“For you, maybe.”
“You can’t just walk out on six children.”
“They are enough.”
Her eyes flashed. “You can’t give me the life I want. But Harry can. He bought me a brand-new car and took me to the Maldives, Robert. Do you understand what kind of life he gives me? The kind of life I deserve?”
“Maya,” I whispered. “Our daughter can hear you.”
She glanced at Adele. “Then maybe she’ll learn not to settle.”
Then she slammed the door — no kiss for Shannon, no promise to call, just the door closing and six girls becoming my whole world all at once.
“Our daughter can hear you.”
Back in the kitchen, Adele sat across from me.
“I can tell her no,” I said. “This is your wedding.”
“Tell her she’s welcome.”
My stomach dropped. “Adele.”
“I mean it.”
“She’s not coming for you. She’s coming to perform.”
“I know.”
“This is your wedding.”
“Then why let her?”
Adele looked at me a long second. “Because you spent 15 years protecting us from the truth. I think it’s time the truth protected you.”
I went still.
“No.”
“You know what I’m asking for.”
“The box stays where it is.”
“I think it’s time the truth protected you.”
“The box, Dad.”
Inside were 15 years of things I’d sent to Maya, all returned.
Birthday invitations. School pictures. Recital programs. Graduation notices. Copies of emails. Returned envelopes. Cards the girls made before they stopped asking whether Mom might come next time.
I hadn’t kept it for revenge.
I’d kept it because one day my daughters might ask if I’d tried.
And I wanted to be able to say yes.
“The box, Dad.”
“That box is ugly,” I said.
“What she did was ugly,” Adele said. “The box is just proof.”
“This is your wedding. Not a courtroom.”
“She’s the one putting you on trial.”
I stood, gripping the back of a chair. “Let people think what they want, hon.”
“No, Dad. You’re exhausted from being both parents to all of us. You don’t need this extra weight.”
“The box is just proof.”
Adele opened her folder and pulled out a printed message.
“She wrote me two weeks ago.”
I took it.
Maya had told Adele I was bitter. That I’d made things hard. That I kept the girls close just to punish her.
