Emma didn't speak until they reached the car.
Lily sat in the back seat, holding her hot chocolate.
Daniel drove.
Emma stared out the window.
Finally she said,
"Who is Noah?"
Daniel's hands tightened around the steering wheel.
"Someone from my past."
"Why does he have a photograph of Lily?"
"He shouldn't."
"Why did Lily say she remembers him?"
Daniel didn't answer.
Emma turned toward him.
"Daniel."
He sighed.
"You need to trust me."
Emma almost laughed.
"That's exactly what people say when they don't want to answer."
Daniel pulled the car into their driveway.
Inside the house, Emma immediately went upstairs.
She opened the box where she kept Lily's childhood photographs.
Hospital pictures.
Her first birthday.
Her first steps.
Everything was there.
Except one envelope.
Emma remembered it immediately.
A white envelope she had received shortly after Lily's birth.
Daniel had told her it was nothing important.
She searched through the box.
It was gone.
"Looking for this?"
Emma turned.
Daniel stood in the doorway.
He was holding the envelope.
Emma's chest tightened.
"Why do you have it?"
Daniel looked exhausted.
"Because I was trying to protect you."
"From what?"
He slowly opened the envelope.
Inside was a hospital photograph.
The same photograph Noah had shown her.
Emma stared at it.
On the back was handwriting.
Five years earlier.
A name.
Noah Bennett.
Emma looked at Daniel.
"Why was Noah at Lily's hospital?"
Daniel sat down.
"Because Lily wasn't supposed to come home with us."
Emma felt the room tilt.
"What?"
Daniel swallowed.
"Her biological mother died."
Emma's eyes widened.
"That's impossible."
Daniel looked at her.
"You were told Lily was yours."
Emma stared at the photograph.
"Then how did I become her mother?"
Daniel looked down.
"Because you weren't supposed to know the whole story."
Emma stood.
"Who is her mother?"
Silence.
"Daniel!"
He finally answered.
"Her name was Sarah."
Emma had never heard that name.
But something about it felt familiar.
Then Daniel said something that made her blood run cold.
"Sarah was Noah's sister."
Emma slowly sat down.
Noah.
The stranger outside the coffee shop.
The man who had looked at Lily like he had known her forever.
Daniel continued.
"Sarah died five years ago."
Emma whispered,
"And Noah thinks you took her child."
Daniel looked at her.
"I didn't take anyone."
"Then why did you hide this from me?"
"Because if I told you the truth, you would have lost Lily."
Emma stared at him.
"Lost her to whom?"
Daniel didn't answer.
A knock came from downstairs.
Emma looked toward the hallway.
Another knock.
Then the front door opened.
Noah walked inside.
Emma stepped back.
"What are you doing here?"
Noah looked at Daniel.
Then at Emma.
Then he said:
"Because Daniel told you only half the truth."
He pulled another photograph from his pocket.
This one showed Sarah.
She was holding a newborn baby.
And standing beside her was Emma.
Emma's face went pale.
She had never met Sarah.
At least...
she didn't remember meeting her.
Noah placed the photograph on the table.
"Now ask yourself why you were there."