DARKEST FEAR Read Online Free Page B

know—”
    “I’ve always known,” she interrupted.
    Myron sat back. He stayed composed but underneath he could almost feel the fissure widening, his foundation starting to shift.
    “When I first got pregnant, I figured like you: I’d slept with Greg more, so it was probably his baby. At least, that’s what I told myself.” She closed her eyes. Myron stayed very still, the knot in his stomach tightening. “And when Jeremy was born, he favored me, so who was to say? But—and this is going to sound so goddamn stupid—a mother knows. I can’t tell you how. But I knew. I tried to deny it too. I told myself I was just feeling guilty over what we’d done, and that this was God’s way of punishing me.”
    “How Old Testament of you,” Myron said.
    “Sarcasm,” she said with almost a smile. “Your favorite defense.”
    “Your maternal intuition hardly counts as evidence, Emily.”
    “You asked before about Sara.”
    “Sara?”
    “Jeremy’s sister. You wondered about her matching as a donor. She didn’t.”
    “Right, but you said there was only a one-in-four chance with siblings.”
    “For
full
siblings, yes. But the match wasn’t even close. Because she’s only Jeremy’s half sister.”
    “The doctor told you this?”
    “Yes.”
    Myron felt the stone footing beneath his feet give way. “So … Greg knows?”
    Emily shook her head. “The doctor pulled me aside. Because of the divorce, I’m Jeremy’s primary custodian. Greg has custody too, but the children live with me. I’m in charge of the medical decisions.”
    “So Greg still believes …?”
    “That Jeremy is his, yes.”
    Myron was floundering in deep water with no land in sight. “But you said you’ve always known.”
    “Yes.”
    “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “Are you kidding? I was married to Greg. I loved him. We were starting our life together.”
    “You still should have told me.”
    “When, Myron? When should I have told you?”
    “As soon as the baby was born.”
    “Aren’t you listening? I just told you I wasn’t sure.”
    “A mother knows, you said.”
    “Come on, Myron. I was in love with Greg, not you. You with your corny sense of morality—you would have insisted I divorce Greg and marry you and live some suburban fairy tale.”
    “So instead you chose to live a lie?”
    “It was the right decision based on what I knew then. With hindsight”—she stopped, took a deep sip—“I probably would have done a lot of things differently.”
    He tried to let some of it sink in, but it was a no-go. Another group of stroller-laced soccer moms entered the coffee shop. They took a corner table and started jabbering about little Brittany and Kyle and Morgan.
    “How long have you and Greg been separated?” Myron’s voice sounded sharper than he intended. Or maybe not.
    “Four years now.”
    “And you were no longer in love with him, right? Four years ago?”
    “Right.”
    “Earlier even,” he went on. “I mean, you probably fell out of love with him a long time ago, right?”
    She looked confused. “Right.”
    “So you could have told me then. At least four years ago. Why didn’t you?”
    “Stop cross-examining me.”
    “You’re the one who dropped this bombshell,” he said. “How do you expect me to react?”
    “Like a man.”
    “What the hell does that mean?”
    “I need your help. Jeremy needs your help. That’s what we should be concentrating on.”
    “I want some answers first. I’m entitled to that much.”
    She hesitated, looked like she might argue, then nodded wearily. “If it’ll help you get past this—”
    “Get past this? Like it’s a kidney stone or something?”
    “I’m too tired to fight with you,” she said. “Just go on. Ask your questions.”
    “Why didn’t you tell me before now.”
    Her eyes drifted over his shoulder. “I almost did,” she said. “Once.”
    “When?”
    “Do you remember when you came to the house? When Greg first vanished?”
    He nodded. He had