Zelda nodded.
— “Of course she knew. She was a smart girl. She figured it out right away. She actually went to your office when she was pregnant. She saw you coming out of the building, looking successful, happy. She heard you’d just gotten married. She watched you from across the street for a while, then she just walked away. She decided she wasn’t going to be the one to blow up your life.”
— “My God,” Andrew whispered.
— “Don’t ‘My God’ me!” Zelda snapped. — “You should have known! You knew what happened that night. You could have checked, you could have asked. But it was easier to just forget and live your comfortable life, wasn’t it?”
She was right. Brutally right. He could have found Annie. He could have known. But he chose the easy path. At twenty-three, he was chasing a career, and a girl was waiting for a sign that never came.
— “Did she… did she hate me?” he asked.
— “No,” Zelda said, her voice softening. — “She wasn’t like that. She used to say, ‘He’s not a bad man, Mom. He’s just young. Not everyone is ready for the consequences.’ She even told Taylor not to look for you. She told her, ‘He has his life, we have ours. Don’t go where you aren’t invited.'”
— “But you? You’re telling me now?”
Zelda gave a weary laugh.
— “I’m old, Andrew. I’m on my way out. And Taylor is all alone. No husband, no kids. She works herself to the bone just to keep her head above water. And you—you have more money than you can spend. I figured she should at least know the truth. What you do with it is up to you. Nobody’s forcing your hand.”
— “Where is she?” Andrew stood up. — “Where can I find Taylor?”
— “Sit down,” Zelda ordered. — “Sit down and listen. This isn’t a movie.”
He sat back down. Zelda watched him, weighing whether to continue.
— “Taylor doesn’t know who you are. Annie never gave her your name. She just said her father was a busy man with a family and a good job. That things were complicated. Taylor grew up with that and never went looking for you.”
— “So if I just show up…”
