A Happy Family Without Me novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: Telling Poppy

I answered Lorna sitting on the edge of my bed, with the quilt still warm behind me.

Don't say a word to her, I typed. I will tell Poppy myself, today.

She sent back a smiling face, and I turned the phone over.

Then I called Garner.

"It's Wednesday," I said. "You're not taking her tonight."

"That's my day, Cor."

"Your day is off until she has heard it from me."

He was quiet for a moment.

"Heard what?" he said.

"What you told your son and daughter last night."

He hung up first.

I told Poppy at the kitchen table, over her cereal, because it was the one place in the house that was only ours.

"I'm going to tell you something true, and it's big," I said. "You can ask me anything after."

She put her spoon down.

"The boy and the girl are Daddy's children. That makes them your brother and sister."

Poppy looked at me for a long time.

"Same daddy," she said slowly. "Different mommies."

"Yes."

"Daddy said they were Lorna's."

"They are Lorna's. They're his too. He told you something that wasn't true."

"Why?"

"Because he knew I'd be hurt, and he didn't want to face it."

She pulled her braid over her shoulder and chewed the end.

"Did you know?"

"No. I found out on Tuesday."

"Then it's not a secret you had to keep." Her voice wobbled. "I kept it. I didn't even know I was keeping it."

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