Chapter Seven
LOGAN
Evelyn looked furious.
And not in a loud way, but in that terrifying, silent way where you can feel the anger radiating off a person even when they’re perfectly still.
She didn’t say another word for the rest of the dinner. She spoke quietly to the girls, pointing at pictures on the menu and explaining the dishes—Anna, as usual, choosing for both of them. She forced a few thin smiles and gave short, polite nods whenever the Holloways addressed her directly.
The entire time, I was braced for it—for the moment she would snap and expose our entire charade. But, luckily for me, that moment never came.
The four of us walked back to the room in a heavy silence. The second the door clicked shut behind us, Evelyn finally exploded.
“What the hell was that? That was not our agreement.”
“I was put on the spot! What was I supposed to do?”
“Stick to the plan? Say, ‘No, we’re not together. She’s just here to give me the children and will be gone in two days’?”
“I couldn’t say that. You heard them. My situation, as is, isn’t sitting well with the board.”
“Screw the board!”
The moment the words left her mouth, Evelyn’s hands flew to cover it, her eyes darting from me to the girls, who were sitting on the bed, wide-eyed, watching our argument. For a moment, I’d forgotten they were even there.
Evelyn immediately went to them, crouching down beside the bed.
“Hey, do you two want to watch more of that cartoon?” she asked, her voice soft again as she gestured to the TV.
They both nodded. She turned it on, found the same show, and then came back to me, grabbing my hand and pulling me into the bathroom, shutting the door firmly.
“They already seem to like you,” I commented, hoping a little flattery might soften her.
“They don’t know me well enough to like me. But I’m the only one who’s paying them any attention. Unlike you, their actual father.”
“I haven’t had time to give them any attention! I haven’t even had time to process this whole thing myself.”
“You haven’t had time? And what about me, Dr. Turner?
You dragged me into this. My phone has been on silent all day because I can’t bear to look at the messages.
My friends, my acquaintances… my name is all over the media as the mother of Logan Turner’s secret twins!
We agreed I would do this for one weekend. ”
“It can’t be just a weekend anymore, Evelyn. I’ll need your help for longer. I’ll double your pay. Two million.”
“Can’t you understand it’s not about the money? It’s about the very public lies attached to my name. And it’s about those two little girls out there!”
What nonsense. Everything in life, in the end, came down to money. She talked as if two million dollars was nothing…
“I already told you, the girls like you. They’ll be happy to have you around longer on our trip to New York.”
“I am not going to New York with you.”
“Please, Evelyn… I need your help. It will only be for a few days…”
“A few days?”
“Maybe a few weeks, or… How about two months?”
“I can’t go to New York. I have a steady job.”
“Quit. I’m offering you a life-changing amount of money.”
“For God’s sake, I told you it’s not about the money! I work for Camila’s grandmother; I can’t just abandon her.”
“I’ll hire her a replacement. I’ll even pay the new person’s salary for the duration of our agreement. Please, Evelyn… This position is my dream. Have you ever had a big dream?”
She let out a sound of pure frustration and started pacing the limited floor space of the large bathroom.
“You know the worst part?” she said, whirling around to face me. “You’re not even giving me a choice. My picture is already all over the internet. People are already speculating that we’re a couple, that I’m their mother.”
“We can fix all of that. My lawyer will draft a perfect plan. We’ll pretend we’re together until my position is secure, and then we’ll stage a coherent, amicable breakup. Everything will go back to normal.”
“So, I get to be the mother who abandoned her daughters and walked away?”
“No. Well… we’ll figure that part out. And there’s Eleanor; I have a detective looking for her. We’ll make a public statement to explain everything, and by then I’ll be settled in my new role, doing great work, and—”
“It’s all about public perception, your job, your money… You can’t fix a human mess with a PR strategy.”
“Yes, I can. I promise you, I can. And like you said… we’re both out of alternatives. I’m sorry.”
“You know what?” she said, her voice trembling with fury. “I thought this would be a great opportunity. I thought it would be cool to work for my best friend’s brother-in-law. But my God… if regret could kill.”
“Does that mean you’ll help me?”
“No, it does not. Have your PR team figure out how to clean this up.” With that, she grabbed the door handle and yanked it open.
“Evelyn, wait… I’ll triple the offer. Three million.”
“And I’m not telling you where to put those three million out of respect for the children in the next room.”
She left, and I was left completely adrift. I dragged my hands over my head, desperate for a solution. What else could I do? I’d tripled the money, and she’d refused… which meant throwing more cash at the problem was useless.
But everyone had a price. Whether it was money, power, or achievement—like my dream job, since money was something I’d never lacked and probably never would.
But this woman… she was an unemployed teacher, a bookstore clerk doing weekend gigs. There was no way three million dollars shouldn’t have swayed her.
