“You want to come here and tell my wife I knocked you up, go ahead.” Anthony sounded like a suspect confessing to a crime after realizing the gig is up. “I feel bad, I do.”

He could have stopped right there. That might have been almost enough for Ann: honesty and remorse. But Anthony set his glass down hard on the granite counter, looked Ann straight in the eyes, and said, “But I still think that kid belonged to someone else.”

“Oh yeah?” Ann reached into her purse and pulled out a copy of Noah’s yearbook photo. His smile was so sweet, so innocent, it hurt Ann to look at it here. She hated to admit that he was the spitting image of Anthony. Anthony without the bluster. Anthony without the edge. Anthony without Anthony. She shoved it in his face. “Just look.”

Anthony pushed the photo away. It fell to the floor, and Maureen grabbed it. She looked at it long and hard, her hands shaking. “Oh, Ann,” Maureen said. “How could this be?”

“It didn’t happen the way he says,” Ann said. “I really need you to know that.”

Maureen’s expression sank. Suddenly every freckle stood out, and every line in her face seemed visible, worn deep from a lifetime of trouble. “Oh my God.” She showed it to Anthony. “She’s right. Look at this, Tony. Look! There’s no doubt.”

“What’s with his hair?”

“That’s how he likes it.”

“You agreed to stay away,” Anthony said. “I had it all worked out with that orphan.”

“How is Michael part of this?” Maureen asked. She looked at Ann in disbelief.

“Now you know why we’re estranged,” Ann said. “He said he was the father.”

“No,” Maureen said, shaking her head violently. “He wouldn’t do such a thing.”

“Sure he would.” Anthony stepped closer to Ann, so close that his nose almost touched hers, so close she could smell peanuts and whiskey on his breath. “There are people you can buy, and he’s one of them. I gave that little junkyard dog more money than he’d ever seen in his whole life.”

“You said that money was for college,” Maureen said. “I’m such a fool. That was my money, from my trust. Anthony, how could you?”

“I did it for you. So you wouldn’t know. And aren’t you glad? Think of all these years of blissful ignorance you’ve enjoyed.”

Maureen sank back. “Everyone keeps coming out of the woodwork for money. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it, Ann?” She was crying, and wiped her face with her sleeve.

A rage built up in Ann. She looked Anthony in the eyes. “You raped me.”