I could hear the distant sound of a siren outside the hospital window.

“Ruth,” Daniel said, his voice dropping. “Tell me what is going on.”

“Oh, Daniel,” Ruth whispered. “I hoped this day would never come.”

“Tell me,” he demanded, his hand gripping the bedside rail.

“It was Evelyn,” Ruth said, her voice shaking.

“She knew the cancer was spreading, and she knew she couldn’t carry a child to term.”

“She wanted so desperately to leave you with a family.”

“So she made a secret agreement.”

“She found Claire.”

Daniel’s brow furrowed, his face pale under the fluorescent lights.

“Claire was our surrogate?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

“Yes,” Ruth said. “Evelyn didn’t want to worry you while you were managing the merger.”

“She wanted it to be a gift.”

“But then she passed away before the boys were even born.”

Daniel took a sharp breath, his fingers tightening on the metal rail.

“Why didn’t I know this?” he asked. “Why wasn’t it in the estate papers?”

“Your corporate lawyers found the medical files after the funeral,” Ruth said.