Daniel was twenty yards away, laughing in the charcoal cashmere coat I had bought him for his birthday only a month earlier, while a woman I had never seen before leaned comfortably against his shoulder. The shopping bag slipped from my fingers, but Margaret caught my arm before I could take a step.
“Don’t react, Emily,” she whispered. “Watch me.”
I stared at her, because she was Daniel’s mother, yet somehow she looked far calmer than I felt.
“You see them?” I asked.
“I see them,” she replied.
She bent down, picked up my fallen bag, and placed it back in my hand. Then Margaret adjusted her coat and walked straight toward her son, leaving me no choice but to follow.
Daniel did not notice us until she called his name.
The moment he turned around, I watched surprise flash across his face, followed by panic and then calculation.
“Mom? Emily? What are you doing here?” he asked.
The woman beside him still had both hands wrapped around his arm.
Margaret offered her a polite smile and introduced herself first. Then she placed a hand against my back and said, “And this is Emily Bennett. His wife.”
The woman’s smile became tighter, but she did not look surprised.
Instead, she looked directly at me and said, “Hi, Emily. Nice to finally meet you.”
