Chapter 9 - What James Chose Before He Forgot
Rebecca survived.
Thomas did too.
One would spend years in federal court.
The other would testify against him.
But James cared about only one mystery.
Why had he entrusted his unborn daughter to Rebecca?
The answer arrived through a video hidden in the final section of Evelyn's files.
James watched it with Evelyn beside him.
His younger self appeared on-screen.
“I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.”
Evelyn covered her mouth.
James continued in the recording.
“Richard knows I'm investigating him. My father may know too. Victor is loyal, but loyalty makes him visible.”
Then younger James said:
“Rebecca is complicated. She loves me. I don't return that love. But there's one thing I know about Rebecca Hartwell—she would die before she allowed someone to hurt my child.”
Present-day James looked at Evelyn.
“You agreed?”
She nodded.
“I hated it.”
Despite everything, James laughed.
“So did I, apparently.”
“You said trusting people you disliked was sometimes safer than trusting people who wanted something from you.”
The recording continued.
“If anything happens to me, Rebecca gets Luna out.”
James paused the video.
“She did.”
Evelyn nodded.
“The first time.”
That changed something.
It didn't erase Rebecca's crimes.
It didn't excuse the lies, manipulation or stolen years.
But human beings weren't ledgers.
Good and evil didn't always balance cleanly.
Three weeks later, Rebecca accepted a plea agreement.
Before federal agents transferred her, she asked to see Luna.
James refused.
Then Luna overheard.
“I want to.”
James looked at her.
“You don't have to.”
“I know.”
Rebecca sat behind reinforced glass.
Luna picked up the phone.
Rebecca did the same.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
For several seconds neither spoke.
Then Luna asked, “Did you hate my mommy?”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Do you still?”
“No.”
“Did you hate me?”
Rebecca's face broke.
“Never.”
Luna thought about that.
“My daddy says you did bad things.”
“I did.”
“But you saved him.”
Rebecca glanced toward James.
“Once.”
Luna pressed her tiny hand against the glass.
Rebecca stared at it.
Then placed her own hand opposite it.
Luna whispered, “Thank you for the once.”
Rebecca began crying.
James turned away.
Outside, Evelyn waited.
“How was it?”
“Hard.”
“Most important things are.”
James looked at her.
“Come home.”
Evelyn's expression changed.
“I am home.”
“I mean with me.”
Silence.
James realized how it sounded.
“I don't mean because we were married.”
“Were?”
“Are.”
A faint smile.
“I checked. Victor restored the records. Apparently you're still stuck with me.”
She laughed.
James hadn't realized how desperately he had wanted to hear that sound.
But Evelyn became serious.
“You don't remember loving me.”
“No.”
“And I don't know the man you've become.”
“I know.”
“We can't pretend five years didn't happen.”
“I don't want to.”
James stepped closer.
“I want to meet you again.”
Her eyes filled.
“James…”
“First date.”
“We already had one.”
“I forgot it.”
“That sounds like your problem.”
He smiled.
“Then let me have another.”
Evelyn studied him.
“Coffee.”
“Dinner.”
“Coffee.”
“Lunch.”
“Coffee.”
“You negotiate terribly.”
“You married me.”
“Exactly. Evidence of poor judgment.”
James laughed.
From behind them Luna groaned dramatically.
“Are you getting married again or not?”
They both turned.
Hannah stood nearby trying not to laugh.
Evelyn crouched.
“It's complicated.”
Luna frowned.
“You love Daddy.”
Evelyn glanced at James.
“That's complicated too.”
Luna looked at him.
“You love Mommy.”
James hesitated.
Not because the answer was no.
Because he wanted it to be true for the right reason.
“I think I'm learning how again.”
Luna considered that acceptable.
“Okay.”
That night, James stood on the estate balcony.
The moon hung above Chicago.
Evelyn joined him.
“Do you remember why Luna has her name?”
James looked upward.
A memory came gently this time.
No pain.
Evelyn lying beside him beneath a summer sky.
James touching her stomach.
“If it's a girl?”
“Luna.”
“Why?”
“Because no matter how dark it gets, we'll always have something bright enough to find each other.”
James's breath caught.
Evelyn noticed.
“You remembered.”
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
“What?”
James stepped closer.
“The night we named her.”
Evelyn began crying.
He touched her cheek.
“And something else.”
“What?”
“Our first kiss.”
She smiled through tears.
“You were terrible.”
“I remember differently.”
“You would.”
James leaned toward her.
Then stopped.
“May I?”
Five years earlier, he might simply have kissed his wife.
This time, he asked.
Evelyn nodded.
Their kiss was quiet.
No fireworks.
No dramatic declarations.
Just two people standing beneath the same moon after surviving years apart.
Inside, Luna watched through the glass doors.
She smiled.
Then Victor's phone rang.
His expression changed.
James saw it immediately.
“What?”
Victor approached.
“We received the final audit of Thomas's accounts.”
“And?”
“There is a trust.”
James frowned.
“In Luna's name?”
“No.”
Victor handed him the document.
James read the beneficiary.
Then looked at Evelyn.
She went pale.
May you like
Because the name on the trust belonged to a second child.
A child neither of them knew existed.
