Chapter 11 - The Name on the Birth Certificate
Patrick Donahue was not Fay's biological father.
Kathleen admitted it the next morning.
Patrick knew.
He had always known.
He had loved Fay anyway.
“Then who?”
Kathleen cried.
Fay didn't.
Not yet.
“Who is my father?”
“Adrian Harwick.”
Conrad stood up.
“No.”
Kathleen closed her eyes.
“It happened before I married Patrick.”
Fay felt the room tilt.
Adrian.
Victor's brother.
That made Fay Conrad's cousin.
The realization struck both of them.
Kathleen immediately shook her head.
“No. Not by blood.”
Conrad stared.
“What?”
“Victor and Adrian weren't biological Harwicks.”
Another secret.
Victor and Adrian had been adopted by Conrad's grandfather.
Conrad's father by blood was a different man entirely.
The family tree that had controlled everyone's choices was partly fiction.
Fay sat down.
“I need everyone to stop discovering relatives.”
Under other circumstances, Conrad might have laughed.
Instead he knelt before her.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She blinked.
He clarified.
“You don't have to pretend.”
That nearly broke her.
The scandal expanded.
Adrian's paternity was confirmed.
He requested to see Fay from custody.
She almost refused.
Then went.
Adrian looked smaller without expensive suits and armed men.
“You have my eyes,” he said.
Fay remained standing.
“I have my mother's eyes.”
He smiled sadly.
“Of course.”
“Why didn't you ever claim me?”
“Because you were leverage.”
The bluntness stunned her.
“If Victor knew—”
“He knew.”
Adrian looked down.
“He threatened you whenever I challenged him.”
“So you protected me by pretending I didn't exist?”
“Yes.”
Fay laughed bitterly.
“Apparently that's a family tradition.”
Adrian flinched.
She left without forgiving him.
Outside, Conrad waited.
“You didn't have to come.”
“I know.”
They walked toward the car.
Fay stopped.
“Conrad.”
“Yes?”
“Do you love me?”
He froze.
She almost regretted asking.
Then he said, “Yes.”
No hesitation.
No speech.
Just yes.
Fay's eyes filled.
“How long?”
“I don't know.”
“That's terrible.”
“I know.”
“Try harder.”
He thought.
“The soup.”
“What?”
“When my mother got pneumonia.”
Fay stared.
“You fell in love with me because I made soup?”
“You bullied three armed men out of her kitchen because they were blocking the stove.”
“They were.”
“You called my lieutenant ‘sweetheart’ and handed him a trash bag.”
“He was standing there.”
Conrad's mouth moved.
A real smile.
“I think that was when.”
Fay began laughing.
Then crying.
He touched her face.
“Do you love me?”
She looked at him.
“Yes.”
His eyes closed briefly.
“That's inconvenient.”
“Extremely.”
He kissed her.
Not like a bargain.
Not like an alliance.
Like a man who had nearly lost the only thing he had never known how to ask for.
The next month changed everything.
Victor remained jailed.
Adrian cooperated.
Vivienne testified.
Kathleen began the slow, painful work of rebuilding a relationship with Fay.
Conrad dissolved the last illegal branches of the Harwick organization.
Some men left.
Others stayed.
His legitimate companies survived.
Then came the Harwick Foundation gala.
Fay considered skipping it.
Conrad didn't pressure her.
Rosa had rebuilt her shop with insurance money and a grant Fay secretly arranged.
She made Fay another gown.
Red.
The same color as the dress Fay had once been ashamed to wear.
But this one was made for her.
Every curve.
Every inch.
Fay stared at herself.
Conrad entered.
He stopped.
She looked nervous.
“Well?”
He approached.
“You're beautiful.”
“Because of the dress?”
“No.”
“Careful.”
“I'm learning.”
She smiled.
At the gala, cameras flashed.
Fay didn't hide.
Conrad kept one hand at the small of her back.
Then a reporter shouted a question.
“Mrs. Harwick, are you embarrassed by the scandals surrounding your family?”
Fay turned.
“No.”
Conrad looked at her.
She continued.
“I'm embarrassed by secrets. Not survival.”
The room went silent.
Then applause started.
Later, a waiter brought Fay an envelope.
Her smile disappeared.
Conrad saw it.
“Again?”
She opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
A young Kathleen.
Adrian.
And a baby.
On the back was a date.
Fay's birth date.
Underneath, someone had written:
THERE WERE TWO BABIES.
Fay looked at Conrad.
Then her phone rang.
May you like
The caller said only three words.
“Hello, twin sister.”
