Chapter 12
“How old?”
His voice cracked.
I didn't answer.
I watched the calculation happen.
Two years.
My disappearance.
The divorce.
Vanessa's pregnancy.
His face lost all color.
“Evelyn.”
I held out the envelope.
He didn't take it.
“Are they mine?”
The lawn went so quiet I could hear the quartet stop playing.
Rebecca stepped closer, but I raised one hand slightly.
This was mine.
I placed the envelope on a small table beside the aisle.
“Open it.”
Julian moved.
His hands shook so badly he tore the paper unevenly.
He pulled out the certified report.
His eyes raced across the first page.
Then the second.
He stopped.
I watched his throat move.
“No.”
Margaret made a sound behind him.
Charles stepped forward.
“What does it say?”
Julian didn't answer.
His eyes filled.
He looked at Noah.
Then Ethan.
Then both girls.
“My children?”
“Yes.”
“All four?”
“Yes.”
He looked at me.
“You were pregnant when you left?”
“I found out that night.”
His face broke.
Not dramatically.
No shouting.
No collapse.
Something simply seemed to leave him.
“You knew.”
“I knew I was pregnant.”
“And you didn't tell me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
That question angered me more than I'd expected.
“Because less than twelve hours earlier, I asked you to tell me not to sign divorce papers.”
He lowered the report.
“Evelyn.”
“You remember?”
His eyes dropped.
“I remember everything.”
“So do I.”
Margaret pushed past Charles.
“Let me see that.”
Julian handed her the report.
Her hand flew to her mouth.
Charles snatched the pages next.
He scanned them.
His expression finally cracked.
Four grandchildren.
Two boys.
Two girls.
All conceived while Julian and I were still married.
All biologically his.
All absent from the family photographs, trusts, birthdays, Christmas cards, and carefully planned lineage Charles Whitmore controlled so fiercely.
He looked at me.
“You deliberately concealed Whitmore heirs.”
The phrase was so perfectly Charles that I almost smiled.
“No.”
His eyebrows drew together.
“I raised my children.”
“They are Julian's children.”
“They are mine too.”
“No one is disputing that.”
“You did two years ago.”
His jaw tightened.
“We didn't know.”
“That was your problem.”
Charles took a step closer.
“You accepted twelve million dollars.”
“Yes.”
“For a clean separation.”
“And you received one.”
“You had material information.”
I stared at him.
“I had a positive pregnancy test after I signed.”
Rebecca moved beside me.
“That timeline is documented.”
Charles looked at her.