Evelyn Sterling walked in.
Five years had changed almost nothing about her.
Her silver-blond hair was perfect.
Her cream suit looked as though it had never encountered weather.
She entered without apologizing, took the empty chair beside Julian, and looked at my twins the way she might inspect two unexpected entries on a financial statement.
My daughter moved closer to me.
Evelyn noticed.
“So,” she said.
“You’ve finally brought them back.”
Not hello.
Not what are their names.
Not are they healthy.
Them.
I felt something inside me become very quiet.
“They are not being brought back,” I said.
“They came with me because Julian asked for a meeting concerning them.”
“They are Sterlings.”
“They are children.”
Evelyn’s mouth tightened.
“You took two Sterling heirs out of the country and hid them for five years.”
My attorney spoke before I could.
“Mrs.
Sterling, that language is exactly why my client was afraid.”
Evelyn turned toward her.
“I don’t believe I was speaking to you.”
“You are now.”
Julian rubbed one hand across his jaw.
“Enough.
Anna, I want to know why you ran.”
I stared at him.
For years I had imagined that question.
Sometimes I imagined screaming the answer.
Sometimes I imagined throwing the television remote through his Palm Beach wedding footage.
But sitting across from him now, with our children between us and five years of distance behind me, I discovered I did not need to raise my voice.
“Because your mother told me I would come to dinner and behave while the family discussed my future and the children’s.
Because you had just kissed another pregnant woman on television.
Because you didn’t call to ask if I was all right.
Because no one asked about the babies.
You summoned me.”
Julian’s gaze dropped.
Evelyn answered for him.
“We intended to protect everyone involved.”
“From what?”
She hesitated.
“Scandal.”
I almost laughed.
“You mean me.”
“I mean an unstable situation.”
“I was your son’s legal wife carrying his twins.
Scarlett was pregnant with his child while he staged a national commitment ceremony with her.
Which part of that situation was I supposed to apologize for?”
Evelyn’s face finally changed.
Only slightly.
But I saw it.
Julian did too.
My attorney reached into the folder again.
