A great sense of guilt wrenched my heart.“Yes, I have children. A girl and two boys.”

“Since when, Mabel? For who?”

At last, here it was, the moment I tell her everything. I sipped my wine as if washing my throat for the secrets I was about to spill.

“Three months after I left Washington, I fell sick. I thought it was just my body adjusting to a new environment. But I visited a hospital and found out I was pregnant with triplets.”

“Who’s their father?” she asked, almost ...