Chapter 5
The sidewalk seemed to narrow around them.
People continued past, glancing once, then twice, then away.
Philadelphia spring moved around the frozen little circle.
A stroller.
A sealed envelope.
A groom days from his wedding.
A fiancée in blush satin losing control of her face.
And Rachel, gripping the handle like it was the only thing keeping her upright.
Evan held the envelope out slightly.
“Have you seen this before?”
Noelle laughed softly.
Too soft.
“Of course not.”
Rachel watched Evan’s expression.
He had always hated unnecessary words.
Of course not was unnecessary.
Noelle knew him well enough to know that.
Her mistake proved fear had moved faster than strategy.
Evan asked, “Then why are you scared?”
Noelle’s eyes flashed.
“I am not scared. I’m furious.”
“Because Rachel is here?”
“Because you’re entertaining this.”
“This?”
He looked at the stroller.
Noelle followed his gaze and corrected too late.
“I didn’t mean the children.”
Rachel’s voice went quiet.
“Yes, you did.”
Noelle turned on her.
“You don’t know me.”
“No,” Rachel said. “But I know women who look at children like obstacles.”
The words struck hard.
Noelle’s face flushed.
Evan stepped closer to Rachel, not enough to crowd her, enough to mark where he stood.
“Rachel, what happened after the letter?”
Her grip tightened.
“I left.”
“Where?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“I’m not asking to control you.”
“You don’t know what your family did with information.”
He absorbed that.
His jaw flexed.
“What did they do?”
Rachel looked at the envelope.
Then at Noelle.
Then at the babies.
“Enough that I learned not to repeat addresses out loud.”
Evan’s face changed.
Wounded determination replacing shock.
Noelle said quickly, “This is absurd. If she had wanted you, she would have found a way.”
Rachel laughed once.
It sounded like breaking glass.
“I was pregnant, alone, and told by Mercer lawyers that any attempt to contact Evan would be treated as harassment.”
Evan turned toward Noelle.
She looked away again.
This time, she could not hide it.
He slipped the sealed envelope into the legal folder Rachel had been carrying half inside the diaper bag.
Not opening it.
Preserving it.
Rachel stared.
“What are you doing?”
May you like
“Making sure nobody else decides what it says before we know who sent it.”
Read Chapter 6 👉 Because Evan did not open the letter, but protecting it was the first thing he had done for Rachel in four years.
