“I’m so sorry for everything that happened?—”
She cuts me off, reaching across the table to touch my hand. “None of it is your fault, Callie. Not at all.”
“But I brought the men?—”
“You didn’t know who they were, and even if you did, I’m sorry to say this, but Adam’s father deserved to be caught. It’s not as if we’d want to protect him and his criminal activities.”
The weight that had been pressing on my chest eases, and I let out a breath.
“It’s really incredible that Mr. Hargrove did what he did at our wedding. There was absolutely no reason for that … but that’s beside the point, truly.” Her tone of voice shifts lower. “Max and Miles came over to talk to us. Adam was already receiving updates from a lawyer, but Max and Miles came over specifically to explain how they ended up at the wedding. They made it very clear that you had no idea who they were.”
“I should have known, though.”
“How could you? They’re trained agents. I understand that you did know Max had a twin, though.”
I look down at my untouched salad. “Yeah. I was going to tell you all about it after your honeymoon. I didn’t want to give you anything to worry about.”
Her brows lift, and then her mouth curves into a small smile. “It’s actually pretty funny to think that a twin-switching stunt would’ve been the most scandalous thing to happen at our wedding.”
“I wish it had been.”
“Me too.”
“How’s Adam doing? And how areyouand Adam?”
“Adam is …not great. But he’ll be okay. He’s talking to me, and leaning on me, rather than keeping to himself about everything, so I think we’ll be okay. Our honeymoon was postponed, of course, but we’ll go eventually.”
“I can’t imagine what it must have been like, finding out about his father, and finding out in such a dramatic way.”
“Right? Can you imagine us finding out something like that about Mom?”
I shake my head in disbelief. “Well, we do know she has the organizational skills for it.”
Sadie giggles, and I finally feel like things might be okay.
“Your wedding was really beautiful,” I say.
“It was,” she says, looking wistful. “Right up until the drug bust.”
I can’t bring myself to laugh about her wedding being ruined, but I’m glad she’s making jokes.
“I’m afraid to ask this, but how is Mom doing? I haven’t heard from her.” After I say that, I realize it’s not true. She left a message late Sunday and again on Monday, but I couldn’t bring myself to listen to what she had to say, sure that she was going to scream at me.
“She was understandably shaken up, and really confused, like we all were, but she’s doing better. Max and Miles went to talk to her, too, from what I hear.”
“Oh.”
“She actually sounded impressed by them when I talked to her afterward. She didn’t say anything about the twin thing, though. I think she’s still processing everything.”
We finally start to eat then, though we both just pick at our salads. Kids are playing nearby, and a man walks by on the trail.
“Did they tell you about Rick?” Sadie asks, sounding like the thought just popped into her head.
“What?”
“He’s being charged with aiding and abetting.”
I drop my plastic fork into the bowl. “What?”
