“Give me that.”
“No.”
“Rose.”
He started toward me.
“This isn’t the place.”
Jenna stepped beside me.
Lauren noticed.
“Mom?”
Mark stopped.
Lauren looked from him to me.
Then at the envelope.
“What’s happening?”
“Nothing.”
I almost laughed.
Nothing.
A man who had apparently replaced his own baby’s medical result was telling us nothing was happening.Explore Special Tutors
Lauren walked closer.
“What is that?”
Mark rubbed his jaw.
“Lauren, can we talk privately?”
Her face changed.
“What’s in the envelope?”
“I don’t know.”
I looked at him.
“You don’t?”
“No.”
“But you know who put it there.”
He said nothing.
Lauren stared at him.
“Mark?”
Silence.
I looked at my daughter.
“There was a woman with Mark at the bakery this morning.”
Lauren stopped breathing for a second.
Mark glared at me.
“Rose.”
“No.”
I turned toward him.
“You don’t get to tell me to stop.”
Lauren looked at Jenna.
“What woman?”
Jenna unlocked her phone.
“I have security footage.”
Mark stepped forward.
“Don’t.”
Lauren’s head snapped toward him.
That one word told her everything.
“Show me.”
“Lauren.”Try Gourmet Desserts
“Show me.”
Jenna turned the phone around.
Lauren watched.
I watched her face instead.
Confusion first.
Then recognition.
Then fear.
“Oh my God.”
I touched her arm.
“You know her?”
Lauren nodded.
“Tania.”
Mark closed his eyes.
“Who is Tania?”
Lauren looked at him.
“I’d like to hear that from my husband.”
Nobody spoke.
Lauren raised her voice.
“Who is she, Mark?”
A few guests noticed.
Conversations quieted.
Mark rubbed both hands over his face.
“I was trying to fix something.”
Lauren gave a tiny, broken laugh.
“Fix what?”
He looked at the envelope in my hand.
I gave it to Lauren.
Her fingers trembled.
Mark stepped forward.
“Please don’t open that here.”
She immediately backed away from him.
That movement seemed to hurt him.
Good.
“Why?”Plan Family Trips
“Because we should talk alone.”
“You had a chance to talk to me alone.”
She tore open the envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
And a folded note.
Lauren pulled out the photograph first.
She stared at it.
Her entire body seemed to stiffen.
“What?”
I stepped closer.
The picture showed Mark.
Beside him stood Tania.
Between them was a little girl.
Maybe three.
Dark curls.
Pink coat.
She was holding Mark’s hand.
And she had his eyes.
