Free Second Child by John Saul

father, and I love you.” He felt Teri stiffen slightly in his arms, and then she pulled away enough to look searchingly up into his face.
    “You do?” she said, her voice tinged with uncertainty.
    “Of course I do,” Charles said.
    “Th-That’s not what Mom said.”
    Charles frowned in the half darkness of the room. “What do you mean, that’s not what your mother said.”
    Teri choked back another sob. “Sh-She said you only loved Melissa now. She said that’s why you never sent me letters, or presents for Christmas or my birthday.”
    Charles froze. Was it possible? Could Polly really have said something like that? But it wasn’t true. “Honey, what are you talking about?” he asked. “I’ve always sent you letters, and I never forgot your birthday or Christmas at all. Every year I’ve sent you a package. Didn’t you get them?”
    Teri shook her head. “I—I wasn’t even sure you’d come today.”
    “Oh, Lord,” Charles groaned, pulling her close once again. “No wonder you were crying. You must have been terrified.”
    “Y-You don’t have to take me home if you don’t want to,” Teri said. “I can stay here—I have friends, and I can get a job.…”
    Charles gently pressed a hand over her mouth to stop the flow of words. “I don’t even want to hear anything like that,” he said, feeling a sudden flash of anger toward his ex-wife. It was one thing to cut herself off from her past, but to try to alienate Teri from him was unforgivable. No wonder he’d never gotten a letter from Teri—she thought he didn’t want to hear from her. “Now listen to me,” he said, doing his best to keep the anger out of his voice. “I don’t know why your mother would tell you something like that, but it isn’t true. I never stopped loving you, and I never stopped thinking about you. And there was certainly never a question about my coming for you. You’re my daughter, and you always have been. I’ve missed you every day you’ve been gone, and I’ve hated never seeing you. As for the letters and the presents, I can’t imagine why your mother kept them from you. Why, just lastChristmas I sent you a pearl necklace. It was beautiful—pink pearls, perfectly matched. And there were others, too. Toys when you were little—clothes—all kinds of things. So you mustn’t think you’re alone. You still have a father, and now you have a stepmother, and a sister, too.”
    Teri sat up now, propping herself up against the headboard. Nervously, she peered at Charles. “A sister,” she whispered. “What’s she like?”
    Charles smiled in the darkness. “You’ll love her. Yesterday was her thirteenth birthday, and she’s the nicest girl you’ll ever meet. In fact, she wanted me to tell you how sorry she is about what happened, but that the one thing she’s always wanted is a sister. Now she has one.”
    Teri shifted uneasily in the bed. “But—But what if she doesn’t like me?”
    Charles reached out and took her hand, squeezing it gently. “Of course she’ll like you,” he said. “She’ll love you just as much as I do.”
    They talked for a few more minutes, and slowly Teri calmed down, her sobs dying away. At last Charles tucked her in and kissed her good night. “And remember,” he said, “if you get lonely again, you come in and wake me up.”
    Teri nodded. When Charles left the room, closing the door behind him, she lay still in the darkness for a few minutes, thinking.
    Thinking about her mother.
    Her mother, and her stepfather.
    And her real father.
    In a way, tonight was no different from all the other nights when she’d lain awake in her bed, trying to figure out why her mother had left her real father. It seemed to her that everything had been perfect back when they had all lived together in the huge house by the sea. Of course, she couldn’t remember it now—she had been so young when the divorce had come. But even though she’d been away from Secret Cove for most of her life,