He did not answer.
"You knew it all along."
“Emma-”
– You knew that.
My voice failed me.
Cole squeezed my hand.
"Mom, what's wrong?"
I couldn't answer him.
I couldn't take my eyes off Mark.
"Where was my other baby?"
Mark lowered his head.
Laura began to cry harder. "Mark forbade me from telling you."
I turned to face her.
The?
She nodded.
"He came to me eight years ago."
Mark's voice suddenly became louder.
"Laura, stop it."
NO.
She shook her head.
"I remained silent because I was afraid."
"What are you afraid of?"
She looked directly at me.
"I am afraid of losing my son."
My whole body felt paralyzed.
I looked at Stefan.
Now he was looking at me.
There was something strangely calm about his facial expression.
Almost as if he had already suspected the truth.
I walked towards him.
Slow.
One step.
And then another one.
Stefan didn't move.
I crouched down in front of him.
Up close, the resemblance was even more impossible.
Those eyes.
This small birthmark.
The shape of her nose.
The curve of her chin.
I raised my trembling hand.
I paused before touching his face.
"Where did you get this birthmark?"
Stefan frowned.
"My mother says I was born with it."
When?
"Eight years ago."
My eyes filled with tears.
"What day?"
He told me.
The exact date.
The date my twins were born.
I closed my eyes.
For eight years I carried a photograph in my mind.
Two tiny babies.
Two identical faces.
Two small bodies, wrapped in white blankets.
Except that I was never allowed to hold the second copy in my hands.
I had always thought that the pain had distorted my memory.
But suddenly
Something became clear to me.
I hadn't forgotten my second baby.
I had never had the opportunity to meet him.
