Chapter 6 - The Photograph Naya Could Not Explain
Claire sent Naya the birthday photograph.
No accusation.
No question.
Just the image.
Naya called within thirty seconds.
“Where did you get that?”
“Erica.”
Naya started crying.
Claire did not feel victorious.
She felt tired.
“You told me you learned about Lily after you and Mike got serious.”
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“I tried.”
Claire waited.
Naya said she discovered Mike’s secret accidentally.
She had seen him leaving a pharmacy with Lily and followed them because she thought he might be cheating on Claire.
After speaking with Erica, Naya drove directly to their mother’s house.
That surprised Claire.
“You told Mom?”
Naya stopped.
Then said, “I needed advice.”
“And what did she say?”
Naya refused to answer.
Instead she insisted that things had been complicated.
Claire laughed once.
“They always become complicated when the simple version is that someone lied to me.”
Naya hung up.
Their mother called next.
This time her tone was different.
Less judgmental.
More cautious.
“Your sister was trying to protect you.”
Claire almost dropped the phone.
“From what?”
“From blowing up your marriage before she understood everything.”
“So she did tell you.”
Another silence.
The mother who had spent the baby shower telling Claire that some choices spoke for themselves now sounded cornered.
“We knew Mike was supporting a child.”
“We?”
“I knew. Naya knew.”
Claire sat down.
“How long?”
“I don’t remember exactly.”
“You remember.”
Her mother ended the call.
That evening Daniel came downstairs while Claire was staring at Erica’s photograph.
He saw Naya standing beside Lily.
“I’ve seen that one.”
Claire looked up.
“Where?”
“Dad had it.”
“When?”
“Before you moved out of the old house.”
The timing mattered.
Mike had kept a photograph connecting Naya to Lily while he was still married to Claire.
Daniel had noticed it before the separation.
Claire had never seen it.
Later that night Erica sent another message.
For what it’s worth, Naya pushed Mike to spend more time with Lily. She wasn’t cruel to her.
Claire stared at that sentence.
It would have been easier if Naya had behaved badly from the beginning.
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Instead, the sister who ultimately betrayed her had once tried to make Mike act like a better father.
Claire now needed to understand what happened between those two versions of Naya.
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