Elena’s face lost its color.
“That is a private family matter.”
“Yes,” Chloe replied. “It is. And we’re not asking anyone to judge our family. We’re simply done pretending that what happened never happened.”
She looked at her mother.
“Mom, would you open the box?”
Elena glanced around the room.
More than a hundred and fifty guests had gathered for the wedding. Some were relatives, some were friends, and some were colleagues who knew very little about our history.
She could have refused.
She could have walked away.
Instead, she laughed nervously.
“Honestly, Chloe, what kind of surprise is this?”
“Please open it.”
Elena looked toward Julian.
He frowned, but he said nothing.
With a theatrical sigh, Elena lifted the lid.
The first thing she saw was a stack of envelopes tied with faded ribbon.
Then she lifted a photograph.
It showed six little girls standing in front of a school building, their arms wrapped around one another. Chloe was holding the triplets’ hands. Stella was grinning at the camera, and Maya sat in my arms.
