Marcus nodded. “She left with it.”
Julian appeared in the doorway behind us. He had changed into a soft green sweater, and his expression became guarded when he saw Marcus’s face.
“What happened?”
Evelyn didn’t answer immediately.
“My mother opened the letters,” I said.
Julian’s gaze moved to the folder on the table, then to Evelyn.
“Victoria?”
“Yes.”
His jaw tightened. “That explains a lot.”
I turned toward him. “What does?”
“Nothing I can prove.”
“Tell me anyway.”
Julian glanced at Evelyn. She gave a small nod.
“When Evelyn first came to Boston, she had a letter from your mother.”
My chest tightened. “What letter?”
“I don’t know exactly. Evelyn never showed it to me. But she said
your mother had contacted her before she left Chicago. She told Evelyn that you had made your decision and that involving children would only create more pain.”Track Pregnancy
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“I didn’t say that,” she murmured.
“You didn’t have to,” Julian replied gently. “You believed it.”
I stared at her. “My mother told you I didn’t want the children?”
“She didn’t speak to me directly,” Evelyn said. “She sent the letter to my apartment after I left.”
“Do you still have it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I burned it.”
Her voice was quiet, almost embarrassed.
“I was pregnant, alone, and barely sleeping. I had already spent months trying to reach you. When that letter came, I thought it confirmed everything I was afraid of.”
“What did it say?”
“That you wanted no connection to me. That your family would deny the children were yours. That if I tried to Family law advice
contact you, lawyers would become involved.”
I felt something inside me harden—not toward Evelyn, but toward the shape of the past.
“I never said any of that.”
“I know that now.”
