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Silence followed my words. Then she said, "Is it Dad? Vicky called me this morning. She thinks Dad is having an affair."
"That's not why I'm calling."
"Then talk," she said impatiently. "Whatever it is, just say it."
"I wish I could tell you this in person."
"Then let's meet. Where are you?"
"We can't meet; I'm in San Francisco." I licked my suddenly dry lips and told myself to just get on with it.
"San Francisco? What on earth are you doing there?"
"I got a call yesterday after you left to go to your appointment. It was from a nurse at a hospital here in the city."
"Oh, my God! Is it Dad? Has something happened to him?"
I really needed my sister to stop guessing, which meant I just had to tell her. I had to drop the bomb.
"The call was about Mom," I said.
"Mom?" Dani echoed. "What about her?"
"She didn't die twenty years ago, Dani. Yesterday, she was shot outside her house in San Francisco. The nurse told me I had to come right away if I wanted to see her." Silence followed my words. "Dani? Are you there? Did you hear me?"
"I don't think I did. You're not making sense, Brynn."
"Mom didn't die. She has been alive all these years."
"That's impossible. It has to be a mistake," Dani said slowly.
"That's what I thought until I walked into the hospital room and saw her. She was unconscious, but it was her. It was Mom. But now, she's in critical condition, and I don't know if she's going to make it."
"I don't understand."
"I don't, either, but she was living under another name. She has had a different identity the past twenty years. She has a house in San Francisco. She works at a music school. And she had my number in her phone. She told the nurse to call me and to say she was sorry and that she loved us."
"Sorry about pretending to be dead?"
"She just said she was sorry."
"And the nurse was supposed to call you, not me?" A hurt note entered her voice.
"She didn't have your number. Maybe because you changed your name when you got married."
"But she had yours? And she said to call you?"
"I don't know what her exact words were. You're focusing on the wrong thing, Dani. Mom is alive, but barely. She was shot in the head and the shoulder. She's unconscious."
"Who did it?"
"The police don't know, but they don't believe it was random. Once I showed up and told the inspector that Mom had another life twenty years ago, he wondered if she was in hiding for a reason and if that reason had caught up to her." I paused, thinking the always talkative Dani would jump in with more questions, but she was quiet. "I called Dad," I continued. "He didn't answer or call me back, even though I told him it was important that I talk to him."
"Did you tell him Mom was alive?"
"No. I didn't want to say that on a message."
"Why didn't you tell me yesterday when you got the call?"
