“No.” I shake my head.
“The wedding?”
I drag my hand down my face.
Her face falls. “The wedding…what about the wedding?”
“You cannot tell anybody this.”
“It’s me, you know I won’t.”
“So…” I pause while I try to articulate my thoughts. “Last week I saw Grace Porter.”
“Oh, Gracie, there’s a blast from the past.” She smiles. “What’s she doing now?”
“Living in Maine with two of my children.”
She frowns, not understanding. “What?”
“We…” I stop myself.
“Gabriel, spit it out.”
“Before she left me seven years ago, we spent a night together.”
“How do I not know this?”
“She fell pregnant and never told me, I recently found out I have six-year-old twins. A boy and a girl. We have the paternity test results; they are definitely mine.”
Her eyes widen in horror. “What. The. Hell?” She puts her head into her hands. “How could she not tell you?”
“Exactly.” I take a big gulp of my drink. “She did come to see me weeks later, and I wouldn’t see her because I was in meetings and…”
“Don’t make excuses, she should have told you. That is need-to-know information.”
I exhale heavily. “I know.”
“Oh my god.” Her eyes search mine. “You have children?”
I nod sadly.
“Don’t be sad, this is wonderful.” She takes my hand over the table. “What did Ariana say?”
“I didn’t tell her.”
“What?” she snaps. “Why not?”
“Because Grace doesn’t want me in their lives.”
She stares at me, horrified. “So?”
“She’s told everyone that they were conceived using IVF and donor sperm and she asked that if I can’t be a devoted father then to step aside and leave them be. She doesn’t want them missing an absent father.”
“Oh.” Her eyes hold mine. “How do you feel about that?”
I shrug. “It’s for the best. I’m a workaholic who lives in New York. These children are eight hours away and…” My voice trails off. “They can’t miss what they don’t know.”
She slumps back in her chair and thinks for a moment. “What are they like?”