I kissed her cheek and stepped back.
Maya wasn’t smiling anymore.
Adele squeezed my arm.
For an hour, I let the wedding just be beautiful. Jerome cried before Adele did. Mia cried right along with them. Lucille passed her a tissue without ever looking away from Maya.
Then I overheard Maya near Harry’s family.
“I wanted to be there,” she was saying. “Of course I did. But Robert made things difficult.”
Harry nodded. “Maya tried for years. He kept the girls isolated.”
A woman beside him stared at me.
Maya sighed. “You don’t know what it does to a mother, being kept from her babies.”
I set down my water glass.
“He kept the girls isolated.”
Penelope appeared beside me. “Dad.”
Mia’s eyes were wet. “Please tell me you heard that.”
“I heard.”
Lucille’s voice was low. “Say the word.”
Piper whispered, “Not here. Please.”
