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Carla tried to smile, but her face wasn’t cooperating.She hoped he couldn’t tell anything was wrong.

That was the last time Carla went inside the restaurant without Antonio Jr.being there.She never told him about what happened that day.She figured either he already knew who his father was, or he didn’t, and if he didn’t, he might not have believed her anyway.

CHAPTER 25

Morgan

The Weiss sisters’ flight back to Los Angeles had been delayed in New York.They couldn’t get on the plane until the airline could locate a new flight crew.After three hours, they were finally allowed to board.

“They’re lying to us,” Abby said.“Something’s wrong with this plane,” Morgan had to practically carry her down the aisle to their seats.Charlie stayed far behind, acting as if she didn’t know them.

“My kids are going to be left without a mother,” Abby said.Morgan tried to calm her down, as the other passengers stared at Abby as if she knew something they didn’t.

When they finally got back to Carla’s house late that night, and Abby and Charlie had gone to bed, Morgan looked at the couch.She bit down hard on her lip, knowing there was only one way she would get a good night’s sleep.

The following day, she woke up in Carla’s bed with her arms wrapped around Albert.Her stomach clenched as she looked around the room, knowing her mother would never sleep in that bed again.She pushed that thought out of her mind and pulled a happy memory into its place.

Growing up, the three girls would get into bed with Carla while she read them stories from Winnie-the-Pooh.As Morgan got older, she couldn’t admit she’d aged out of having her mom read to her.She didn’t want to give up listening to Carla’s rendition of Eeyore.Even at thirty-four, Morgan could still imagine Carla pursing her lips together, producing a nasally tenor to her voice and sounding exactly like the cartoon character.

Morgan fluffed the pillows behind her back and sat up straighter, waking Albert.He licked her face repeatedly; he missed Carla as much as she did.

Morgan listened for any sounds coming from the kitchen.She didn’t smell fresh coffee, bacon, or burned bread.Although Abby kept telling her it was terrible for her, Charlie liked her toast charred.

“I guess we’re the only ones awake, Albert.”

Albert crawled beside her, put his head on her pillow, and fell fast asleep.

“Fine,I’mthe only one awake,” Morgan said, nuzzling Albert, who blasted her with a wet dream snort.She wiped her cheek with the edge of the sheet and laid back down.

The moment she closed her eyes again, the thoughts plaguing her for days returned with a vengeance, like a game of Tetris where none of the shapes fit in their correct spots.Going to Las Vegas hadn’t given them answers, and they had found very little in Brooklyn.Morgan didn’t want to give up, although all the signs pointed to them never knowing why her mother did what she did.

Since Morgan couldn’t drink alcohol, she needed a different kind of distraction.She padded off to the kitchen to make oatmeal with blueberries.As the water began to boil, another thought pushed to the surface.What could Mom have done to Antonio Sr.for him to hate her?

Morgan turned the burner off and headed into her mother’s office.She tried three more times to figure out the computer password.When those didn’t work, she slammed her hands on the desk.Look what you’re doing to me, Mom!She yanked one of the desk drawers out in frustration and dropped it onto the floor with a bang.Charlie and Abby ran into the room.

“What’s going on in here?”Charlie said.“It sounded like you lost it.”There were pens, paper clips, rubber bands, and Post-its littering the floor.“And…I was right.”

Morgan pulled another drawer out and dropped it on the ground alongside its sibling.Printer cartridges, return address labels, and thumbtacks were scattered on the ground with the other office supplies.

“This isn’t going to help anything,” Abby said.

“I can’t take it anymore,” Morgan cried.“We’re fighting a losing battle.”

“Then let’s fight it together,” Charlie said, copying Morgan by yanking out another desk drawer and sending it flying.

“Not you, too,” Abby said to Charlie.She got under the desk to clean up the mess.“Hey, look!”Abby yanked off a few papers that were taped to the wood under the desk.

“What is that?”Charlie asked.

As Abby stood up, Morgan took the papers out of Abby’s hands and looked at them.“They’re our birth certificates,” Morgan said.

“They can’t be.Mine’s in my safety deposit box back home,” Charlie said.

Morgan handed Charlie and Abby theirs.The women stood so close together that their arms were almost intertwined, like strands of a braided challah.

“Why would Mom hide copies of our birth certificates under her desk?”Abby asked.

Charlie stared at the one she was holding.“These aren’t right; they must be fake.”