“Victor, Wren is my daughter. You don’t get to do this to her, not even you. Say one more word about it and you’ll be putting us both out that door.” There was weight behind every word, and no room left to negotiate. Something moved behind Vivian’s eyes, and she turned it over. It lasted a second. Then the concern came back over her face, and she smiled and stepped in like a peacemaker. “Noelle, come on. It’s not that serious. We’re family. Victor only said it because he’s worried about Daisy. Right, Victor?” She gave his arm a push as she said it. Anyone walking in cold would have taken the two of them for the married couple. Victor’s face softened right on cue. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have put it like that.” Their eyes met for half a beat. Whatever passed between them, Victor took the hint and gentled his voice. “Noelle, I shouldn’t have brought up sending Wren away before I knew what happened. She’s ours. I got ahead of myself.” Her face eased a little at that, and Victor went on. “But look at the day we’ve had. Wren walks in and Daisy goes down twice. Those two set each other off. So here’s an idea. “Nobody questions twins. Wren needs a place in this family anyway, so from here on, that’s what we tell people. Nobody loses anything.” Noelle’s brow creased. If he had opened with that, she would have refused without thinking about it. She could go on raising Daisy the way she always had. What belonged to Wren alone was not up for sharing. But after everything that just happened, and with Victor so clearly backing down, she did not want Wren’s first day home to end with her father resenting her. Her face stayed tight even as she gave in. “All right…” The word landed, and both faces across from her lit up. If she had recognized the move for what it was, a wild demand first so the real one would sound reasonable, she would have seen the whole thing coming. Victor’s talk of sending Wren away and Vivian’s soft coaxing had aimed at one outcome from the start, getting her to sign off on presenting Wren and Daisy as twins. That kept Daisy a Rhodes daughter in every way that counted. Her place in the family would stay legitimate. There was a reason all of it mattered so much to them. Daisy really was Victor’s child. Satisfaction had barely reached their eyes when Wren’s small voice cut across the room and over the rest of what Noelle was saying. “I’m not her twin.” Wren did not pretend about anything, ever. She said it plainly, the way a person states a fact. Victor’s face closed again, and Vivian’s arms tightened around Daisy. Across the room, Toby had only just calmed down. He blew up all over again and jabbed a finger at her. “Who says you get a vote?” Noelle was the one who had adopted him, but he understood from his first week in that house that keeping Daisy happy was the only way to stay in Victor’s good graces. Everything he had here came through her. Victor obviously cared more about Daisy, so it made no difference that Wren was the real daughter. Toby had one sister as far as he was concerned, and her name was Daisy. Daisy is willing to be her twin. That’s a favor. Who does she think she is, turning it down? Victor kept his eyes on Wren, jaw set. “You’re a kid. A grown-up tells you something, you listen. You don’t talk back.” A child who answers back at every turn. Nothing like my Daisy. The weight of his glare did not seem to reach her at all. Wren tipped her chin up and repeated herself with the same steady certainty. “I’m still not her twin.” The repetition scraped at Victor and he was ready to come down on her, but she went on in the same matter-of-fact tone. “She’s Daddy’s and so am I, but we’ve got different mommies. So we’re not twins.” Two different mommies can’t make twins. This daddy is really confused. She was still marveling at it and missed what her words had done. Victor and Vivian had both gone rigid, and Noelle was staring at her in disbelief. For a moment, Noelle thought she had misheard. When the sentence caught up with her, she looked down and asked her daughter to say it again. “Wren, what did you just say?” That snapped Victor out of it. The shock and the panic in his eyes burned off fast, and anger took their place. “What are you talking about?” Noelle’s answer came at the same moment, low and barely held together. “Don’t you raise your voice at my daughter.” There was fury in it, though her arms around Wren never stopped being gentle. Wren was four and a half, but she had seen bigger scenes than this one, and a single shout from a father like that was not going to shake her. She tipped her head back, fixed those clear blue eyes on him, and kept the same earnest, unbothered tone. “I’m not making it up. She’s Daddy’s kid too, but I don’t like her, so I don’t want to be twins.” Something in those eyes saw straight through him, and for a second Victor felt caught. She was four and a half years old. A child that age could babble about anything. So why this? Everyone in the room wrote it off as a small child talking nonsense, everyone except Wade. He had felt for himself what she could do, and he believed every word of it. Daisy has to be Victor’s blood. This is huge. I’m going to enjoy every minute of it. Daisy had no idea what was happening. She twisted around and shouted like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I am Daddy’s kid! And I don’t want to be twins with you either!” Vivian clapped a hand over her mouth before anything worse got out, then spoke in that soft, reasonable voice. “She’s a little girl playing pretend. Victor, Noelle, nobody needs to take this seriously…” Silence would have served her better. The moment she spoke, Wren’s eyes went to her. Those wide, clear eyes settled on her face, and something in Vivian’s chest dropped. She opened her mouth to excuse herself. Wren raised a hand and pointed at her instead, and the small voice delivered a line that stopped the room a second time. “I’m not playing. She’s Daddy’s baby with Ms. Lowe.” It hit the room like thunder out of a clear sky. In that instant every person there, grown or small, froze exactly where they stood.