**Diary Entry 23rd November**
She only cheated on her husband oncebefore the wedding. He called her fat and said she wouldnt fit into her bridal gown.
Even before marrying, Emily betrayed her fiancé just that one time. Hed mocked her weight, sneering shed never squeeze into her wedding dress. Hurt, she went out with her girlfriends to a nightclub in London, drank too much, and woke in a strangers flat beside a handsome bloke with piercing blue eyes. The shame was unbearable. She never told James, forgave his cruel jibes, even started a diet. She quit drinkingeasy after discovering she was pregnant.
Their daughter arrived right on schedule, a beautiful little girl with those same blue eyes, and James doted on her. For five years, Emily told herself it was finethe girl had her grandfathers eyes. And if her hair was curly, so what? She tried hard to forget the bloke with tousled hair whose name escaped her. But deep down, her mothers instinct whispered the child wasnt Jamess. Maybe thats why she turned a blind eye to his late nights, his “work trips,” his endless nitpicking about her cooking and looks. To the girl, family mattered: she adored her dad, and what man doesnt stray?
“Just put up with itwhere else would you go?” her mum said. “Weve no space here, Grans bedridden, your brothers moved his fiancée inwhere would I fit you all? I warned you: never sign the house over to your mother-in-law. Now look at the mess youre in!”
Emily endured. But it didnt matter. One day, James left. Said hed met someone else, even wept, promising hed always be Sophies father but couldnt fight his feelings. His mother, whod seemed to adore her granddaughter, muttered after the divorce:
“Get a paternity test. Might be youre paying child support for nothing.”
Emily frozeshed thought she alone harboured those doubts. Apparently not.
“Are you mad?” James snapped. “Sophies my daughter. A blind man could see that.”
Perhaps his mother was right. Because a year after the divorce, when Emily landed in hospital with appendicitis and spotted a familiar face, her suspicions vanished. Those same blue eyes peered over a surgical mask.
“Pardon me, have we met before?” the surgeon asked.
Emily shook her head, desperate. Prayed he wouldnt remember.
But he did. The next day, during his rounds, he joked, “Hope you wont dash off as quick as last time.”
She flushed scarlet, itching to leave. Yet, over those days, Thomas made her want to stay.
She never mentioned Sophie might be his. Just that she had a daughterno hints.
Thomas understood the moment he saw her. Nervous, he bought a doll, bombarded Emily with questions on how to act.
“Look,” he said, “when I was a lad, my mum fell for another bloke. My sister never accepted him, and in the end, Mum sent him packing. I dont want that. I want to be Sophies second dad.”
It shattered Emily. And when he saw Sophiestaring, stunned, then shooting Emily a baffled lookit was clear. He knew.
“Whats the difference?” she thought. “Id have had to tell him eventually.”
Bracing for shouts and blame (lessons from her marriage), she was stunned when Thomas pulled her close and whispered, “What a bloody wonderful miracle.”
At first, Sophie seemed fine with Thomas. But when Emily gently asked if shed mind him moving in, the girl burst into tears: “I thought Dad was coming back! Let Thomas live somewhere else.”
Emily smoothed it over, but Thomas was gutted. “Shes my daughter! They deserve the truth!”
“James couldnt take it. Neither could Sophie. To her, hes her dad. To him, shes his only childhis new wife cant have kids. His mum told me.”
Resentment festered. Sophie threw tantrums. Emily juggled peace in their patchwork family with rules: visits to James (keeping the men apart), never leaving Sophie alone with Thomas (theyd row), even prepping Mothers Day cards to avoid slip-ups.
Then she fell pregnant again. Terror set in. What if this baby looked just like Sophie? What if James realised? What if Thomas spilled the truth while she was in labour?
They planned for her mum to mind Sophie during the birth. But the day before, Gran was hospitalised with gallstones. Her stepdad refused another child; her brother and his wife worked full-time. Desperate, Emily tried Jamesbut he was abroad. Leaving Sophie with her ex-mother-in-law? Unthinkable.
“Cant I look after my own daughter?” Thomas fumed.
The birth was rougha C-section, then jaundice kept her and the baby in hospital longer. At home, tension fizzed like a ticking bomb. Thomas claimed all was fine, but Sophie clammed up. “Hes told her,” Emily panicked.
Neighbours urged honesty: “The truth always outs. Youll pay for these lies.” So she called James.
“I need to confess something.”
“Confess what?”
A heavy pause.
“About Sophie…”
“What about her?”
“James, shes… not yours.”
Long silence. Then
“Your mates kid. Ive known for years.”
“He told you?”
“Knew before the divorce. Had a test when she was one. Found out during my army medicalIm sterile. Kept hoping for a miracle. But then I doubted. Mum did too. So I checked.”
“But… why…?”
“Whyd I stay? The girls innocent! And dont you tell her! I stayed because I didnt want to lose being a dad.”
Homecoming day shouldve been joyous. But Sophie and Thomas were acting oddexchanging glances, unusually quiet.
“Howd you two manage without me?” Emily asked warily once the baby slept and Sophie doodled.
“Brilliant! You always overprotected. We sorted ourselves out.”
“You told her?”
“Of course not! You forbade it.”
“Then whys she so distant?”
Thomas smirked. “Ask her.”
Emily found Sophie tongue-out, scribbling fiercely in red crayon. The drawing showed three adults and two kids.
“Whos this?”
“Duh! You, Daddy, Thomas, me, and baby Oliver.”
“Its lovely.”
“Yeah. Mummy… can someone have two dads?”
Emilys throat clenched. *He told her.*
“Well… sometimes, yes,” she hedged.
“So can I call Thomas Dad too? Hes ace. We built a LEGO castle and saw fish. The shopkeeperfunny old grandad with a capasked what my dad did. Wasnt sure if he meant Thomas, so I said hes a doctor. Its well cool having a doctor dad. Thomas said yes, but I wanted to ask you.”
The knot in Emilys chest tightened. Shed built this trap herself. James had forgiven her. Thomas would too. But if Sophie ever learned the full truth…
She hugged her daughter. “Of course you can call him Dad. But… maybe dont mention it to Daddy yet, alright?”
**Lesson learned:** Secrets fracture families. But sometimes, love stitches them back togetherjust not how you planned.
