"I know this is awkward."
Mara stood in her office looking at architectural drawings.
"Yes."
"But Sophie keeps asking about the baby."
"I know."
"I want her to feel included."
Mara was silent.
Daniel continued.
"Claire says she's happy for Sophie to come."
Mara almost laughed.
She had met Claire enough times to know the woman was rarely comfortable around her daughter.
But she also knew Sophie loved her father.
And the little girl had recently asked whether the new baby would mean Daniel had less time for her.
Mara wanted to reassure her.
She took a breath.
"All right."
Daniel sounded relieved.
"Thank you."
"But Daniel?"
"Yes?"
"If anyone makes Sophie feel unwelcome, we're leaving."
He answered immediately.
"That won't happen."
Mara closed her eyes.
She wanted to believe him.
For a moment, she remembered their marriage.
The promises.
The times he said he would handle his mother.
Then she looked toward Sophie's photograph on her desk.
"All right," she repeated.
They ended the call.
Mara sat quietly for several minutes.
Then she opened an online clothing catalogue and helped Sophie choose a white princess dress.
She had no idea the child would notice something every adult in the room had missed.
And that the discovery would expose a scheme involving far more than one false pregnancy.
The ballroom remained silent long after Claire finished speaking.
Daniel stood between the woman he intended to marry and the mother who had raised him.
His daughter was crying.
Mara held the little girl against her chest, one hand covering the back of Sophie's head.
The artificial pregnancy belly lay on the floor.
A decorative ribbon from a nearby gift had landed beside it.
The image was so absurd, so humiliating, that Daniel's mind struggled to accept it.
Only minutes earlier, he had been smiling for photographs.
He had rested his hand over Claire's stomach.
He had imagined a child.
A heartbeat.
A nursery.
Tiny clothes.
Another life for which he would be responsible.
Now that imagined future lay on the floor in a piece of silicone.
He looked toward Claire.
"How long?"
She was crying.
"Daniel—"
"How long have you been lying to me?"
Her lips trembled.
"Since the beginning."
The words struck him.
He took a step backward.
"Since the beginning?"
She nodded.