The Girl Who Called Him Daddy

Chapter 2 - The Woman Who Vanished

Rachel grabbed Ella's hand the moment she reached them.

“We're leaving.”

James stepped forward.

“No.”

Rachel stopped.

“You disappeared.”

Her expression hardened.

“I didn't.”

James almost laughed.

“You left a note.”

“What note?”

“The one saying you couldn't marry me.”

Rachel stared at him.

“I never wrote that.”

“You emptied your apartment.”

“Your mother had me removed.”

James went still.

“My mother?”

Rachel looked toward Sophie.

Then back at him.

“Not in front of the girls.”

James wanted answers immediately.

But Sophie and Ella were staring at each other again.

Ella whispered:

“Are we sisters?”

Rachel closed her eyes.

James felt his chest tighten.

“Rachel.”

“Not here.”

They went into a nearby café.

The girls sat at another table with pastries while James and Rachel faced each other.

Rachel placed the old photograph between them.

“I found out I was pregnant three weeks before our wedding.”

James stared at her.

“You never told me.”

“I tried.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

She swallowed.

“I went to your house.”

James remembered that day.

His mother, Margaret, told him Rachel had returned his engagement ring and refused to see him.

Rachel told a different story.

Margaret met her outside.

She already knew about the pregnancy.

She told Rachel that James had discovered she was pregnant and wanted nothing to do with the baby.

“She gave me money.”

James's face changed.

“What?”

“Fifty thousand dollars.”

“I never authorized that.”

“I didn't take it.”

Rachel reached into her bag and produced an old envelope.

Inside was a check.

Signed with James's name.

He stared at the signature.

It looked like his.

Almost.

But it wasn't.

Rachel continued.

“Your mother told me if I came back, she'd make sure you got custody and I'd never see the baby.”

James stood abruptly.

“My mother would never—”

Rachel cut him off.

“She already did.”

Silence.

James looked toward Sophie.

His daughter.

His legitimate heir, according to every document his family recognized.

Then toward Ella.

Another little girl with exactly the same face.

Rachel spoke quietly.

“Ella was born four minutes before Sophie.”

James turned.

“What did you just say?”

Rachel's eyes filled.

“Your daughters are twins.”