Chapter 1 - The Hidden Ink
Ariel’s small fingers gripped my hand with a surprising amount of strength.
She pulled me across the wet concrete of the patio toward the lounge chairs.
Clara was lying flat on her back, her eyes closed behind expensive designer sunglasses.
Her black one-piece swimsuit had a sheer mesh panel cutting across the midriff.
I crouched down beside my daughter, expecting to see a bug or a stray piece of food.
Instead, my eyes locked onto the skin visible beneath the thin black mesh.
There was a fresh, vibrant tattoo resting right above Clara’s navel.
It was a cartoon rendering of a smiling sun holding a little purple starfish.
The air completely left my lungs.
I knew that exact drawing because Ariel had sketched it for Glen three weeks ago.
Glen had proudly gone to a local parlor and gotten it tattooed on his chest, calling it his special Daddy mark.
Now, that exact same custom artwork was permanently inked onto my stepmother’s stomach.
I turned my head slowly and locked eyes with Glen across the yard.
He was staring right at us, and the paper plate in his hand slipped, dropping a hot dog onto the grass.
Clara suddenly sat up, pulling a white towel over her waist with a furious glare.
She leaned forward and whispered that I was making a fool of myself over a coincidence.
Before I could even process her lie, Ariel pointed at Clara’s stomach again.
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My three-year-old daughter looked me dead in the eye and delivered a sentence that shattered my reality.
"Daddy kisses that sun every time you go to work, Mommy."
