somehow familiar.
“Ellie?””
My knees almost gave out.
Because he knew her.
Not just knew her name.
He knew who she was.
I looked at Ellie.
She looked terrified.
“Yes,” she whispered.
The man sighed.
“I was afraid you wouldn’t answer.””
My heart started pounding.
“Who is this?”” I asked.
The line went quiet.
Then:
“Emma?””
Hearing my name from his mouth broke something inside me.
I grabbed the edge of the dresser.
Nobody had said it like that before.
Not my mother.
Not Mark.
Not anyone.
Like it was a name he had been waiting years to say.
“Who are you?”” I asked.
Another silence.
Then the answer came.
“I’m your father.””
The world stopped.
I heard a muffled sound from downstairs.
Someone laughing.
A child running.
A glass being placed on a table.
Normal sounds.
From a normal life.
Except mine wasn’t normal anymore.
I looked at Mark.
He looked away.
That hurt.
Because it meant he believed him.
He believed the man on the phone was my father.
“How?”” I whispered.
The man’s voice trembled.
“I know you have questions.””
“No.””
My voice became sharper.
“You don’t understand.””
I wiped my face.
“You don’t get to call me after twenty-seven years and say you’re my father.””
“I know.””
“Do you?””
“Yes.””
The certainty in his voice made me angry.
“Where were you?””
The line went silent.
“I tried to find you.””
I laughed.
A painful sound.
“My whole life?””
“Yes.””
“Then why didn’t you?””
“Because I was told you were gone.””
My eyes moved toward Mark.
The same words.
The same explanation.
I felt sick.
“Who told you?””
The silence that followed was enough.
But I needed to hear it.
“Who?””
Daniel finally answered.
“Your mother.””
I closed my eyes.
The pain was different now.
Before, my mother was the person who raised me.
The person who held my hand when I was sick.
The person who sang to me when I couldn’t sleep.
But now there was another version of her.
One who kept secrets.
One who changed my entire understanding of my own life.
“Why?”” I whispered.
Daniel’s voice broke.
“I don’t know.””
“You don’t know?””
“No.””
“You believed her?””
“I was young.””
“So was I.””
The words came out before I could stop them.
Silence.
Then Daniel said:
“I know.””
I hated how much that hurt.
Because I wanted him to be angry.
I wanted him to have excuses.
I wanted him to be the villain I had created in my head for years.
It was easier when he was the person who left.
It was easier than admitting I might have been wrong.
“Why are you calling Ellie?””
Daniel hesitated.
That hesitation made my heart sink.
“Because she has something.””
I looked at Ellie.
“What?””
Ellie’s face turned pale.
Daniel continued.
“The second half of the truth.””
Nobody spoke.
“What does that mean?””
He sighed.
“The necklace.””
My eyes went to the silver tag hanging from Ellie’s purse.
“The necklace had a message from your mother.””
“What message?””
Daniel was quiet.
Then he said:
“She knew I would come back.””
I felt a chill.
“What?””
“She knew one day you would find out.””
I shook my head.
“This is insane.””
“I know.””
“No, you don’t.””
I looked around the room.
“At this point, everyone seems to know my life except me.””
Nobody argued.
Because nobody could.
Daniel’s voice softened.
“Emma, I’m sorry.””
I closed my eyes.
I didn’t want to hear that.
Not from him.
Not now.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there.””
My throat tightened.
“But I need you to know something.””
I said nothing.
“I never stopped loving you.””
A tear slipped down my cheek.
I hated that it did.
Because I didn’t want to feel anything for him.
Not yet.
Not after all these years.
“I don’t know what you want from me.””
“I don’t want anything.””
“Then why call?””
A pause.
Then:
“Because someone tried to destroy the last piece of evidence your mother left behind.””
I looked at Mark.
“What evidence?””
Nobody answered.
Daniel continued.
“The memory card.””
My heart raced.
“What’s on it?””
His voice lowered.
“Proof.””
“Proof of what?””
Another silence.
Then:
“Proof that your mother didn’t just lie to me.””
I waited.
“She lied to you.””
The words cut deeper than I expected.
I looked at the letter in my hand.
My mother’s handwriting.
Her apology.
Her secrets.
“What proof?””
Daniel said:
“Emma, before I explain, I need you to ask Mark one question.””
I frowned.
“What question?””
Daniel’s voice became serious.
“Ask him who was with your mother the night she told me you were dead.””
My eyes moved slowly toward my husband.
Mark’s face changed.
A flash of fear.
A flash of recognition.
And that was when I knew.
He knew the answer.
“Mark?””
He didn’t respond.
“Who was with my mother?””
His jaw tightened.
“Emma…”
“Who?””
Ellie stepped backward.
Her face filled with confusion.
Because even she didn’t know.
Mark looked like he wanted to run.
Not from me.
From the truth.
“I was.””
The words barely left his mouth.
But they hit like a storm.
I stared.
“What?””
Mark looked at me.
“I was there.””
My hands went numb.
“You?””
He nodded slowly.
“Your mother called me.””
“When?””
“The night she told Daniel.””
I felt the room spinning.
“You were there when my mother destroyed my family?””
“Emma, it wasn’t like that.””
“Then what was it like?””
He looked at the floor.
“I was twenty-two.””
“That doesn’t answer my question.””
He closed his eyes.
“She asked me to help her.””
“With what?””
His voice cracked.
“With protecting you.””
I stared.
“Protecting me?””
I almost couldn’t say the words.
“You helped her erase my father?””
“No.””
“Then explain!””
He looked at me.
And for the first time, I saw the truth.
Not all of it.
But enough.
Mark wasn’t hiding a mistake.
He was hiding a promise.
“I didn’t know everything.””
“Then what did you know?””
He didn’t answer.
The silence became unbearable.
Then Ellie’s phone buzzed again.
A new message.
She looked down.
Her face changed instantly.
“What?””
She handed the phone to me.
The message was from Daniel.
Only one sentence.
*Ask Mark why your mother made him promise never to tell you about the night you were born.*
My hands started shaking.
I looked at my husband.
“The night I was born?””
Mark went pale.
And before he could answer…
The backyard lights suddenly went out.
The house fell into darkness.
Then someone outside screamed.
Not a child.
An adult.
“Emma!””
I recognized the voice.
It was one of our guests.
I ran toward the window.
And froze.
Because standing at the edge of my backyard…
Was a man I had never seen before.
May you like
Holding a photograph of my mother.
And staring directly at me.
