Margaret looked at Julian.
He flinched.
“I thought he had stopped loving me,” I continued. “But I didn’t understand that he had already decided my feelings were less important than the future Vanessa was offering your family.”
Vanessa’s head turned toward me.
For a moment, something like shame crossed her face.
Then Charles said, “This conversation is not going to continue in front of the guests.”
“No,” I agreed. “It isn’t.”
He looked toward the crowd, which had begun to break into nervous clusters. Some guests pretended to examine the flower arrangements. Others spoke behind raised hands. A few had already moved toward the house, carrying their curiosity with them.
The wedding was over, even if no one had formally announced it.
I had not come to destroy it.
I had come to stop hiding.
There was a difference.
“I’ll be at the guesthouse,” I told Julian. “If you want to discuss the children, you may come with your attorney and mine. Not alone. Not tonight.”
His eyes flickered with pain.
“May I at least say goodbye before you leave?”
I almost said no.
Then I remembered that the children had no reason to be punished for his mistakes.
“You may see them for a few minutes,” I said. “With Rachel present.”
Relief crossed his face, followed immediately by gratitude he had no right to show me.
“Thank you.”
I walked away before he could say anything else.
The guesthouse had a small sitting room with pale walls and wide windows facing the rose garden. Noah and Ethan were building a tower from wooden blocks. Grace was sitting on the rug beside Rachel, carefully placing stickers in a coloring book. Lily had climbed onto the sofa and was watching the trees move in the wind.
When Julian entered, all four children looked up.
He stopped just inside the doorway.
The sight of him there seemed to take the air from his lungs.
Noah studied him with a serious frown.
Julian crouched slowly, keeping a respectful distance.
“Hello,” he said.
Noah looked at me.
I nodded.
The boy picked up a blue block and held it out.
Julian smiled, though his eyes were shining.
“Is that for me?”
Noah nodded.
Julian accepted it as if he had been given something precious.
He sat on the carpet, still wearing the formal black suit that had been chosen for his wedding. Ethan brought him a red block. Grace offered him a yellow one. Lily remained on the sofa, silent and watchful.
