My fingers tightened around the tablet.
“How do you know she sleeps there?”
Sophie pointed toward her pillow.
“She was in his bed once when he called. Daddy said she was sleepy.”
I tried to keep my voice steady.
“Does she talk to you?”
“Sometimes. Her name’s Anna. She helped Daddy make my birthday card.”
She paused.
“Daddy said Anna was our little secret.”
She looked down.
“But I don’t like keeping secrets from you, Mommy.”
“You never have to, sweetheart.”
My eyes moved to the pink card taped above Sophie’s desk.
It had arrived last month.
Inside, under my husband’s familiar handwriting, someone had drawn seven tiny stars.
Sophie had counted them every night.
“Does Anna know who I am?”
Sophie looked confused.
“Of course.”
Then she said something worse.
“She asked if you were still sad.”
“Sad about what?”
Sophie looked down.
“She said sometimes parents stop loving each other.”
My stomach dropped.
“Mommy, have you stopped loving Daddy?”
For a moment, I couldn’t speak.
I’d stood outside Sophie’s door sometimes just to hear her laughing with her father.
“I love Daddy, sweetheart. But whatever happens, we’ll both always love you.”
I pulled her close.
Then I sent her downstairs to wash her hands for dinner.
I stayed on the bed, looking at that birthday card.
Seven stars.
A stranger had helped make something my daughter treasured.
And my husband had never mentioned her name.
I called him.
No answer.
I sent one message.
“Who is Anna?”
The reply arrived 20 minutes later.
“She’s a crew member. What’s wrong?”
I typed with shaking hands.
Sophie says she sleeps in your cabin.
Three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Then my phone rang.
His face filled the screen.
Behind him was the same narrow bunk I’d seen dozens of times.
“You’re misunderstanding,” he said immediately.
“Then explain.”
“Anna’s been staying here occasionally. It’s complicated.”
“Does she wear your sweater?”
He looked away.
I knew that look.
“Are you having an affair?”
Silence.
I heard a door close somewhere behind him.
“Please,” he whispered. “Not while I’m at sea.”
It wasn’t a denial.
I felt something inside me go terribly still.
“Put Anna on.”
“Don’t do this.”
“Put her on.”
He glanced toward the door.
“She doesn’t know everything.”
Before I could ask what that meant, a woman spoke behind him.
“Don’t know what?”
She stepped into view.
Curly hair.
Blue sweater.
She smiled uncertainly at the screen.
“Hello?”
“I’m Sophie’s mother,” I said. “And I’m still married to him.”
Anna’s smile vanished.
“But he said you two separated months ago.”
She turned toward my husband.
“He said you knew about us.”
He reached for her arm.
She stepped back.
I could barely breathe.
“Why have you been talking to my daughter?” I asked.
Her eyes filled.
“Because he told me Sophie was having a hard time.”
“What kind of hard time?”
Anna hesitated.
“He said Sophie was struggling with your separation.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Then I understood.
The birthday card.
Anna asking whether I was still sad.
Every cheerful Sunday call I’d been happy to leave alone.
He hadn’t just brought another woman into his cabin.
His lies had left our daughter questioning our marriage.
Anna covered her mouth.
“I told Sophie that sometimes parents stop loving each other.”
She turned toward him.
“Because you told me you were separated!”
“I didn’t think she’d say anything,” he whispered.
“You didn’t think about Sophie at all,” I said.
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Anna took off the blue sweater.
She laid it on the bunk.
“I won’t be part of this,” she said.
Then she walked out.
My husband stared at the empty doorway.
“Please don’t turn Sophie against me.”
The nerve of it almost made me laugh.
“She’s seven,” I said. “She loves you. That’s exactly why you should have protected her.”
He began to cry.
I didn’t.
“When you get home, you won’t be staying here. We’ll discuss what happens next when you’re ready to tell the truth.”
I ended the call.
Downstairs, Sophie was arranging peas into a circle on her plate.
“Mommy, are you sad?”
I pulled out the chair beside her.
“Sometimes. But whatever happens, Daddy and I will always love you.”
She examined my face.
“Anna said she hoped you’d be happy again.”
“Is Anna nice?”
I thought of her leaving that sweater behind.
“I think she tried to be.”
Sophie looked down.
“Daddy said not to tell you about Anna. Was it bad that I did?”
I knelt beside her.
“No, sweetheart. You did the right thing by telling me. You never have to keep secrets that make you uncomfortable, not even for Daddy.”
She leaned into my arms.
Later, she brought down the pink birthday card.
“Can we put it here?” she asked, setting it beside our family photograph.
I looked at the seven stars.
To me, they meant something different now.
But to Sophie, they were still a birthday present from Daddy.
“Of course,” I said.
When Sunday came again, Sophie picked up her tablet.
Then she looked at me.
“Can you stay with me this time, Mommy?”
I sat beside her.
“Of course, sweetheart.”
When her father’s name appeared on the screen, my chest tightened.
I wasn’t ready to see his face.
Not after everything.
But Sophie reached for my hand.
So I swallowed my pain, held her close, and stayed.
