Maya wasn’t smiling anymore.
Adele squeezed my arm.
***
For an hour, I let the wedding be beautiful. Jerome cried before Adele did. Mia cried with both of them. Lucille passed her a tissue without looking away from 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 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.”
Shannon just stared at Maya.
I took one step forward.
