Donna was determined to use the one weekend morning that she had free to spend some uninterrupted time with her daughter. It was hard to do, however, because her mind kept drifting to Harvey.

Before leaving Del Pesto, they had exchanged numbers so that they could figure out what to do about the girls. One text had turned to two, two had turned to three, three had turned to four and now, now the text chain was ongoing. How did that happen?

So far they couldn't agree on how to tell the girls about each other. It didn't help that their days were eaten up by his caseload and her play. Each day that ticked by without telling them dropped more and more weight down onto Donna's shoulders.

Mother and daughter window shopped aimlessly along Madison Avenue until Anna stopped suddenly, jarring Donna out of her spiraling thoughts.

"Can we get Starbucks?"

Donna squinted in the morning sun as she glanced up at the shiny black storefront. "You drink coffee?"

"Their venti vanilla frappuccino is so good."

"When did you have Starbucks?" Donna felt completely out of sorts. The past few days had been a whirlwind. Her ex-husband was back in her life. Anna was acting odd. Her intuition told her that something was wrong, really wrong, but she just couldn't figure out what it was…and that drove her crazy.

Anna pulled out a gift card from her crossbody purse. "My friend gets me one before school sometimes. She gave me this gift card, too, for being new and all."

"Wow," insisted Donna. "That's a really good friend. What's this friend's name?"

"Li…" Anna started, and then stopped. "Lila," she corrected. "We're getting really close. Practically like sisters."

Donna's stomach dropped. Right then and there, along the busy Manhattan sidewalk, she almost told Anna the truth. Almost. The thought of losing another daughter kept her mouth forcefully shut. What if Anna never forgave her? What if she decided she would rather live with her father and sister instead of her? It was all too much.

"So can we go in, mom?"

Donna shook her head to clear it. "Oh…yeah, yeah let's go. I'll get something too."

Once they had their drinks, they managed to find a table in the crowded shop. It wasn't the calmest place to enjoy a cup of coffee, but the time spent with her daughter was worth it.

"So, mom, are we ever gonna talk about the F word?"

Luckily Donna's mouth wasn't full of coffee. "The F word?" came her incredulous question.

Anna rested her elbows on the table and shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah. My father."

Donna blew out a sigh of relief, but her relief didn't last long when she realized what was being asked. "Oh. That F word."

"You never talk about him. I'm 11 now. I should know things about my own father."

Donna hesitated. "Honey, it's been a long time."

"At least tell me where you met." Anna pouted. "Please?"

Donna opted for the abridged version. Once the divorce papers were signed, she had made it a point to carve Harvey out of her, piece by piece. Unfortunately, it never worked. The feelings never went away and seeing him again had made them even stronger.

"We met at work. He was a lawyer at the district attorney's office and I was his secretary."

Anna was entranced. "For how long?"

"Two years. We were supposed to start at a new firm together, but then I found out that I was pregnant with you and it was just too much." There was so much more to it. There was pain, yes, and a lot of heartbreak, but they also had a lot of good times. Someday, she hoped to share those good memories with the twins. Together.

Lost in nostalgia, Donna glanced around. "You know, your dad and I used to do this." She motioned towards the space between them. "We used to sit in Parker's Coffee shop for hours, just talking."

Anna stared at her in complete fascination and it made Donna's chest ache. How could she have done this to her daughters? To harvey? To…herself. Her eyes instantly watered. She longed to go back in time to make things right.

It was hard to keep her voice even. "We used to take you there. When you were little. You loved it."

"I did?"

Donna's voice nearly broke. "You did." She had to tell her. She couldn't continue living the lie. "Honey, there's something that I've been meaning to…" Donna didn't get to finish her thought.

To get closer to her mother, Anna shifted, accidentally banging her elbow against her drink in the process. The sudden movement caused her drink to topple all over the table. "Oh no!" cried Anna. "I'm so sorry, mom."

Donna grabbed some napkins and scooped up the drink. "Hey, it's okay. It's just a spill." The conversation was quickly forgotten as they cleaned the table. Maybe it was a sign from the universe.


The New York weather was playing tricks on its occupants as it brought a mild day to the city. It was a week before Thanksgiving and he didn't need a jacket, Harvey was happy with that turn of events.

Central Park was bustling with residents and tourists, but he and Lizzie managed to find some open space to kick around a soccer ball. They went back and forth for a bit until he realized that her heart wasn't in it.

"What's the matter? You usually love this."

Lizzie rubbed her eyes. "I'm just tired."

Harvey grabbed the ball and walked towards her. "I'd be tired too if I was up all night making mysterious phone calls from my bathroom."

Lizzie grew flustered. "Uh…it was a friend from school. She's new, so I've been trying to help her."

Wrapping his arm around her shoulder, he led her towards the bench where they had left their jackets. "As long as it wasn't a boy," he deadpanned.

"Dad, it's an all girls school," she reminded him.

Harvey smirked. "Why do you think I sent you there?"

"You're joking…"

"Am I?" he teased.

