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which maybe some day they'll be able to tell me."
    "Mama can't get anything out of them?" Tony asked.
    "No. But Sophia has been distracted since Angela died."
    "Angela was everything to her, the only daughter. She was one of a kind," Tony said.
    Michael stared at him for a long moment.
    "What did I say?" Tony asked.
    "You're not going to believe this."
    "What?"
    "I saw a woman who looks just like Angela at the school where I took the girls this morning."
    "No way."
    "The girls even called her Mama. They threw themselves at her."
    "What? She has dark hair?"
    "And big brown eyes, and an oval face, and a soft, warm mouth, and ..." Michael's voice drifted off as he realized just how much Joanna had affected him.
    "Michael?" Tony snapped his fingers. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
    "Nothing."
    "This woman -- she really got to you, didn't she?"
    "You'd have to see her to believe it."
    "So when can I see her?"
    "I pick up the kids at three."
    Tony checked his watch. "I'll be back."
     
     

Chapter Four
     
    "We waited so long for you to come back," Rose said as Joanna sat down with the twins at the art table. "Where were you?"
    Joanna sighed, looking from Lily to Rose. She had tried to convince them for the past six hours that she was not their long-lost mother, but to no avail. It didn't matter that everyone called her Joanna. They seemed to think she was playing a game with them.
    Wishing she had majored in child psychology instead of history, Joanna opened her purse and took out her wallet. "I want to show you a picture."
    She handed Rose a photo taken of her family a year and a half earlier at Christmas, before her father had gotten sick. "That's my mother, her name is Caroline; and the man is my father. His name was Edward. He died a couple of months ago." Her voice softened, "I still miss him a lot. Just like you miss your mother. It's hard to say good-bye, isn't it?"
    Rose and Lily stared at the photo, then at her.
    "Where are Grandma Sophia and Grandpa Vincent?" Lily asked in confusion.
    Joanna tried again. "I'm not your mother, Lily. These are my parents."
    "We did something bad, didn't we, Mama?" Rose's chocolate brown eyes filled with tears. "I remember when you said we were driving you crazy, that you had to go away. You made us promise -- "
    "Rose, she wants to be sure we didn't break our promise," Lily interrupted.
    Rose looked relieved. "Oh. It's okay. Mama, I haven't told Daddy anything. I told you I could keep a secret."
    Secret? What secret? Joanna tucked her hair behind her ear as she realized the children still believed she was their mother. "Come on, girls. Look at the photo. Do I really look like your mother? Are our clothes the same? Our hair? Our teeth?"
    Lily tilted her head as she stared into Joanna's face, then back at the photo. "Your hair is longer and curlier now."
    She let out a breath of relief. They were finally making progress. "What else?" She turned to Rose. "Can you see the difference, honey? Can you understand that I'm Joanna, that I'm not your mother?"
    "If you want us to call you Joanna, it's okay," Rose replied. "It's a pretty name."
    "We like it," Lily added.
    "I give up," Joanna said with a helpless laugh.
    "Are you mad at us?" Rose asked. "Please don't be mad."
    Rose threw her arms around Joanna, burying her face in the curve of Joanna's neck. Her hair brushed against Joanna's skin, bringing with it the sweet scent of flowers. Joanna couldn't help but hug Rose back. The child felt so right in her arms, a perfect fit. Lily stepped up next to them, running her hand down the side of Joanna's hair, twirling her fingers in the long strands.
    "I like your hair longer," Lily whispered. "I think Daddy likes it, too."
    Joanna's heart caught at the simple word, at the reminder of their father, Michael Ashton. She'd been thinking about him all morning, and it had to stop. She hadn't spent this much time thinking about David, and they'd gone out for six months. But she could still see Michael in