Chương 9
“You were in your own life, Ryan.”
I took the hit.
She pulled Noah’s hood higher.
“He’s cold.”
“Can we go somewhere and talk?”
“I need to get them home.”
“Where is home?”
She hesitated.
I saw the hesitation and hated what it meant.
“You don’t want me to know.”
“I don’t know what I want you to know yet.”
“They’re my children.”
“You met them today.”
“You keep saying that like I chose it.”
“And you keep saying biology like it erases everything else.”
Noah looked between us.
Grace noticed.
She stopped.
“Not in front of them.”
I lowered my voice.
“Fine.”
Sophie tugged my sleeve.
“Are you coming?”
Grace looked at her.
“Coming where?”
“Home.”
Grace’s face tightened.
Sophie shrugged.
“He found my crown.”
As credentials went, it was weak.
It still affected me more than any title I had ever held.
Grace crouched beside her.
“Ryan has things to do.”
I said, “I don’t.”
Grace stood again.
“You had an engagement dinner.”
“That’s over.”
Her expression shifted.
“What?”
“I called Amelia.”
“And?”
“And I told her I couldn’t answer whether I still wanted to marry her.”
Grace stared at me.
“That was cruel.”
“I told the truth.”
“You can tell the truth cruelly.”
I felt the old defensiveness rise.
“So now I’m wrong for not lying?”
“No.”
She adjusted Sophie’s scarf.
“You’re wrong if you make one terrible day the reason another person has to question the last two years.”
I watched her.
“You’re defending Amelia?”
“I’m defending anybody who gets dragged behind your panic.”
The words were sharp.
So was the accuracy.
I looked away.
A black SUV pulled into the pickup lane.
For one second, I thought it might be my driver, though I had not called one.
Then the rear door opened.
My sister stepped out.
Claire wore a camel coat and the expression she usually reserved for family emergencies and bad restaurants.
She saw me first.
Then Grace.
Then the children.
Her face changed.
She stopped in the middle of the curb lane.
A horn sounded behind her.
The driver shouted something.
Claire moved automatically onto the sidewalk.
She stared at Noah.
Then Sophie.
Then Lily.
Her mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Grace went pale.
I stepped between them without thinking.
“Why are you here?”
Claire looked at me.
“Amelia called me.”
“That doesn’t explain the hospital.”
“She said you were here.”
“You drove here because I missed dinner?”
“She was crying.”
Claire looked past me again.
“Jesus Christ.”
Noah moved closer to Grace.
Claire took one step forward.
“Grace?”
Grace’s hand closed around the stroller.
“Hi, Claire.”
Claire stared at the children.
Her eyes filled immediately.
She covered her mouth.
My sister had always cried when angry, embarrassed, delighted, or tired.
It made serious conversations with her nearly impossible.
“Are they—”
“Not here,” I said.
Claire ignored me.
“How old are they?”
Grace’s face hardened.
“Three.”
Claire turned toward me.
“What the hell?”
“I found out today.”
She looked back at Grace.
“Is that true?”
Grace nodded once.
Claire pressed both hands to her forehead.
“Oh my God.”
Noah whispered something to Lily.
Lily whispered back.
Sophie watched Claire with open curiosity.
Claire crouched suddenly.
Not close enough to touch them.
Just enough to be at their height.
“Hi.”
Grace stiffened.
Claire stopped herself from moving nearer.
“I’m Claire.”
Sophie said, “I’m Sophie.”
Lily pointed.
“That’s Noah.”
Noah said, “I can say my own name.”
Lily rolled her eyes.
Claire laughed through her tears.
The sound made my chest ache.
She looked at Noah and then at me.
The resemblance was impossible to ignore.
Claire stood slowly.
“Mom knew, didn’t she?”
I stared at her.
“What makes you say that?”
Claire’s face changed.
That was the second time today I saw someone recognize a truth before speaking it.
“Claire.”
She looked at Grace.
Then back at me.
“When your divorce was happening, Mom asked me something.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“She asked whether I thought Grace had ever cheated on you.”
Grace went completely still.
I felt heat rise behind my eyes.
“What did you say?”
“I said no.”
Claire swallowed.
“Then she asked me not to mention the conversation.”
Grace looked toward the street.
I watched her face.
The expression there was not shock.
It was old pain finding a new witness.
“Why would she ask that?”
Claire shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No, Ryan, I don’t.”
“Think.”
“I am thinking.”
Claire wiped under one eye angrily.
“She said someone had seen Grace with a man.”
Grace closed her eyes.
I turned toward her.
“What man?”
She did not answer.
“Grace.”
Her face had gone gray.
When she finally looked at me, I understood before she spoke that whatever came next was not going to make anything simpler.
“My doctor,” she said.
I frowned.
“What?”
“The man your mother’s source saw me with was my obstetrician’s brother.”
Claire stared.
Grace continued.
“He picked me up from a clinic once because I fainted during an appointment and Marcus was out of town.”
I said nothing.
Grace’s voice shook now.
“He was also my attorney.”
I stared at Grace long enough for the hospital doors to open and close twice behind her.
“Your divorce attorney?”
She nodded.
Claire looked between us.
“Mom thought you were sleeping with your lawyer?”
Grace gave a small, exhausted shrug.
“I don’t know what your mother thought.”
I did.
Or at least I understood how she had wanted to think.
Suspicion had been useful.
It had let her turn Grace’s pregnancy into a question instead of a fact.
It had let me remain protected from a life she considered inconvenient.
I felt sick.
“Did you tell her who he was?”
“I didn’t know she was watching me.”
Grace’s answer came fast.
“Or having someone watch me.”
Claire’s face tightened.
“Mom wouldn’t hire someone.”
I looked at her.
“Wouldn’t she?”
Claire opened her mouth and closed it.
May you like
That was answer enough.
Grace shifted the stroller.
