Chapter 2
My mother’s face went white.
For one terrible second, the ballroom seemed to disappear.
The music was still playing.
People were still holding champagne glasses.
Waiters were still carrying trays.
But nobody near us moved.
Mom looked at the tall man as if she had seen a ghost.
“Daniel.”
He swallowed hard.
“You didn’t answer me.”
Mom rushed toward me instead.
She dropped to her knees and wrapped both arms around me.
“Sophie, look at me. Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay.”
Her hands moved over my shoulders and face.
Then she saw the red marks where the woman had grabbed my arm.
Mom’s expression changed.
She slowly stood.
“What did you do to my daughter?”
The woman folded her arms.
“Oh, please. Your daughter destroyed my shoes.”
“She’s eight.”
“And old enough to know better.”
Mom stepped forward.
Daniel moved between them before she could get closer.
The woman looked at him in disbelief.
“Daniel, why are you defending them?”
Mom froze again.
“You know her?”
The woman’s expression suddenly became smug.
“Of course he knows me.”
She slipped one hand around Daniel’s arm.
“I’m Victoria Hale.”
The name meant nothing to me.
But it clearly meant something to my mother.
Her eyes moved from Victoria’s hand to Daniel’s face.
Victoria smiled.
“His fiancée.”
The word hit the air like broken glass.
Daniel immediately pulled his arm away.
“Victoria, stop.”
Mom gave a strange little laugh.
Not because anything was funny.
It was the kind of laugh people made when they were trying very hard not to cry.
“Of course.”
“Emily—”
“Don’t.”
Daniel stopped.
Mom took my hand.
“We’re leaving.”
One of the hotel managers stepped forward.
“Ms. Carter, please wait.”
Mom looked at him.
“My daughter was humiliated in front of half this room, and nobody stopped it until he came over. I’m not staying another second.”
The manager lowered his head.
“You’re right.”
Victoria scoffed.
“This is ridiculous.”
Daniel turned toward her.
“No. What you did was ridiculous.”
Her mouth opened.
He continued.
“I watched you shove a child onto the floor.”
“She spilled juice on me!”
“It was an accident.”
“You don’t understand. These shoes—”
“I don’t care about your shoes.”
The ballroom fell completely silent.
Victoria stared at him.
Daniel’s voice became colder.
“I care that you thought the price of something you were wearing gave you the right to humiliate a child.”
Her cheeks turned red.
“You’re embarrassing me.”
“You embarrassed yourself.”
Mom squeezed my hand.
“Come on, Sophie.”
We started walking.
Daniel followed.
“Emily, please.”
Mom stopped but didn’t turn around.
“I need five minutes.”
“You’ve had eight years.”
His face tightened.
“I didn’t know.”
“You weren’t supposed to.”
That made me look up at her.
I had heard adults talk around secrets before.
But this secret felt different.
It felt like it had my name inside it.
Daniel stepped closer.
“You told me there was no baby.”
Mom finally faced him.
“I told you what I had to tell you.”
“Why?”
“Not here.”
“Emily, I just found out I have a daughter.”
“And Sophie just got pushed to the floor by your fiancée.”
Victoria’s voice came sharply from behind us.
“Excuse me?”
Mom ignored her.
Daniel looked at me.
His eyes seemed wet now.
I moved a little closer to Mom.
He noticed.
That hurt him.
I could see it.
But I didn’t know him.
To me he was only the stranger who had stopped Victoria.
A stranger who had suddenly asked if he was my father.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Sophie, I’m sorry.”
I didn’t answer.
Mom stepped protectively in front of me.
“Don’t do this.”
“I’m not trying to scare her.”
“You’re already changing her life.”
Victoria marched toward us.
“This has gone far enough.”
Daniel turned.
“Go home.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“Go home, Victoria.”
“You’re choosing some caterer and her child over me?”
Mom stiffened.
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“Her name is Emily.”
Victoria laughed.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Emily. The woman who apparently hid your child from you for eight years.”
Several guests gasped quietly.
Mom’s face burned.
Daniel pointed toward the ballroom doors.
“Leave.”
“You cannot be serious.”
“I am.”
Victoria stared at him for several seconds.
Then she looked at me.
There was something ugly in her eyes.
Not anger anymore.
Hatred.
“This little performance isn’t going to change anything.”
Daniel stepped between us immediately.
“Do not speak to her again.”
Victoria smiled coldly.
“We’ll see.”
Then she walked away.
Her heels clicked against the marble floor.
Everyone watched her leave.
The moment she disappeared through the doors, Mom pulled me toward the employee hallway.
Daniel followed again.
“Emily.”
“Stop following us.”
“Tell me where you live.”
“No.”
“Then give me your number.”
“No.”
“I deserve an explanation.”
Mom spun around.
“And Sophie deserves one normal night.”
Daniel stared at her.
“She deserves a father.”
Mom’s eyes filled.
“You don’t get to decide what she deserves after eight years.”
“I didn’t know!”
“I know!”
Her voice cracked.
People nearby turned.
Mom lowered it again.
“I know you didn’t know.”
Daniel seemed confused.
“Then why are you treating me like I abandoned her?”
“Because you don’t understand what happened.”
“Then tell me.”
Mom closed her eyes.
For a moment, I thought she might.
Instead she shook her head.
“I can’t.”
Daniel reached into his jacket.
Mom immediately pulled me behind her.
He stopped.
“I’m getting a card.”
He took out a business card and held it toward her.
She didn’t take it.
He placed it on a small table beside us.
“My private number is on the back.”
Mom stared at the card.
“I won’t force you to talk tonight.”
“Good.”
“But I’m not disappearing again.”
Mom looked at him sharply.
“You may not have a choice.”
Then she led me away.
We changed in the employee locker room.
Mom’s hands shook while she stuffed her uniform into a canvas bag.
I sat on the bench.
The questions were building inside me until I couldn’t hold them anymore.
“Mom?”
She stopped.
“Yeah, baby?”
“Is that man my dad?”
She closed her eyes.
I had asked about my father before.
Mom always said he lived far away.
She said things had been complicated.
She said she would tell me more when I was older.
But she had never said he was dead.
Never said he didn’t want me.
Just complicated.
“Mom?”
She sat beside me.
“Yes.”
My stomach felt strange.
“So he’s really my dad?”
“Yes.”
“Does he know my birthday?”
Her face crumpled.
“No.”
“Does he know my favorite color?”
“No.”
“Does he know I hate peas?”
A tear slipped down her cheek.
“No.”
I looked at the floor.
“Then he’s not really my dad.”
Mom pulled me against her.
“I’m sorry.”
I felt her crying into my hair.
For the first time that night, I cried too.
Not because of Victoria.
Not because of the shoes.
Because suddenly I had a father.
And somehow that hurt more than not having one.
We left through the employee entrance.
Rain had started falling.
Mom opened her umbrella.
A black SUV waited across the street.
Daniel stood beside it.
He wasn’t coming toward us.
He simply watched.
Mom saw him.
Her hand tightened around mine.
Then another man stepped from the hotel doorway behind us.
“Emily Carter?”
Mom turned.
He wore a gray suit.
“Yes?”
He handed her an envelope.
“You’ve been served.”
She stared at it.
“What?”
The man walked away.
Daniel crossed the street.
“What happened?”
Mom tore open the envelope.
Her face drained of color.
Daniel took one step closer.
“What is it?”
Mom looked up at him.
“This is from your mother.”
Daniel went still.
May you like
My mother’s voice barely came out.
“She found us.”
