For fifteen years, I had never seen him behave inappropriately toward her. Quite the opposite. Daniel always used to say,
“I’m not her father by blood, but if she lets me, I’ll stand beside her like a father for the rest of my life.”
That was why, at first, I tried to forget
But a week later, I heard something again. Emily had put on a new dress and was standing in front of the mirror.
Daniel looked at her and said,
“That dress really suits you. Especially the shape of your hips.”
I was in the kitchen. The glass in my hand literally froze in midair. Emily didn’t say anything.
She just gave a quick smile and changed the subject. That evening, when Daniel and I were alone, I asked him,
“Why have you been talking about Emily’s appearance like that lately?”
He stared at me silently for a few seconds. Then he laughed.
“Laura, are you serious?”
“Very.”
His smile disappeared.
“I was just trying to boost her confidence.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked away.
“Ask Emily.”
That answer worried me even more. The next day, I did. She reacted strangely too.
“Mom, please don’t
make this into something bigger thanit is.”
“Emily, if something is going on, you can tell me.”
She answered immediately.
“Nothing is going on.”
But that “nothing” began eating away at me.
Several times, I noticed that whenever I entered a room, they suddenly stopped talking.
One evening, Emily was showing Daniel something on her phone. The moment she saw me, she turned the screen away.
Another time, I heard Daniel say,
“Don’t tell your mother yet.”
When I walked in, they both went silent.
By then, I felt as if there was a secret inside my own home, and I was the only person who knew nothing about it.
Two weeks later, it was my sister Sarah’s birthday party. There were around twenty people in the house.
Music, laughter, children talking, the smell of food coming from the kitchen.
I kept trying to convince myself that I
