Chapter 95
Noah.
The drive home is filled with chatter, but none of it reaches me. The twins are in their own happy bubble, while I’m stuck replaying the image of them with Sierra.
It’s unnerving how natural they looked in her arms, how at home they seemed in her house. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear they were her kids, not Chloe’s. 2
How the hell does Sierra do that? How does she manage to draw people in so easily? Nova and Nolan never warm up to strangers, yet after one meeting, they were eager to see her again. Eager enough to go behind my back to do it.
It’s like she has this invisible pull, this effortless charm that wraps people around her little finger. Everyone falls for it. My family, my aunts, uncles, and cousins. Every damn one of them.
Is it just me? Just Chloe and Brook, who see her for who she really is? 1
Have you ever considered that maybe you three are the problem?
That small voice whispers. I shut it down before it can take root.
No. That’s not possible. There’s no way I’m wrong about her. Not after all the years I’ve spent hating her. Not after everything she’s done.
When we get home, I sit the twins down.
Nova slumps in her seat, shoulders curved inward, small hands tucked between her knees. She looks guilty, like she already knows she’s in trouble. Nolan, on the other hand, sits upright. Chin lifted, back straight, as if he owns the whole damn place.
“You know what you did was wrong?” I ask, my hands planted firmly on my hips.
Two pairs of grey eyes stare back at me, wide and unblinking.
“Not only did you go to Sierra’s without my permission,” I continue, “but you also tricked your aunt into giving you her address p>
“But Daddy…” Nova’s voice is small, her lashes fluttering as she gives me those big, round eyes that remind me too much of her mother’s. I have to close mine just so I don’t fall under her spell. 2
“Not now, Nova,” I grit out, trying to keep my tone even. “Do you have any idea how risky that was? I didn’t raise you to be disobedient p>
“But we just wanted to see Aunt Sierra,” Nolan argues, his voice defiant. “What’s wrong with that? You let us go to Grandpa and Grandma’s after school, so why can’t we go to Aunt Sierra’s p>
Fuck. How am I supposed to answer that? Tell them Sierra is a two–faced liar? Tell them she hurt their mother so deeply she used to cry herself to sleep? How do I explain that kind of pain to two kids who still believe everyone in the world is good? 1
“And she’s so nice,” Nova adds, her lips curving into a dreamy little smile. “She even helped me understand, Daddy p>
My brows knit together. “Understand what exactly p>
“I now know why you don’t like talking about Mommy,” Nova says softly, and there’s a weight in her small voice that makes my gut drop.
Her eyes filled with a kind of sadness I shouldn’t be seeing on a five–year–old. For a stupid second, I laugh at myself. I’m ashamed that I never noticed how the silence around her name felt to them.
“What exactly did she say?” I demand. I need to know how much ground I’m going to have to reclaim.
Heat flares in me. If Sierra said anything bad about Chloe to the kids, I swear I’ll skin her alive. How dare she use Chloe’s name around them? What lies did she feed them?
Nova bites her lip and looks down. “She said Mommy was the love of your life. She said losing her hurt you a lot, and that’s why you don’t like to talk about her p>
The air leaves me. My breath catches, and the familiar tightness takes my chest hostage. For a beat I can’t find sound. The world tilts, not because of guilt but because It’s the truth.
“W–what?” comes out wrong and ragged.
It’s the only thing I can manage. Of course, losing her hollowed something out of me I didn’t want to name. But I learned to hide the fissures. To keep the grief locked so people wouldn’t step in and make a spectacle of it.
“Yeah. You loved Mommy so much that it hurt when she went to heaven. So, I understand why you don’t like talking about her. You just miss her a lot,” Nova says gently.
Of all the things I expected, that wasn’t one of them. I thought Sierra would twist the truth somehow and poison them against Chloe’s memory. That’s the Sierra I’ve always known. So what the hell is this? 1
“I want you to listen to me,” I say, pushing down the feelings bubbling up to the surface. “It’s okay to talk about Mommy. You can ask me anything p>
I didn’t trust this good version of Sierra, and I didn’t want her influencing my kids.