Part Forty-Nine

Carey stood looking at Andrea as Milana excused herself. The door closed and Andrea walked deeper into the office. Carey crossed her arms over her chest as Andrea looked everywhere except at her so she decided to wait it out.

“I’m not here to make any trouble, Carey.”

“Why are you here, Andrea?”

She fidgeted with her hands and finally sat down in a chair across from Carey. “I wanted to meet Grace and explain things to Mason.”

“So explain it to me too, Andrea, because the way I see it is that a woman who abandoned her baby is now back to claim a daughter she had no hand in raising.”

“A lot of bad things happened back then. I left Grace with her father because I wasn’t in a position to look after her. I don’t know how much you know of what they’re all busy with, the playhouses and the forced marriages …”

“What playhouses?”

“I think you should talk to Mason … or Kelley.”

“Where are you staying, Andrea?”

Andrea looked down and Carey knew the answer before she even said it. “With Mason.”

“