Her eyes fill with a different doubt. “Would you really help? I mean, especially if we’re only half-sisters? I’m sorry, but I’m really struggling with that. What if you have a whole other family? What if there’s some man out there who knows you’re his daughter and who’s been watching you all these years?”

“Without saying a word?”

“Maybe, for some reason, he can’t.”

“Maybe he’s dead,” I suggest as I often have when my mind jumps on this train.

“But if it’s Roberto, there’s Danny and Tina—”

“—neither of whom have ever approached me about being related.”

“What if they don’t know? What if it’s someone else entirely, someone rich and wonderful and just waiting for the right time?” Her voice suggests a fairy tale shade, but I’m more realistic than that.

“What if it’s a one-night stand whose name Mom wouldn’t even remember, especially if she was tipsy,” I counter, “and since Mom didn’t usually drink, one martini could have done it, and we both know she and Dad were unhappy. I’ve considered the angles, Annie. I’ve wondered for years. Part of me always wanted it, because it would explain why Dad treated me differently. It would be the reason I was always wrong in his eyes—the reason why I was always standing at the very edge of the family photos, hiding from him in the shadow of Mom.”

She looks surprised, like she hadn’t remembered it that way. “Were you? Always?”

“Just look at those photos.”

“That’s so sad.”

“But I have a good life. I’ve made it a good one.”

“Still.”

“No. There’s a theoretical life. And there’s a real one. You’re my real one.”

Anne looks like she might cry. “But you’re happy in New York. How can you help me if you’re there?”

“I can be back and forth,” I say, because I would want to help her raise a baby. Half-sister or not, yes, I would—though as soon as the words are out, I feel a qualm. I avoided Bay Bluff for twenty years. Do I seriously want to commit to regular trips back? One thing I do know. “Joy will be beside herself.”

Anne gasps. “Omigod. Don’t tell her yet. And don’t tell Margo. And whatever you do, do not tell Dad.” As soon as I raise a hand in pledge, she asks, “About Dad? Will you watch him tomorrow morning? Lina isn’t in on Sundays, so I always worry when I have to leave, but Sundays are big at the shop. If I leave early with Joy, will you walk him down for breakfast?”