Chapter 2 - Three Little Faces
“Mommy, who’s that?”
Grace asked the question Cassidy had been dreading.
Declan heard it.
His eyes snapped toward Cassidy.
Behind him stood Vanessa Cole, the elegant blonde woman who had apparently been waiting for him outside the terminal. Cassidy recognized her vaguely from business magazines.
Vanessa’s hand tightened around Declan’s arm.
“Yes,” Vanessa said. “Who are they?”
Cassidy did not answer her.
She crouched in front of her daughters.
“This is Mr. Hawthorne. Someone Mommy used to know.”
Declan flinched.
Mr. Hawthorne.
Not Daddy.
Not their father.
A stranger.
Lily studied him with open curiosity.
“You have eyes like Emma.”
The world seemed to stop.
Emma immediately objected.
“No, he has eyes like me.”
“That’s what I said.”
“No, you said—”
“Girls,” Cassidy interrupted gently.
Declan stared at Emma.
She stared back.
There was no denying it now.
Cassidy could see realization arriving piece by piece.
“Cassidy,” he whispered. “We need to talk.”
“No.”
“Those girls—”
“Not here.”
“Are they mine?”
Vanessa released his arm.
Cassidy looked at the children.
That was the only answer Declan needed.
His jaw tightened.
“My God.”
“Lower your voice.”
“You had my children?”
“Declan.”
“And you never told me?”
Cassidy stepped between him and the girls.
“You will not do this in front of them.”
Something in her voice stopped him.
Their driver came around the SUV.
“Ms. Monroe?”
“We’re leaving.”
Declan followed.
“Cassidy.”
She turned.
“We can talk tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“You waited nearly five years without knowing they existed. You can survive one night knowing they do.”
His face hardened.
For a moment, the old Declan returned.
“You don’t get to decide that.”
Cassidy’s expression changed.
“Yes, I do.”
She helped the girls into the SUV.
Declan stood at the curb.
Vanessa stared at him.
Cassidy climbed inside.
Before the door closed, Declan said, “Tell me one thing.”
She paused.
“Are they my daughters?”
Cassidy met his eyes.
“Yes.”
The door shut.
Declan remained frozen on the sidewalk as the SUV disappeared into traffic.
For years he had believed Cassidy had walked away with nothing.
Now he understood she had walked away carrying three lives he never knew existed.
May you like
But the question tormenting him was no longer whether the girls were his.
It was why Cassidy had believed they were safer without him.
