“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize.”
“I thought you knew.”
“I believe you.”
Robert said, “Can we please sit down?”
“No,” I said.
Ariella looked close to tears.
“I didn’t mean to cause problems.”
“You didn’t.”
“I just wanted family.”
That silenced all of us.
She looked at Robert.
“My dad died. Then my grandmother died. I found out there was another person out there who was connected to me, and I wanted to know him.”
Her voice cracked.
“I wasn’t trying to take him from anyone.”
I walked toward her.
“You didn’t.”
She wiped her eyes.
“I thought maybe you didn’t want to meet me.”
That hurt in an entirely different way.
Robert had allowed her to believe my absence was a choice.
I said, “I didn’t know you existed.”
She nodded slowly, then looked at him.
“Why would you do that?”
