While the girls were at school, Mrs. Goodall had a job to do, and her job wasn't made easier by the fact that she actually had a job to do.

Since moving in with Emma and the Morans, she picked up a job working as a receptionist for a small business. There wasn't a lot for her to do on most days. She worked for a man who offered natural remedies to patients who were suffering from chronic illnesses or pain and who had gone the medical route with no success. Mrs. Goodall didn't quite believe in some of the techniques he told her about on her first day, but she got paid to show up and book appointments so the job was good enough for her.

Today, fortunately, was quite slow, but there was still work to be done. Mrs. Goodall, too distracted with her family crisis, didn't notice as a man walked in. He was limping heavily and didn't appreciate having to call several times to get her attention.

"Excuse me!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Mrs. Goodall shook her head and checked her computer. "Oh, Mr. Jones, you're right on time. Have a seat. Luke will be right with you."

As he took a seat, Mrs. Goodall reached to her papers on her desk. They had nothing to do with her job. They were the papers Gia had showed her that morning. They were the papers that proved Emma wasn't Jeff's daughter. They were the papers that spun Mrs. Goodall's entire world upside down.

She genuinely had no idea her very soon to be ex-husband wasn't the father of her daughter. She had no right to claim she had ever been a faithful wife. There had been problems between her and Mr. Goodall almost from the start of their relationship, which had been the reason they had drifted apart. While Mr. Goodall usually went from woman to woman, depending on who was new around the office and willing to sleep with a married man, Mrs. Goodall stuck to vacations and expensive dates with Oliver, whom she met only a couple of years after she married Mr. Goodall. She was positive Oliver wasn't Emma's father, though. She hadn't met him, never mind slept with him, until after Emma was already born.

There had to be someone else. Mrs. Goodall remembered a few men she slept with besides her husband long before Emma was born, and then remembered accompanying Mr. Goodall on a business trip and having a great time with him. When they came home, they talked about why they couldn't have that kind of relationship in their normal lives. In a way, they fell in love again and felt they could keep that love alive by bringing a child into the world.

Only it never worked. Mrs. Goodall underestimated how stressful and annoying being pregnant was, and while she had the fortune of suffering through it at the same time as Mrs. Moran, her luck ended there. Mr. Goodall could never understand why his wife was always so sick and tired, why he had to rub her feet at the end of the day even though he had been the one to work more than eight hours running around doing errands for his boss. He didn't understand why he had to do the dirty jobs around the house like cleaning the bathrooms or painting the nursery. Mrs. Goodall never felt supported by her husband. As the pregnancy went on and she needed him by her side more often, he decided to start going out with his co-workers more and more, and eventually out with other women. Mrs. Goodall couldn't understand why he wouldn't help her with their coming child, and Mr. Goodall couldn't understand why his wife was so whiny and tired.

When Emma was born, it was a different mess. Both parents underestimated the work that came with a child. Neither liked getting up in the middle of the night for feedings, though Mrs. Goodall was always the one who had to, Mr. Goodall always made a stink about how she would wake him up. Then, Mr. Goodall would work all day while Mrs. Goodall stayed home to care for Emma. She would usually get her daughter down for a nap around the time Mr. Goodall came home. He was always eager to play with his daughter and would wake her up every day. Emma's interrupted naps meant she was fussy later on in the evening, which put strain on both parents. Emma couldn't save their marriage. She could only point out where it was already broken. And the two parents were too frustrated and clueless on how to care for a baby, so they passed her on to the Morans most of the time, who seemed to know instinctively how to care for their own daughter.

During that time, Mrs. Goodall couldn't remember sleeping with any other men. As soon as she committed to having a child with Mr. Goodall, she slept with him and only him until the day she found out she was pregnant. Mr. Goodall had to be Emma's father. There was no other way it could be someone else.

But these papers said otherwise and they looked very real. She also knew Gia wouldn't lie about something like this, and if she had been the one to have the test done, then she would have done it right. These papers didn't look like they were the results from a home paternity test. They were the real deal. They were accurate.

Mr. Goodall was not her daughter's father.

She needed answers. She needed something to say to Emma. Her daughter's family life had already taken so many hits. Already, her parents had been irresponsible with her and passed her off to their friends to raise. While that had been the best decision they made in regards to Emma, it had damaged their daughter, who spent most of her life wondering why her parents didn't love her. Then, they abandoned her completely, with her father deciding to move to New York without her and her mother taking a long vacation with a boyfriend. When her father realized she wasn't with her mother and that his best friend wanted him to give away his rights as a father, he freaked out and decided he would get even. Emma's father got a gun and threatened to kill her best friend with it. Now he was in prison. Then, the man Emma really looked up to as a father died suddenly. To make matters more complicated, her mother, realizing everything she had lost by abandoning her daughter, decided to come back and wanted a permanent place in her life. Emma had a lot of fears, concerns, and questions about that and it put a huge strain on the already fragile relationship she had with her mother.

Finally, things were working out for Emma's family. She had a loving family with Mrs. Moran and Gia. Mrs. Goodall had figured out the best way to care for her. Emma was finally happy and comfortable in her home life. Of course, this would be the time where life would throw another curveball. While Mrs. Goodall doubted Emma wanted anything to do with Mr. Goodall as a father, she was sure this news was going to break Emma's heart.

However, it was a secret Gia knew and refused to keep from Emma. Mrs. Goodall admired that honesty and trust between the girls. She loved how they took care of each other, and hoped they would never lose that. Unfortunately, it meant Gia would not hide this secret. If it ever came out, and Emma found out that Gia knew all along, it would be even more damaging then if everyone was honest now. If Gia, a seventeen year old, could be brave enough to face the truth now, Mrs. Goodall knew she had to be too. This was her daughter, and Emma had a right to know who her father was.

So it pained Mrs. Goodall to know she didn't have an answer. Come the end of the day, her daughter was going to ask her a question no child should ever have to ask, and Mrs. Goodall wouldn't even have an answer ready for her.

As some customers came in and out of the building for their appointments, Mrs. Goodall put her brain to work, but by the end of the day, the biggest question still hung in the air: who was Emma's father?

"You can head home now," Luke, her boss, told her as he came out from his office with his bag all packed up and his helmet in his hand. "I'll see you again tomorrow, Claire."

"Yeah, have a good evening."

"You too," he smiled at her and then walked out. Mrs. Goodall picked up the keys and locked up as she left. Then she walked over to her car. As she searched through her bags for the set of keys to open her car she saw a big shadow on the ground of someone coming up behind her. Before she could turn around to see who it was she was frozen solid. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't move.