"That birthmark," Diane whispered, her voice suddenly hollow, all her earlier hysteria collapsing into something quieter and far more devastating. Her hand trembled as she reached toward Everly's collarbone, not touching, just hovering, as though confirming something she desperately needed to be wrong about.
Everly pulled back instinctively, tears already gathering, thoroughly bewildered by the sudden chaos unfolding around her on what was supposed to be the calmest day of her life. "What is happening? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Where did you get that mark?" Diane's voice had dropped to barely a whisper now, though the silence of the hall carried it to every guest regardless. "Tell me. Please. Where were you born?"
"I don't know," Everly said, her voice shaking, tears spilling freely now as two hundred guests watched her unravel in real time at her own wedding. "I was adopted. I never knew my birth parents. I don't understand what any of this has to do with—"
"Impossible," Diane breathed, both hands flying to cover her mouth, her entire body swaying slightly as though the ground beneath her had shifted. "That's impossible. That mark — I would know that mark anywhere. She's my daughter."
The words landed in the silent hall like a physical blow. Julian's head snapped toward his mother, his expression caught somewhere between disbelief and dawning horror. "What are you talking about? Mom, that doesn't make any sense—"