Chapter 8 - Twenty-Two Years LaterI couldn't move.
Martin stood twenty feet away.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakable.
Ava whispered:
"Dad..."
Martin looked at me.
"I'm sorry."
I wanted to hit him.
I wanted to hug him.
I wanted twenty-two years back.
Instead, I shouted.
"You were alive?"
He nodded.
"All this time?"
"Yes."
"You let me believe you abandoned them."
"I didn't have a choice."
I stepped toward him.
"You always had a choice."
He looked at the girls.
"I chose their lives."
"You chose my suffering."
"I know."
"Every birthday."
"I know."
"Every hospital visit."
"I know."
"Every time they asked where you were."
His eyes filled with tears.
"I know."
I pushed him.
He didn't fight back.
"Why didn't you come home?"
"Because they were watching."
"Who?"
He looked behind him.
Then toward the church.
"Everyone."
"That doesn't mean anything."
He reached into his coat.
Pulled out a photograph.
It was from our old apartment.
A young me asleep on the couch.
Three babies sleeping beside me.
The photograph had been taken through the window.
On the back was a date.
Twenty-one years earlier.
"I watched you," Martin said.
"I watched every year."
My chest tightened.
"You could have knocked."
"If I had, they'd know I was alive."
"Who?"
He whispered:
"The people who wanted June."
I froze.
"Why June?"
Martin looked at her.
"Because June wasn't supposed to survive."
She stepped backward.
"What?"
Martin's face crumpled.
"June was the child they were looking for."
Everyone fell silent.
Ava looked at June.
Claire looked at me.
June shook her head.
"No."
Martin continued.
"Your mother discovered that one of the babies had a genetic marker connected to a research program."
"What program?"
"Something your mother wanted to expose."
June's voice trembled.
"So I'm the one?"
Martin nodded.
"We didn't know which baby had the marker."
I stared.
"Then why did they leave all three?"
"Because they didn't know either."
Ava suddenly looked angry.
"Then why did you abandon all of us?"
Martin looked at her.
"Because separating you was the only way to protect all three."
The black SUV behind him started.
Martin looked over his shoulder.
"They're coming."
"Who?"
He reached into his pocket.
A tiny flash drive landed in my hand.
"Everything is on there."
"What everything?"
"Your mother's research."
"Where?"
"On that drive."
The SUV moved.
Martin stepped backward.
"I have to go."
I grabbed his arm.
"No."
He looked at me.
For the first time, he smiled.
"Tell them I loved them."
Then a gunshot cracked across the parking lot.
Martin jerked.
Blood spread across his shirt.
The girls screamed.
I caught him before he hit the ground.
He looked at me.
His lips moved.
One word.
May you like
"Run."
Then he died in my arms.
