I looked at Diane.
“You used my medical history?”
Diane’s expression did not change.
“I protected my family.”
For the first time, Graham looked at his mother with something close to fear.
“What did you do?”
Diane lifted her chin.
“I did what you were too weak to do. I made sure the estate stayed with the Ellison name.”
Naomi tapped the file.
“The problem is, Mrs. Ellison, the children are the Ellison name.”
Brielle stood.
Her chair scraped against the floor.
“Graham, did you know about any of this?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
She looked at Diane.
“But you did.”
Diane’s silence answered.
Brielle laughed once, but there was no humor in it.
“So the wedding was not just a wedding. It was timing.”
Diane looked at her coldly.
“Do not be dramatic.”
“No,” Brielle said, her voice shaking. “You wanted Graham remarried before this came out. You wanted a clean public story. Poor Graham, abandoned by a childless wife, finally starting over.”
Graham put his hand over his mouth.
Owen tugged my sleeve.
“Mommy, are we in trouble?”
I knelt immediately.
“No, sweetheart. You are not in trouble.”
Maisie looked at Graham.
“Is he our daddy?”
The question broke the room open.
Graham’s eyes filled.
He slowly lowered himself to one knee, careful to keep distance, as if he knew he had not earned the right to come closer.
