"Did you and Dad get married before I was born, Mom?"
As Jason's question fell like a stone in still water, Lorna froze in the kitchen. Before turning to face him, she squeezed the cabinet handle a bit too firmly. With his feet swinging and his eyes wide with curiosity rather than suspicion, her almost five-year-old son sat at the dining table and peeled a banana. Not just yet.
"My dear, why do you ask that?" Despite the storm building inside of her, she spoke in a gentle tone.
Jason gave a shrug. At school, we were working on a family tree project. Additionally, I discovered an ultrasound image in your drawer that was taken months prior to your wedding. Was I the one?
Everything slowed. Her throat became parched. She hadn't opened the box containing that ultrasound for years. She wasn't shocked that he had discovered it by chance. It was the purity of his gaze. How he had faith in her.
"Yes, it was you," she said cautiously as she sank into the chair next to him. "You were a constant blessing, and you entered our lives early."
"But is Dad really my dad?"
Her heart pounded. Lucas is your father, of course. You were raised by him. Since the day you were born, he has loved you.
Jason's forehead wrinkled. "But does he have my DNA?"
Lorna was unable to breathe.
She tried to smile. "Jason, that is a complex question. Not one for today, perhaps. Let's complete your school assignment, shall we?
His eyes were still heavy with curiosity, but he nodded slowly.
Jason was asleep later that night when Lorna stood at the foot of her bed and gazed at the closed door of the bedroom that Lucas had left her.
Day by day, the temperature between them had dropped. With communication reduced to brief texts and clipped sentences, he hardly gave her a glance anymore. Lucas was a phantom in their house since coming back from the trip. Absent in spirit, present in body.
She knocked on his door, paused, and left.
The house didn't feel so much like a haven as a cage. As it grew louder in Jason's voice and heavier in her chest, the truth was tearing at the walls.
She buried her face in her hands and sank into the couch.
She had believed that by burying the past, she could keep Jason safe.
However, what occurs when the past begins to pose questions?