The Mirror (The Lost Bride Trilogy #2)

Over another sip, Clarice studied Sonya, and seemed to come to some decision.

“I don’t remember her as a happy woman, and in the past several years her mental health has deteriorated.

“Even though he knew what she’d been a part of, that she wasn’t his biological mother, Collin looked after her as a son would. I’ll be frank, as that suits me best. I don’t know if I’d have been as generous or forgiving.”

“I think she felt, though I don’t agree, she had no choice. Her mother…”

“If you think I’d take offense at anything you say about Patricia Poole, don’t. This was her office. It’s mine now. She had her way of running the business, and the family for that matter. I have mine. We have two children, my husband and I. Teenagers, twins. I can’t imagine the heartlessness it took to separate the brothers. Except…”

She took another sip of coffee. “I knew Queen P very well, as I’ve worked for this company since I was sixteen—summers then, of course. She respected my business acumen, but made it clear she disapproved of Hank—my husband. She offered me a promotion and a ten-thousand-dollar bonus if I broke our engagement.”

“I see.”

“Bet you do.” Clarice smiled and drank more coffee. “She reluctantly respected my backbone. In any case, we got along because we both invested our time and talents in the family business. Then again, I didn’t know until well after her death what she’d done to the family.”

“She made Gretta pick.”

“I’m sorry?”

“She made Gretta pick which twin to keep, which to put up for adoption.”

“How do you know?”

“From what Gretta told me.”

Obviously surprised, Clarice sat back. “She told you about it?”

“Some of it. I think I opened the door by showing her this.”

She took out the compact.

“I—Patricia left me three pieces with that design. May I?”

Sonya handed Clarice the compact.

“This is such a surprise. I admired the lipstick case. She alwayscarried it. And she told me it was part of a set her husband—Michael Poole—gave her for Christmas right before their engagement announcement. She never mentioned this piece. Where did you get it?”

“I found it in the manor. The mirror’s broken.”

“Yes, I see.”

“Gretta recognized it, too, and I was able to ask her some questions. Her mother told her to choose one baby, as only one was needed to continue the family line. And they would say Gretta had been engaged, but the fiancé died. The baby was his. It seems people believed that.”

“Not everyone,” Clarice murmured. “My mother didn’t. She knew Gretta, and I heard her—overheard her—talking to my aunt once, saying there was no way Gretta Poole had gotten away from her mother’s hawkeye long enough to get pregnant.

“I’m sure there was a lot of gossip and speculation about it back then, but by the time I was born, it had largely died out. Except for the occasional comment like my mother’s.”

She started to hand the compact back.

“You should have it,” Sonya told her. “It’s a set, after all.”

“Owen said I’d like you,” she replied. “I would very much like to have it, thank you. Not because it was Patricia’s, but because it’s a lovely set.”

“If there’s anything else in the manor you’d want, I hope you’ll tell me.”

“Here, at the company, we display history and tradition. My home, on the other hand? I like clean, simple lines. Contemporary.

“Collin saw to it I got what was most important to me, as he did with all of us. You have a small share of the company. If you want to take a more active part—”