After dinner, Margaret took the twins to prepare their room, and Robert followed — though he warned Damon the conversation wasn’t over. Damon and Cassandra stayed at the kitchen table beneath a paper wreath Luke had made at daycare.

Damon turned on his phone. Forty-three missed calls. Most from Nora. One from his corporate attorney. Another from a public relations firm. He called Nora first.

She answered immediately.

“Where have you been?”

“Did Cassandra Hayes contact my office three years ago?”

Silence. Then Nora exhaled. “This is not a conversation we should have over the phone.”