us?”
Adam looked at her.
“I—”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
That one word destroyed whatever tiny possibility had existed that the children might believe he had been unaware.
Ashton stared at him.
“You knew there were three of us?”
“Yes.”
“And you left anyway?”
Adam closed his eyes briefly.
The woman beside him stepped backward.
“Adam, what is happening?”
He turned toward her.
“Rachel, I can explain.”
Her expression changed.
I recognized that sentence.
People only say I can explain when the explanation is going to be terrible.
Rachel looked at me.
“Were you married to him?”
“For almost five years.”
Her face went pale.
Adam said quickly, “Rachel—”
She held up a hand.
“You told me you had never had children.”
There it was.
The second life.
The fresh version of himself Adam had apparently created.
The version without three babies.
Without a wife waiting outside a hospital.
Without twelve
