She frowned.
“He says I am important.”
“That is not the same.”
“I know.”
Her voice became smaller.
I immediately regretted pushing her.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m not trying to upset you.”
“People think I don’t know things.”
“I don’t think that.”
“Some things are hard for me.”
She counted on her fingers.
“Long papers. Money. Fast talking. When people say one thing but mean another.”
She looked at me.
“But I know when people are sad. I know when people are lying.”
My stomach tightened.
“Do you think Ethan is lying?”
Clara took a long time to answer.
“No.”
Then she added, “But he has a secret.”
I felt cold.
“What secret?”
“He says it is not time.”
“About the baby?”
“No.”
“About your father?”
Her eyes lifted sharply.
I knew I had touched something important.
Clara pushed her cake away.
“My dad knew Ethan.”
“How?”
“I don’t know all of it.”
“Did Ethan tell you?”
“He said my dad helped him a long time ago.”
“What kind of help?”
Clara shook her head.
“He said he would tell me later.”
That made no sense.
If Ethan was about to marry her, why was he still hiding something connected to her dead father?
I looked at Clara’s stomach.
“Where is the baby’s father?”
Her face closed.
“Gone.”
“Did he leave?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Clara stood.
“I don’t want to talk about him.”
“All right.”
“He was not nice.”
Her hand moved protectively over her belly.
“He said bad things about the baby.”
“What things?”
“He said she might be like me.”
The room seemed to shrink.
“And he didn’t want that?”
Clara shook her head.
“He said he wanted a normal baby.”
Anger moved through me.
“Clara, I’m sorry.”
“He took money too.”
“What money?”
She looked embarrassed.
“My dad left money for me. A person helps me with the bank now.”
“Did the baby’s father take it?”
“Some of it.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know the exact number. A lot.”
“Did you report him?”
“Ethan helped.”
That was the first moment I understood how deeply my brother had already entered her life.
But I still did not know why.
The wedding was set for six weeks later.
My father called it reckless.
My mother asked Ethan to wait until after the baby was born.
Ethan refused.
“Clara wants to be married before the birth,” he said.
“What do you want?” I asked.
