The Woman He Chose

Audrey held the necklace by its chain.

"You bought my work?"

"I did."

"Why?"

"I liked it."

"You buy entire buildings because you like them?"

"Occasionally."

She tried not to smile.

He noticed the effort, but didn't press his advantage.

"The sketch stayed in my office," he said. "I had this made for our anniversary. It arrived a day late."

The anniversary. The night she'd put a divorce agreement on his bedside table.

"Why didn't you give it to me then?"

"I wasn't sure you wanted anything from me."

She looked at the little sun.

"You weren't exactly making it easy to ask."

"No."

She stood and moved her hair away from her neck.

"Will you help?"

Julian rose immediately.

His fingers brushed her neck as he fastened the chain. The contact lasted only a second, but she felt the care in it.

In the dark window, their reflection stood together: his tall figure behind her, her hand over the pendant.

"It suits you," he said.

"I designed it."

"That may have helped."

She laughed softly, then grew quiet when his hands settled at her waist.

"I haven't forgotten," she said.

"I know."

"The apartment. The silence."

"I know."

He wasn't trying to argue her into forgiving him. That allowed her to turn toward him without feeling she'd surrendered the whole dispute.

"I missed you," she said.

Julian's expression changed so completely she regretted all the years she'd assumed he felt nothing.

"I missed you, too."

"You don't get to say that when you could have called."

"You're right."

She touched his open collar, straightening something that didn't need straightening.

"You're very agreeable tonight. It's suspicious."

His hand covered hers.

"Don't get used to it."

She kissed him before he could smile properly.

It was a small kiss at first. An acknowledgment. Then his hand moved to the back of her head, not drawing her in so much as holding the moment still.

Audrey stepped closer.

When they separated, neither had an elegant thing to say.

"I'm still sleeping in the guest room," she told him.

"All right."

"But you can walk me there."

Julian did. At the doorway, he kissed her goodnight and left her to decide what the next night would be.

He went to his office afterward, where the new DNA report lay beside the older one.

Two documents. The same answer. A truth Audrey could not reach without reaching another one first.

Years earlier, Ryan had brought her to a reception while seeking Julian's support for a project. Julian had watched her listen to a jeweler, her face bright with questions, unaware of the conversation happening behind her.

Ryan had noticed his interest. He had understood it as leverage.

Later came the hotel room.

Audrey had been impaired and expecting Ryan. Ryan had accepted a professional advantage and allowed Julian to enter instead.

She hadn't known whom she was with.

Julian had known.

No tenderness afterward could change that fact. He had built a marriage around its consequences and let her believe she was accepting help from a stranger.

Ryan hated him for the bargain he'd participated in. Julian had threatened him when he tried to return, then watched him flee after an accident Julian hadn't arranged.

The pregnancy had made the lie permanent.

The little girl had made it impossible to imagine confessing without destroying everything he loved.

Julian closed the drawer.

Upstairs, Audrey slept with the necklace on the table beside her, believing she'd learned where his affection began.

Over the following week, she began allowing him closer in ordinary ways.

She called him when a design worked. She asked him to read Poppy's story while she finished a client sketch. She told him when she was angry rather than letting politeness bury it.

He took her and Poppy to visit Edward Lane.

Her father looked frail in the visiting room. Audrey held his hands across the table and listened while Poppy described preschool with extravagant seriousness.

Julian remained beside them, quiet until Edward addressed him.

"Look after my girl."

"I will."

Audrey looked at Julian's hand resting near hers and placed her fingers over it.

On the way home, she cried. Julian stopped the car somewhere private and let her stay against his shoulder without offering solutions he couldn't deliver that afternoon.

"I want him home," she whispered.

"I know."

"I want him to see me doing well. Not just hear me promise it."

Julian kissed her hair.

"He will."

The benefit gala came at the end of that week.

Audrey chose a black silk dress and the sun necklace. Poppy declared her a princess. Julian said nothing for several seconds, which was more flattering than a rehearsed compliment.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"No."

"Then stop looking at me like that."

"I married you. I'm allowed."

She came down the last step and adjusted his tie.

"Allowed is a strong word."

His hand settled over hers.

"Will you permit it?"

She looked up.

"For tonight."

At the gala, Ryan watched them from beside Victor Renshaw. Audrey noticed and moved closer to Julian of her own accord.

"You don't have to prove anything," Julian murmured.

"I'm not. I want to stand here."

He looked down at her, and the expression in his face made the room briefly disappear.

During the dance, his palm was warm at her back. She remembered the first time they'd danced together, careful and formal, with photographers waiting beyond the music.

Tonight, when she missed a step, he drew her closer and laughed quietly against her ear.

"Nobody saw."

"You did."

"I can be bribed."

"With what?"

His gaze dropped briefly to her mouth.

"We'll negotiate later."

She felt herself smile before deciding to.

Afterward, she joined the pianist for a song her mother loved. Julian watched from the edge of the crowd.

Ryan watched Julian watching her.

Renshaw interrupted the moment by asking about the new development project. Julian answered politely, then mentioned buying Luma Jewelry.

Renshaw's smile sharpened.

"Not everything is available because you want it."

"I know," Julian said, glancing at Audrey.

Then he turned back.

"There are other things we should discuss. Edward Lane's original records, for instance."

Ryan went pale.

Audrey saw it from across the room.

For the first time that evening, the necklace felt cold against her skin.