Instead, the board chair, Arthur Bell, adjusted his glasses and said, “Before we proceed, there has been a change in voting authority for the Moreau-Hale trust position.”
Marcus barely listened. “Fine. Put it in the minutes.”
Arthur looked at him. “The trust representative has requested review of all pending major development decisions.”
Marcus looked up. “On what grounds?”
“On the grounds that their stake gives them that right.”
Roxanne, seated beside Marcus, frowned. “Who is the representative?”
Arthur consulted the paper in front of him.
Marcus felt an inexplicable tightening in his chest.
“Effective immediately,” Arthur said, “temporary voting authority rests with Julianne Moreau Hale.”
Roxanne let out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a cough. “That’s absurd.”
Arthur did not smile. “It is documented.”
Marcus stared at him. “Say that name again.”
“Julianne Moreau Hale,” Arthur repeated. “Also known legally during her marriage as Julianne Hale Henderson.”
The room blurred at the edges.
Marcus’s phone began vibrating on the table. Once. Twice. Then again.
He ignored it until he saw the caller ID.
Evelyn.
He answered under the table, his voice low. “Not now.”
His mother did not bother with greeting.
“Marcus,” she said, sounding older than she had the day before, “Penelope is here.”
His jaw tightened. “Why?”
“She brought medical records. She says she needs to tell us the truth before someone else does.”
“I already know enough.”
“No,” Evelyn said. “You don’t.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
Across the boardroom, Arthur continued discussing procedural requirements, but Marcus heard only his mother’s next words.
“She says she was encouraged to pursue you. She says someone told her your marriage was already over and that Julianne would leave quietly once there was a pregnancy.”
Marcus stood so suddenly his chair rolled back.
“Who told her that?”
Evelyn’s voice trembled.
“That is what you need to come home and hear.”
That night in Lisbon, Julianne tucked Noah beneath a blue quilt while Sophie arranged three shells on the windowsill.