I stood there for another minute, utterly perplexed, before finally stepping out of the bathroom.
The scene in the room made me stop dead.
Evelyn was by the door, but her path was blocked. Aurora was clinging to her legs, and Anna was crying, her small face crumpled as she looked at me.
“You promised we could sleep in her room!” Anna wailed.
That wasn’t exactly the promise—I remembered Evelyn saying, “We’ll think about it later.” But that wasn’t how they’d heard it.
The crying girl stormed over to me. “She’s leaving! You can’t let her leave!” she practically screamed, her tiny body shaking with fury.
“Listen, Aurora—”
“I’m Anna!” she shrieked, cutting me off. “You don’t even know who’s who! Mom always knew. Evelyn knows too. You can’t let her go, you… you… you silly!” She’d called me that again, just like she had when she first arrived.
I opened my mouth to retort—to tell her she couldn’t speak to me that way—but before I could get a word out, Evelyn spoke.
“Hey, Anna… come here.”
The girl obeyed. Evelyn gently pried Aurora off her legs and knelt before them. She spoke slowly, her eyes locked on theirs.
“You need to be brave. He’s your father, and everything will be okay.”
Aurora shook her head in distress. Anna retorted, her voice breaking, “He’s not our father! We don’t even know him! He doesn’t talk to us. He let Rory get lost, he can’t tell us apart, and he’s… he’s letting you leave! Please, Evelyn… Our mommy left us… Don’t you do it too. Please… don’t go.”
That plea hit me with a force I couldn’t explain. A sharp, unexpected pang of sadness struck me right in the chest.
For the first time, I truly understood the depth of their devastation. They were grieving their mother’s abandonment.
And maybe Evelyn was right. Maybe Anna was, too.
I hadn’t been giving them what they needed.
And for the first time since discovering I was a father, I felt a feeling entirely related to that fact: I felt like complete shit.
Aurora threw her arms around Evelyn again, who held her close, visibly fighting back her own tears. This was hurting her, too.
Still holding Aurora, she looked at Anna. “You can’t sleep in my room. You have to stay here with your father. But… we’ll see each other tomorrow, okay?”
“So…” Anna sobbed. “You’re not leaving?”
Evelyn gave her a soft, genuine smile. “No, sweetheart. I’m not leaving. I will have to someday, but… not today, and not for a while. Deal?”
Anna let out a joyful scream and started jumping around the room. Looking confused but hopeful, Aurora broke the hug and took a step back to search Evelyn’s face.
Then came my surprise.
Evelyn repeated herself, as if Aurora hadn’t been standing right there. And she did it very slowly, making deliberate gestures with her hands as she spoke.
“I… am… not… going… away.”
A huge, radiant smile broke out on Aurora’s face. She, too, began to jump, and the two of them climbed onto the bed, holding hands and bouncing on the mattress.
Evelyn stood and turned toward me, wiping a tear from her cheek as I approached.
“Thank you,” I said. “I promise, you will be very well compensated for this.”
She shook her head. “It’s not for you, and it’s not for the money. But you were right about one thing. In just one day, these girls have gotten attached. I can’t abandon them now, when they’re so lost.”
“Still… thank you.”
“I’ll meet you all tomorrow at nine in the lobby?”
"No. The girls and I will come to your room at eight to pick you up. It's better if we're seen arriving together. We can have breakfast before the conference starts."
She nodded and turned to leave, but I stopped her.
"Wait. Before you go… what was that?"
"What was what?"
"The gestures. With your hands, when you spoke to Aurora."
She let out a short, incredulous breath and closed her eyes, shaking her head as if I'd just asked the most obvious question in the world.
"You really haven't figured it out? You've been with them for over a day. You found out you're their father… and you didn't notice?"
"Notice what?"
"Maybe you should look in their documents. There might be a clue. They're five, Logan, but you're a grown man. You're their father. You don't need a babysitter to explain everything. If you're so brilliant at medical research… try researching your own daughters for a change."
With that final, cutting remark, she turned and left.
As the girls continued to jump on the bed—their tears from moments before completely forgotten—I went to their suitcase in the corner of the room. Inside, I found the folder of documents.
Birth certificates. Vaccination records. Medical reports…
I stopped at one for Aurora. The title at the top of the page made my breath catch.
HEARING TEST
The answer was right there, staring me in the face.
My eyes lifted from the document to the girls. How could I have been so blind?
Aurora hadn't uttered a single word since she arrived. Every time I'd tried to speak to her, I was met with silence. Evelyn always addressed her slowly, deliberately... and Aurora watched her face so intently.
She was watching Evelyn's lips.
How could I not have seen it? How could I, a doctor, have missed the signs?
The girl was deaf, or profoundly hard of hearing.
And for the second time in just over twenty-four hours, the crushing realization hit me: I was failing spectacularly as a father.