Chapter 12
Doreen lost access first.
No hospital suite.
No Vale residences.
No unsupervised contact with the twins.
Evan made the decision with me.
That mattered too.
She blamed me.
Of course.
“You’ve turned my son against his family.”
Evan answered before I could.
“She didn’t move my hand.”
Doreen stared.
“I watched you try to take my child.”
Her face hardened.
“You have two.”
Evan closed his eyes.
There.
Still.
Even after everything.
Arithmetic.
He looked at her.
“Stop saying that.”
Doreen laughed.
“You think because she is some secret queen now—”
“No.”
Evan’s voice sharpened.
“Stop because Miles is not half of a set you can redistribute.”
Silence.
Good.
My husband was finally saying the sentence before I did.
Doreen turned toward Callie.
“Tell him.”
Callie looked away.
Another change.
“Mom.”
“What?”
“I don’t want Miles.”
Doreen went still.
Callie cried.
“I wanted a baby.”
Pause.
“I let you convince me that meant his baby.”
She looked toward Evan.
“I’m sorry.”
Doreen stared at her daughter as though betrayal had changed sides.
Maybe in her world, it had.
Control creates loyalty by making disagreement feel like abandonment.
Callie stood.
“I’m closing the nursery.”
Her mother’s face broke.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You’ll regret it.”
“Maybe.”
Good.
Uncertainty accepted.
She left.
Doreen looked smaller.
Not harmless.
Just stripped of the daughter whose grief had justified her plan.
I looked at her.
“You can still be a grandmother someday.”
She laughed bitterly.
“You think I want your permission?”
“No.”
I held her gaze.
“I think you want access without rebuilding trust.”
Silence.
“That ends.”
She looked toward my ring.
I covered it with my hand.
“No.”
She frowned.
“This is not the reason.”
Then I pointed toward the bassinets.
“They are.”
May you like
For once, power stayed in the background.
Where it belonged.
