“Johnny,” Emily continued softly. “He’s not even Rachel’s son. He’s her husband’s child from another woman. Rachel raised him anyway. Paul and Lily… they’re mine only in love, not in blood.”
Nathan covered his mouth. “My God…”
“I took responsibility for three children the world threw away,” Emily said. “I sent them to school. I made sure they ate. I lied to them too—I told them their mother was working far away.”
She laughed weakly.
“They call me ‘Aunt Emily.’ They don’t even know I’m all they have.”
Nathan finally broke. He stood up abruptly, pacing the room, hands trembling.
“Everyone mocked you,” he said hoarsely. “My mother… my friends… even me—I thought I was being noble by ‘accepting’ you.”
He turned to her, eyes filled with tears.
“But you were the one carrying all of us.”
Emily bowed her head.
“If you regret marrying me—”
“I don’t,” Nathan said sharply. “I regret living in a world that taught me to measure women by rumors instead of courage.”
He knelt in front of her, ignoring his expensive suit, the luxury surrounding them.
“You didn’t just raise three children,” he said. “You saved three lives.”
