The Choices We Made novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: Bedtime

Eliza did not tell Albie in the morning, when she was angry, or at dinner, when his grandmother's chair sat empty.

She told him at bedtime.

She sat on the edge of his bed in the dim room, and Weston sat on the floor by the door with his back to the wall.

Albie pulled his dinosaur blanket to his chin and watched them both.

"Are you getting a divorce?" he asked.

"No, baby," Eliza said. "We're not."

"Syd says you are."

"Syd was wrong."

Albie thought about that, and she let him.

"I need to tell you something true," she said. "It's a big one. You can ask me anything after."

"Okay."

"You grew inside me."

He frowned.

"No. Syd says I came from an agency. Mommy Eliza didn't grow me."

"I did."

"You're fake."

"I'm not," Eliza said. "I'm the real one. I was the one who hummed to you when you were still in my tummy."

His mouth opened, and closed.

"Daddy is your daddy, too. You were born very early, and very small. You had to stay in a special bed."

"Why did I go to the agency?"

"You never did. Somebody told a lie, and they put a wrong paper in your file."

"Who?"

Eliza looked across the room at Weston.

"Your grandmother," Weston said, and his voice was rough. "And Syd. They both knew, and they let us believe the wrong thing."

Albie looked at his father for a long moment.

"Did you know?"

"No," Weston said. "I didn't know. I should have asked. I'm sorry."

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