My Son's Girlfriend Destroyed My Family novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: The Door

Alan's hand stayed closed over the photograph.

"Shelby," he said.

It was the first time I had ever heard him say her name, and it came out cracked.

"Don't," Shelby said. "You've had twenty-six years to talk. Tonight you listen."

Luke had not moved from the window.

"What did you call him?" he said.

"You heard me."

Down the hall a door banged, and I saw Teddy at the far end, drying his hands on his shirt.

"Bernice, take him out to the swing," I said. "Give him the crayons and stay with him."

My sister got up without a word and walked down the hall to my son.

Shelby watched her go.

"Good," she said quietly. "He shouldn't hear this part."

It was the first decent thing she had done to my family, and I did not thank her for it.

She turned to Luke.

"Alan Fennimore is my father," she said. "Same as yours. My mother worked the dispatch window at the Macon depot, and he came to our apartment every Sunday until I was six."

I looked at my husband.

"Is that true?"

Alan stared at the photograph and did not answer.

"He told her his marriage was finished," Shelby said. "He told her he'd leave as soon as the baby was old enough to be left. Then one spring he stopped coming."

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