Page 37 of Cole

“Do you think they still have Angelica?”

Elizabeth and her dad exchanged another look before he said, “I think it’s highly likely they do. I don’t know if their original intent was to keep both you girls or to return you both. But in the end, they got away with Angelica and a healthy sum of money.”

“Why would they want to keep one of us?”

“The other nanny at the time told us that Angelica was Cheri’s favorite, so it seems that she decided that she wanted more than just the money.”

“If you think Angelica is still alive, why wouldn’t you want to put me out in public? If we’re identical twins, it’s possible that she’ll see me and have some questions about why there’s someone who looks the same as her.”

Her dad had already begun to shake his head before she finished talking. “No. That’s never going to happen. I’ve alreadylost one daughter, and I don’t want to take even the slightest chance of losing you.”

There was anguish on his face and his voice cracked as he spoke, revealing more in that moment than she’d ever seen before. Though she felt for him as he dealt with the loss of a daughter, she couldn’t relate to the emotion. She had lost a sister, but with no memories of her, it was hard to truly feel that loss.

That lack of an emotional connection to Angelica also made it difficult at times for her to accept the restrictions that her dad had put into place for her and Benji. Moreso Benji than her, but having a friendship with Cole was making her feel the weight of those restrictions a little more than usual.

Her dad’s emotions disappeared beneath the sudden return of his stern expression. “I know you don’t really understand why I feel this way because you have no memory of that time. However, it was the worst time in my life and I’m not interested in having something similar happen again.”

Annie wanted to protest that the likelihood of it happening again was slim, but she knew how the argument would go. They’d had it several times already.

“One more thing,” her dad said, his expression turning to one of disdain. “Your mother has contacted me again.”

Annie felt her own disdain rising at the statement. She had no interest in meeting with her birth mom. It made no sense to her that, after losing one daughter, her mother would abandon her other one.

“What did she want?” Annie asked.

“To meet with you.”

“I don’t want that.”

“I told her that would probably be the case, but that I would pass on her request.”

“I suppose now I can expect a call from Julian about it,” Annie said with a sigh.

These days, it was the only time she ever heard from her older brother. He’d been old enough to remember their mom, and she had kept in contact with him, even sharing custody of him with their dad when he was younger.

“Possibly,” her dad agreed. “But you just need to stick to your guns. Don’t give in to the guilt. If you ever agree to see her, let it be on your terms and only when you’re at the point where you really want to meet with her.”

Annie knew that if her dad had his way, she’d never meet with the woman. At that point, she kind of agreed with him, but who knew how things might change in the future?

Though they’d never had an in-depth discussion about the reasons for their divorce, Annie suspected it had to do with how her mom had treated her following her release, when Angelica hadn’t come home with her. And it was possible that her mom blamed her dad for what had happened.

“When are you heading back to New York?” Annie asked, more than happy to take the conversation in a new direction.

“I’ll be here for the week,” he said. “Then, once school has started for Benjamin, Betsy and I will be heading to Dubai for some meetings I have there.”

Annie smiled at her dad’s use of Elizabeth’s nickname. She knew from reading about her dad in the media that most perceived him to be a hard, calculating man. That might be true for him in his business persona, but it certainly wasn’t the case when he was there in Serenity with them.

He rarely spent such a long stretch of time there, and while she wouldn’t have a big issue with him being around for the next several days, she knew that Benji would struggle. And he’d probably spend even more time at her place.

“That was agreatgame,” Benji exclaimed as he glanced down at her from where he stood in front of her overstuffed couch.

He’d jumped to his feet during the closing minutes, cheering Cole and his team on to victory for their first game of the season, which had started in October.

Annie had enjoyed the game as much as Benji had, but she’d been doing some needlepoint work on a smocked baby girl dress she was making. That hadn’t been conducive to jumping around the way Benji had.

She’d watched countless games with Cole playing, but this one was the first since they’d met in person and struck up a friendship. Watching it had been… different.

When his face filled the screen of her large television, Annie’s breath caught in her lungs. His handsome face was flushed from his time on the court, and his hair was curling with sweat.

---