Writers 
“He has been looking for you.”
Amara stared at her father.
For a moment, she couldn't understand what he had just said.
“Looking for me?”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“Who is he?”
Daniel looked at Blossom.
She was crying silently.
Amara turned toward her mother.
“Mummy?”
Blossom wiped her face.
“Amara, please…”
“No.”
Amara stepped back.
“Please don't ask me to be patient anymore. I have been patient my whole life.”
She pointed at the brown envelope on the table.
“I found out today that Grace gave birth to me.”
Her voice shook.
“I found out that Daddy knew.”
She looked at Daniel.
“And now I'm finding out that my biological father has been looking for me.”
She took a deep breath.
“So tell me everything.”
Nobody spoke.
“Tell me!”
David suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Mummy?”
Blossom quickly turned.
“David, go back upstairs.”
“But what's happening?”
“Please.”
David looked frightened and slowly disappeared upstairs.
Amara turned back to her parents.
“I don't want David growing up thinking secrets are normal.”
Daniel sat down heavily.
“I was there when you were born.”
Amara stared at him.
“You were?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked at Blossom.
“Because your mother called me.”
Amara frowned.
“Blossom wasn't my mother then.”
Daniel shook his head.
“She wasn't.”
The words seemed to hurt Blossom.
“But she became your mother that night,” Daniel continued.
“Why?”
Daniel took a deep breath.
“Because Grace was afraid.”
“Afraid of my father?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Daniel remained silent.
Amara's eyes filled with tears again.
“Daddy, please.”
Daniel finally spoke.
“Your father was a wealthy man.”
“That doesn't answer my question.”
“He was married.”
Amara froze.
“What?”
“Grace became pregnant with you, and when he found out, he wanted the pregnancy hidden.”
Amara covered her mouth.
“Why?”
“Because he couldn't afford for his family to find out.”
Amara shook her head.
“So he abandoned her?”
Daniel looked down.
“He offered her money.”
“And she refused?”
“She wanted to keep you.”
Amara looked at Blossom.
“What happened to her?”
Blossom finally spoke.
“She disappeared.”
“Disappeared where?”
“We don't know.”
Amara's expression changed.
“You don't know?”
“She left the hospital before we could find her.”
“But she left me?”
Blossom shook her head quickly.
“No.”
“Then why didn't she take me?”
Blossom began to cry.
“Because she believed you would be safer with me.”
Amara stared at her.
“Safer from who?”
Blossom couldn't answer.
Daniel did.
“From your father.”
Amara slowly sat down.
For the first time, the anger on her face was replaced by fear.
“My father wanted to hurt me?”
“No,” Daniel said.
“He wanted something else.”
“What?”
Daniel looked at Blossom.
Blossom closed her eyes.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“He wanted the truth about your birth certificate to disappear.”
Amara's heart began beating faster.
“What truth?”
Daniel stood up and walked toward the window.
“Your biological father didn't want anyone to know that you existed.”
“Why?”
“Because you were proof of something he had done.”
Amara stared at him.
“What did he do?”
Daniel turned around.
Before he could answer, Blossom's phone rang.
Everyone looked at it.
Blossom checked the screen.
Her face immediately changed.
Amara noticed.
“Who is calling?”
Blossom didn't answer.
The phone stopped ringing.
A few seconds later, it rang again.
This time, Daniel looked at the screen.
His face went pale.
“Don't answer it,” he whispered.
Amara stood up.
“Why?”
Daniel didn't respond.
“Daddy, why shouldn't she answer?”
The phone continued ringing.
Blossom's hands were shaking.
Then a message appeared.
Daniel looked at it.
He slowly walked toward Blossom.
“What does it say?” Amara asked.
Neither of them answered.
“Give me the phone.”
“Amara…”
“Give it to me.”
Blossom hesitated.
Amara took the phone from her hand.
She opened the message.
There was only one sentence.
“I know she has found out.”
Amara looked up.
“Who sent this?”
Daniel's eyes filled with fear.
Then another message arrived.
This time, there was a photograph attached.
Amara opened it.
Her eyes widened.
It was an old photograph.
A young Grace was standing outside a hospital.
She was holding a newborn baby.
Amara stared at the picture.
Then she noticed the man standing beside Grace.
Her heart stopped.
She looked at Daniel.
“Daddy…”
“Yes?”
Amara slowly turned the phone toward him.
“Why does this man look like you?”
Daniel said nothing.
Amara looked at Blossom.
“Mummy…”
Blossom covered her face with both hands.
And for the first time in eleven years, Daniel knew there was no way to protect the secret anymore.
Because the man Amara had been told was her father...
was standing in that photograph.
And he was not a stranger.
He was someone she had known all her life.
TO BE CONTINUED…