Adele smiled, but I recognized that smile. Polite, not warm.

“I’m glad you made it,” she said.

Maya touched Adele’s cheek.

Then she turned toward me. “Robert.”

Her eyes moved over my suit. “You look tired.”

“Fifteen years of parenting will do that.”

Harry shifted behind her.

Maya’s smile tightened. “Don’t start today.”

“I wasn’t planning to.”

“This is Adele’s wedding.”

“I know. That’s why I’m here.”

Her eyes sharpened. “You always were good at making yourself look noble.”

My jaw tightened.

Adele looked at me over Maya’s shoulder.

Not yet.

So I swallowed the answer I wanted to give.

The ceremony began soon after. Adele slipped her arm through mine, and for one second, I saw the girl on the stairs again.

“You’re squeezing my hand, Dad,” she whispered.

The doors opened, and everyone stood.

When we reached Jerome, he looked at Adele as though he understood what she had survived without making her explain it.

The officiant asked who presented her.

I opened my mouth.

Adele squeezed my arm. “The man who raised me does.”

The room murmured.

I kissed her cheek and stepped back.

Maya was no longer smiling.

For one hour, I let the wedding remain beautiful. Jerome cried before Adele did. Mia cried with both of them. Lucille handed her a tissue without taking her eyes off Maya.

Then I heard Maya near Harry’s family.

“I wanted to be there,” she said. “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 to be kept from her babies.”

I set my water glass down.

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.”

Shannon only stared at Maya.

I took one step forward.

Adele touched my arm.

“Not yet, Dad.”

“She’s lying about all of us.”

“Then why wait?”

Adele looked toward the white box near the gift table.

“Because this time, we’re not answering a lie with anger. We’re answering it with proof.”

Across the room, Maya laughed like she was winning.