Of course she did.
Sloane had always understood lighting.
She kissed the air near my cheek.
“I wasn’t sure you’d actually come.”
“You invited me.”
Her smile sharpened.
“I thought maybe this could be healing for you.”
“How thoughtful.”
Grant approached.
He was wearing a cream blazer and loafers without socks.
He had grown a little heavier since our divorce, though his confidence had expanded faster than his waistline.
“Rebecca.”
“Grant.”
His eyes dropped toward my gift.
“You didn’t need to bring anything.”
“I disagree.”
Sloane slipped her arm around his.
“We’ve already received so much,” she said. “Everyone is just thrilled that Grant
is finally getting what he’s always wanted.”
I looked directly at him.
“A biological son?”
Grant’s chest lifted.
“Exactly.”
I nearly smiled.
Across the room, I noticed Elliot.
He was standing beside the bar.
Alone.
Unlike Grant, Elliot had never enjoyed crowds.
When our eyes met, his drink stopped halfway to his mouth.
His face changed.
That was the moment I knew.
He knew about the baby.
Maybe not the test.
But he knew enough to be afraid.
I placed my gift on the table.
Then I waited.
For the next forty minutes, Sloane performed motherhood like she had rehearsed it.
She showed everyone ultrasound photographs.
She discussed nursery wallpaper.
She told three different people that “the Whitmore genes are apparently very strong.”
Grant’s father beamed.
His mother cried twice.
Grant accepted congratulations like he’d personally invented reproduction.
Elliot drank bourbon.
Fast.
Eventually, he disappeared through a side door.
I
followed him.
He was standing on the terrace overlooking the golf course when I stepped outside.
He didn’t turn around.
“You shouldn’t have come,” he said.
“I was invited.”
“Rebecca.”
Now he faced me.
He looked terrible.
“How much do you know?”
I folded my arms.
“You tell me.”
His jaw tightened.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then his shoulders dropped.
“Sloane told me Grant knew.”
There it was.
“About you sleeping together?”
He flinched.
“She said their relationship wasn’t physical anymore. She said Grant knew he couldn’t have children and that the family needed an heir.”
