"Daddy, Her Belly Comes Off"

CHAPTER 2 - THE SECRET IN THE KITCHEN

The guests left in careful, embarrassed waves.

No one wanted cake anymore.

Within ten minutes, the pale balloons, wrapped gifts, and half-filled punch cups looked less like a celebration and more like evidence. Ruby sat on the stairs, hugging her knees, while Angela brought her juice and stayed nearby.

In the kitchen, Daniel stood across from Vanessa at the counter.

He had let go of her wrist. He had not asked her to leave.

Not yet.

Angela leaned against the doorway, arms crossed. She was fifty and blunt in a way that had offended people all her life and saved Daniel more than once.

"Start talking," she said.

Vanessa's eyes were red, but Daniel could not tell if she had been crying before tonight or had just started.

"It's not what you think," she said.

Daniel laughed once. It had no humor in it. "I don't even know what to think."

Vanessa pressed both hands flat against the counter. "I'm not pretending there isn't a baby."

"Then why the fake belly?"

She closed her eyes.

The answer came slowly. "Because the mother doesn't want anyone to know yet."

Daniel stared at her. "What mother?"

Vanessa looked toward the stairs, where Ruby sat just out of sight. Her voice dropped.

"My sister."

Angela straightened. "You told Daniel this child was yours."

"I know."

"Why?" Daniel asked.

Vanessa's face hardened with shame. "Because if I told people the truth, they'd ask about Elena. And Elena is not ready to be found."

The name meant nothing to Daniel.

But Angela's expression changed.

"Elena Morales?" she asked quietly.

Vanessa looked up. "You know her?"

Angela nodded once, slowly. "I know that name because your sister used to volunteer at St. Luke's grief group." She turned to Daniel. "The same one Lisa went to after she got sick."

Daniel felt the floor shift under him.

His late wife had died three years ago.

Vanessa reached into her purse with shaking fingers and pulled out an old folded photograph.

When Daniel opened it, he saw Lisa smiling beside a woman he had never met, one hand resting on a pregnant stomach.

On the back, in Lisa's handwriting, were five words:

Find Elena if she disappears.