Chapter 6 - WHAT FORGIVENESS DID NOT MEAN
Diane returned to the ballroom.
Not because she felt better.
Because Nathan was right.
Bianca and Nathan had not spent a year planning their wedding so two older families could turn it into another monument to old mistakes.
Diane sat quietly.
She did not dance.
She did not speak about Claire.
Preston stayed outside the reception.
He accepted the boundary.
Sophie fell asleep against Evelyn before the cake was cut.
Vincent carried her upstairs to a private hotel suite.
He removed her shoes.
Placed the silver swallow on the bedside table.
Then sat beside her longer than necessary.
Four years old.
She had been thrown onto a floor because adults wanted an object around her neck.
Vincent understood the ugliness of that.
He also understood something about himself.
When Preston lunged, Vincent had grabbed the oak menu board without thinking.
The man deserved to be stopped.
But Vincent had enjoyed the impact for half a second.
That bothered him.
He told Evelyn later.
She looked surprised.
“You’re apologizing for protecting Sophie?”
“No.”
“For what?”
“For liking the part where everyone saw him fall.”
Evelyn studied her father.
“That sounds more accurate.”
Vincent smiled faintly.
Then he asked about Claire again.
Evelyn remembered only fragments.
Anna never told her where Claire lived.
Never gave a phone number.
Never used the Hale name around Vincent.
That secrecy irritated him.
Evelyn saw it.
“You’re angry at Mom.”
“Yes.”
“She kept Claire’s promise.”
“I know.”
“Then what are you angry about?”
Vincent looked toward sleeping Sophie.
“That she decided I couldn’t handle the truth.”
Evelyn nodded.
“That’s fair.”
Not everything needed to become noble.
Anna had respected Claire.
She had also kept something huge from her husband.
Both could be true.
The next morning, Diane came to the suite.
She did not ask to see Sophie.
Good.
She asked for Vincent.
They sat in a quiet breakfast room.
Diane looked smaller without the wedding gown and jewelry.
She stared at her coffee.
“Claire called me once more.”
Vincent looked up.
“When?”
“After Anna died.”
Three years earlier.
Vincent stopped.
Diane continued.
Unknown number.
Claire’s voice.
Older.
Calm.
Diane nearly dropped the phone.
Claire said she heard Anna had died.
She was sorry.
Then she asked about Evelyn.
Diane said Evelyn had a daughter.
Claire became quiet.
“Sophie?”
Vincent asked.
“No. She didn’t know the name.”
“What else?”
Diane swallowed.
Claire asked whether Vincent had become gentler.
Diane laughed bitterly when she remembered.
“I said you were still Vincent.”
He almost smiled.
Then Claire said:
“That wasn’t the question.”
Diane looked at him.
Vincent leaned back.
Of course.
Claire had never cared whether he became less intimidating.
She cared whether he learned the difference between protecting people and controlling them.
Diane told Claire she should come home.
Claire answered:
“You still haven’t learned.”
Then hung up.
“That was three years ago?”
“Yes.”
“So she may still be alive.”
“Yes.”
Vincent stood.
Diane looked frightened.
“You’re going to find her.”
“No.”
Diane stared.
The old Vincent would have.
Cars.
Men.
Questions.
Someone would have found an address.
Vincent understood now that doing so would prove Claire right.
“I’m not sending anybody.”
Diane looked almost disappointed.
“Then what?”
“If she wants to see us, she knows where we are.”
Diane laughed sadly.
“Twenty-nine years and that’s your answer?”
“Yes.”
Vincent stood.
Then Anthony Russo entered the breakfast room.
He held the security tablet again.
Vincent frowned.
“What now?”
Anthony looked uncertain.
“I reviewed the ceremony cameras because of what happened.”
Diane became still.
Anthony placed the tablet on the table.
“There was a woman seated in the final row on the groom’s side.”
Vincent looked down.
The footage showed guests entering the ballroom chapel before the reception.
An older woman appeared near the back.
Silver-gray hair.
Simple dark dress.
No jewelry except a small green pendant.
Diane stopped breathing.
Vincent leaned closer.
The woman sat alone.
When Sophie walked down the aisle carrying flowers, the woman smiled.
Then covered her mouth.
Diane whispered:
“Claire.”
Vincent stared.
Claire Hale had not been somewhere far away.
She had been at the wedding.
Watching.
Anthony changed the camera angle.
After the ceremony, Claire walked toward the reception entrance.
She stopped near the doors.
She saw Diane reaching toward Sophie’s necklace.
She saw Preston grab the child.
May you like
Then she turned around.
And left.
