tonight.
Cold spread through my body.
“Who was the man?”
“My mother never knew.”
“Did Helen?”
“We think so.”
“Who was my biological mother?”
Evelyn looked back through the café window.
Then at me.
“Her name was Rose.”
That name meant nothing.
Until Evelyn added the last name.
“Rose Whitaker.”
I stopped breathing.
Whitaker.
I stared at her.
Evelyn’s face crumpled.
“My father had a younger sister.”
Margaret’s sister-in-law?
No.
I shook my head.
“Wait.”
Evelyn stepped closer.
“Rose was my father Harold’s sister.”
The world seemed to disappear beneath my feet.
If Rose was Harold Whitaker’s sister…
Then Margaret was not simply my employer.
And Evelyn was not simply Margaret’s daughter.
“She’s my…”
“Your aunt by marriage,” Evelyn said.
“And I’m your cousin.”
I pressed both hands to my head.
“No.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No.
Margaret would have told me.”
“She wanted to.”
“For eight years?”
“She was terrified.”
“Of
