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“Do you know each other?”
***
I pulled Dad into a small office.
“Tell me the truth.”
“His real name is Adrian,” he said. “He used his middle name with you.”
My stomach dropped.
“I knew his family years ago. Before you were born, I was engaged to a woman named Claire. Later, she married Leonard. The wealthy developer. Together, they had a son with a unique facial birthmark.”
Julian had a large red birthmark across his face!
“His real name is Adrian.”
“Claire was my first love,” he said. “But Leonard pulled her into his world. Their marriage became ugly. Around then, the construction company I worked for collapsed. Leonard helped cover up financial fraud tied to it.”
“And Adrian came back because of that?”
Dad looked toward the door.
“No. I think he came back because of Claire.”
Elise opened the door.
“Julian wants to speak to her alone.”
Dad stood. “No!”
“I’m not a child.”
Reluctantly, he sat.
Their marriage became ugly.
I stepped into the hallway.
My fiancé stood by the stained-glass windows, nervous for the first time since I’d known him.
“You lied to me.”
“Not about loving you.”
“Then why hide your real name?”
“Because I knew this would happen when your father heard it.”
His voice lowered.
“My mother spent years trying to understand why her life fell apart. Before she died, she talked about your father constantly.”
“Claire is dead?”
He nodded.
“You lied to me.”
“My mother believed Daniel abandoned her,” Julian said. “She blamed him until the day she died.”
