Page 106 of The Affair
After I handed her one of the secret journals—the one with the note written out to her and Sally—I’d watched as she turned it over in her hand, inspecting it for what felt like a millennium.
“You said there are more like this?” she asked, her voice timid and small.
“Yes,” I answered, grateful I’d brought it with me. “Three in total.”
Her fingers trailed down the intricate flower border. It was as if she were committing every detail to memory.
“And you’ve read them?”
I simply nodded. “Most of them anyway. Enough to know that it didn’t work out. Was it wrong of me to tell you?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I would have hated for you to carry that secret just to spare me the pain of knowing.”
“So, you are… pained?” I didn’t know if that was the right way to phrase it, but she seemed to understand.
“It’s not an easy thing to contemplate—finding out your mother wasn’t the person you’d thought she was. But I’m glad I know. It gives me some insight to what she went through. She was never much of a talker, especially after Dad got sick.”
“You two have that in common.” I smiled, remembering how much she’d kept everything so close to her chest that year.
“I guess we do.”
“Did you ever know William was your uncle?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No. Family wasn’t something my father ever spoke about. I didn’t know why, but I knew well enough not to ask.”
That sounds familiar.
I wanted to say more, to tell her everything I’d learned in those three notebooks, but my thoughts were interrupted at the sound of the front door.
“Whose car is that outside?” my brother shouted. “Is Eloise here?”
I rolled my eyes. In all his years on this Earth, he’d never called me Elle. It was always Eloise, as if nicknames were beneath him.
“Ah, yes,” he announced, entering the kitchen. “There you are. Did you forget Thanksgiving isn’t until the end of the month?”
Thanksgiving?The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.
“She just came for a visit. But that does remind me. Will you be staying for Thanksgiving? We’d love to have you.”
“Oh,” I answered, realizing the holiday season had completely snuck up on me. Usually, it was mom who organized everything holiday-related.Wasn’t Halloween just yesterday?“I don’t think I can. The store—”
“The store can survive without you,” Jack insisted. “This is our first Thanksgiving without Dad. You should be here with your family.”
It sounded more like an order than an invitation to dinner.
“Thanksgiving is still a few weeks away,” I reminded him. “I can’t just close the store, Jack. It doesn’t work like that. This is a busy time of the year.”
His eyes leveled on my mom, and he looked very disgruntled. “If you don’t tell her, I will.”
“What?” I demanded, my gaze darting back and forth between them. “Tell me what?”
I watched as my mother and brother appeared to have a silent conversation. She shook her head, and his stare deepened.
“She’s dying,” he said plainly, as if he were reading the newspaper out loud or discussing the weather.
“Oh, stop, Jack. I am not dying.”
“No? That’s not what the doctor said.”
