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“So you found me because of him?”
“At first, yes. I wanted answers. But then I fell in love with you.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I know how it sounds. But I never planned for this to happen today.”
“So you found me because of him?”
I searched his face for something safe.
Instead, I saw grief.
“Did you ever intend to tell me?”
“Yes. I kept waiting for the right time.”
I laughed bitterly. “We were five minutes away from getting married.”
Julian lowered his voice.
“Your father isn’t innocent. My mother wrote to him years later, but he never answered.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Then ask him.”
We returned to the office.
“Did you ever intend to tell me?”
“Did Claire write to you?” I asked Dad.
“Yes.”
Anger hit me.
“You told me she chose that life.”
“That’s what I believed,” he said. “But by then, I’d married your mother. You were a baby. I thought reopening the past would destroy everyone.”
“So you ignored her?”
“I told myself it was too late.”
“That’s what I believed.”
I backed away as my understanding of both men fell apart.
Elise stepped in. “The guests are asking questions. What do you want to do?”
I looked at my fiancé.
“I love you.”
His eyes filled. “I love you, too.”
“Maybe. But you built us on a secret.”
Then I turned to Dad.
“And you buried yours until it exploded at my wedding.”
“What do you want to do?”
Neither argued.
My hands shook as I removed my ring.
