Chapter 174
“It is!” Aaden screamed, refusing to release her. “It’s Mommy! I know her smell! She smells like vanilla and rain!”
The department store had gone quiet. Shoppers stared and whispered behind their hands.
Jocelyn felt a wave of protective panic rise in her chest. This was Justin Collins’s son. If the press saw this —
“We need to go,” she said urgently.
“He’s panic-stricken,” Carmen said, not looking up. She was stroking Aaden’s hair with a natural, instinctive rhythm, as though her hands knew exactly what to do. “If you force him away now, you’ll traumatize him.” She knelt on the polished floor, expensive suit and all.
“There’s a quiet café upstairs,” Carmen said. “Let’s get him a hot chocolate. Reset the environment.”
Jocelyn nodded, grateful. “Thank you. I’m so sorry.”
They moved to a secluded booth at the back of the café. Aaden sat pressed against Carmen’s side, one hand locked around her sleeve, his eyes tracing her face as if committing it to memory.
Carmen ordered him a hot chocolate with extra whipped cream.
“So, you’re the new CFO,” Jocelyn said, reaching for something ordinary to say, though her hands were still unsteady.
𝘋𝗶ѕ𝗰𝘰𝗏𝖾𝘳 𝗁id𝘥е𝗻 𝘨𝖾𝗆ѕ o𝘯 g𝖺𝗹𝘯𝗈𝘃е𝗹𝗌.𝖼𝗈𝗆
“And part-time child whisperer, apparently,” Carmen replied, managing a faint smile. She took a sip of water. She looked pale.
“Do you have kids?” Jocelyn asked.
Carmen’s face shadowed. The light behind her eyes dimmed. “No. I can’t.”
Aaden reached out and touched Carmen’s hand. “You have soft hands. Like Mommy used to.”
Carmen flinched as though she had been burned. A sharp, blinding pain lanced behind her right eye — a migraine so sudden and intense it made her vision swim. She brought her free hand to her temple and pressed hard against the throbbing, drawing a slow, careful breath.
“I need some water,” she murmured, doing her best to hide the distress in her voice.
Jocelyn noticed the color draining from Carmen’s face. She also noticed — and could not quite dismiss — the uncanny similarity in the shape of their hands, the curve of their knuckles. A cold knot formed quietly in her stomach. She pushed it down. It was impossible.
“We should go,” Jocelyn said. “Gaston is coming to pick him up. I texted him.”
“Gaston?” Carmen repeated, the name unfamiliar on her tongue.
“My husband. His uncle,” Jocelyn said.
Aaden’s lower lip pushed out into a pout. “I don’t want Uncle G. I want you.”
“I have to work on Monday, Aaden,” Carmen said gently. “But you can visit me at the office. Ms. Wolfe is my boss.”
Aaden’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Promise,” Carmen said, and held out her pinky finger.
Aaden hooked his small pinky around hers without hesitation. “Promise.”
Jocelyn’s eyes dropped to their joined hands — identical skin tone, identical shape to the nail beds — and a shiver moved quietly down her spine.
It’s impossible, she thought. Carmen said she has no kids.
Jocelyn checked her phone. “Gaston is outside.”
They walked to the mall entrance. The wind had picked up again, cold and insistent.
.