The Billionaire's Twins Play Matchmaker novel Chapter 46

“What did you find out?” Silas demanded from his chair behind his desk.

It had been an unsatisfying morning with a fussy Board of Directors and their petty complaints. Making it worse had been his exhaustion. Since the music competition he hadn’t been able to sleep. The moment his closed his eyes, visions of the past and present danced through his mind. But now was the moment he had been waiting for. Thomas stood in front of him with a folder at the ready filled with three days of research.

“Alexis, Sean and Theodore Carter,” Thomas announced setting down copies of three birth certificates. Silas wisely chose not to question how they were obtained.

Picking up one he read it carefully not realizing he was actually holding his breath. All three were essentially identical aside from the name: Alexis Clara Carter; born January 18; Mother: Lynn Hildegard Carter; Father: (Unknown).

“Father Unknown?” Silas repeated letting out a slow breath. “What does that mean?”

“Well, usually it means a woman slept with so many men she doesn’t know who the father is.”

Thomas fell silent at Silas’s deadly glare. It wasn’t often he was on the receiving end but he felt the same pressure from it as others did.

“Alternatively, it could also mean a one-night stand,” Thomas said which did nothing to ease his friend’s gaze. “It could also mean she didn’t want to reveal the father so she intentionally left it blank.”

“Didn’t want to reveal the father,” Silas repeated. “Lynn Carter.”

That was not the name he expected but…perhaps it wasn’t just the father’s name she was trying to hide. Maybe…

“I trust this isn’t all you have.”

“No. The kids go to Anna Silver, it’s a public school on the Lower East Side. We were able to follow them both to and from their home as well as their mother’s work from there.” Thomas took several photographs from a folder showing exteriors of the school. All and all it was rather plain but well maintained, clean and orderly. “This is their mother.”

Thomas laid down more photos of the kids as they walked down the street with a woman. Silas sucked in a breath. It was her. There was no mistaking it. She was ten years older but she was as beautiful as ever. Her mane of dark, brown waves was pulled back in a half-up style and her green eyes sparkled with her smile as she walked with one arm around her daughter, who was a carbon copy of her.

The boys preceded their sister and mother occasionally walking backward as they conversed. At the gate she gave each of her children a hug, fondly planting a kiss on their foreheads before sending them off. They waved to her before each boy took one of their sister’s arms and led her to the school entrance.

Their mother watched from the street. Only when they were out of sight did her smile fade and a sad, yearning expression settled on her face. The strain of years of strife turned down the corners of her mouth as she huddled in a worn out, oversized coat faded and frayed from age. It was a stark contrast to the children whose clothes were new, clean and properly fitted. It was obvious she sacrificed her own necessities in favor of providing the best she could for three growing children.

“Did you find out where they are living?” Silas asked as he stared at her despondent image.

“An apartment, also on the Lower East Side…it’s not…in the greatest neighborhood,” Thomas added carefully.

“And where she works?”

“…She’s a waitress.”

“What?” Silas looked up from the image giving Thomas a startled expression. Did he just hear that right?

“She works at a diner,” Thomas explained setting down several photos.

Silas looked at them reluctantly. Each depicted a small diner that seemed pulled out of the fifties tucked away in a small corner of a dark street. In each Ava stood in her dusty pink uniform, white tights and shoes waiting tables and serving customers. Though she wore a smile something about it was fake, manufactured. The light never reached her eyes the way it did when she was with her children.

“…A waitress…” Silas muttered. How? Why? Who did this to her? She should have been playing for sold out concert halls not bussing tables.

He looked at the birth certificates again. January eighteenth. Was there something special about that date that made him cringe? Then his gaze settled on the year…ten years ago. Ten years.

“If a child is born in January, when would it have been conceived?”

“A normal pregnancy is forty weeks, or about ten months,” Thomas said having already prepared for this question, “but according to my research multiples are usually born early. For triplets, eight months is normal.”

“That would make it May,” Silas quietly stated.