The Heart Does (Not) Ache

David, are you joking? Our daughter was given the heart of your dead lover?

These words tear themselves from my lips as if they were spoken by someone else. Not me—the one who has just heard this monstrous truth.

- Yes, Emilia. Adeline is alive thanks to Natalya. Consider it paid—the debt my second wife owed you.

Second wife. I learned about her only a few days ago. And now, as David says it so casually, another suspicion is born in me:

- And the baby your mother and your sister took… It’s not “someone else’s child,” like you were trying to present it, is it? It’s your son, isn’t it?

The husband doesn’t look away, and after a short pause slowly nods:

- Yes, it’s my son, Emi. The one you would never have born me. But now he’s with us. Let’s raise Adam together.