In truth, Harvey didn't have much of a say in what school Lizzie attended. School wasn't even on Harvey's radar, but like clock work, two years before she was due to start kindergarten, Louis had practically assaulted him with admission information.

The man had suggested, no, insisted, that the Walden School for Girls was the top choice in Manhattan. It had a great academic record, a good sports program, and something called 'shakespearean style dramatic arts.' Louis had arranged everything. From interviews, to letters of recommendation and even shadow visits, the man had done it all. Harvey had gladly let him.

"Let's just relax," he insisted as he sat down on the bench and grabbed his travel mug full of coffee. Stepping away from work and spending time with Lizzie had put him in a great mood. It didn't hurt that he had been talking to Donna, via text, either. "Paula should be here soon."

Lizzie groaned. "Why do we have to have lunch with your girlfriend?"

"Because I care about her. She's an important part of my life," he said, before he took a sip of his coffee and swished the sweet taste around his mouth.

"Was my mother an important part of your life?"

Harvey nearly spit out his coffee. The question took him completely by surprise. "Of course she was."

Lizzie's mouth slid into a frown. Softly, she wondered, "then why don't you ever talk about her?"

Harvey thought carefully about his response. "I never really knew what to say." For years he had tried to forget about Donna. It was a hard thing to do when their daughter was so much like her. "What's with all the sudden questions about your mother?"

"Come on dad. I think I'm getting a little old to believe that the stork brought me to your door. Just tell me something. Anything."

The afternoon light brought out the golden specks in her eyes. For a second, it was Donna staring back at him. Quickly, the image of Donna was replaced by his daughter and he swallowed hard. He looked down at his coffee before meeting her eyes again.

"Your mother, she used to make the best cup of coffee. I swear, it was better than any place in the city. Except maybe Parker's."

Lizzie's eyes were glassy. "What's that?"

Wondering how much he should tell her, Harvey tilted his head. "It's a coffee shop near my office. When I first started at my job, your mom and me…we would hang out there a lot. And then you were born, so you'd come with us."

"I would?"

Lizzie hit him with a look of amazement that burned his chest. It set fire to his nerve endings, making him suddenly antsy. He shifted on the bench so that he was facing her. He saw it clearly now, what keeping the truth from her had done. Not only had he kept Lizzie from Anna, but he had kept Lizzie from Donna as well. He was just as much at fault as Donna was.

Harvey took a deep breath. He couldn't keep his thoughts inside anymore. "I need to tell you something, Liz, and it's kind of big…" he began, but he was quickly interrupted by the shadow of a tall teenage boy who stood in front of them.

The boy said something in Spanish that Harvey couldn't understand. Just when he was about to not so gently send the boy on his way, Lizzie spoke up and pointed to her right.

"Claro, solo siga de frente hasta llegar al muro, luego voltee a la derecha, de ahí encontrará la calle 59 otra vez."

Harvey watched in awe as the boy thanked her for what he assumed were directions and then left. He turned to his daughter with a confused frown. "Since when do you speak Spanish?"

Lizzie's eyes were wide at first, but she recovered quickly. "Uh, Duolingo. It's an app I've been using at school."

"Wow," insisted Harvey. "That's pretty damn impressive. You'll have to show me sometime."

Lizzie let out a sigh. "Sure dad, but, what did you wanna tell me?"

Harvey pursed his lips. The words were gone from his mind, but he tried again anyway. "What I wanted to tell you…" once again he was interrupted before he could finish. This time the interruption came from a familiar posh English accent.

"There you guys are!"

Disappointed, Harvey looked up to see that his girlfriend was walking towards them. "Paula." He stood up quickly to cover his annoyance.

"It's so crowded today, I thought I'd never find you." She kissed him for a beat too long on his lips and then looked towards Lizzie. "Look at you. You look more grown up every time I see you."

Lizzie's face was stoic as she focused on her dad and ignored Paula. "Dad, weren't you trying to tell me something?"

Harvey sighed and turned back towards her. The moment was gone. So was his courage. He didn't want to disappoint her though. "Well, I…" it was hard to get the right words out with Paula's gaze upon him. "It's kind of important…"

"Oh come on you two. Enough of that," interrupted Paula. Again. "You guys had all morning to talk. I haven't seen you in days." She wrapped her hand around his and squeezed it tight. "You know how much I miss you, baby"

It took every ounce of his restraint not to shrug off her hand. Her touch felt wrong and he didn't appreciate being constantly interrupted. His good mood was quickly dissipating. Still, he didn't have much choice but to appease her. He wasn't about to cause a scene in front of his daughter.

"You're right."

Lizzie's eyes went wide in outrage. "But dad!"

"Come on. We can talk later, the park isn't the best place for it anyway."

Paula sent her a sickeningly sweet smile. "Come on, honey. You can tell me all about your week at school."

Lizzie's face went slack. "Can't wait," she mumbled.

Silently, Harvey pleaded with her to follow along. Paula's presence felt like an intrusion in a way that it never felt before. He wasn't sure what to make of that, but like he did with a lot of uncomfortable feelings, he buried it deep inside.