Rebekah froze. Who were these people?
Jensen made the introductions. "This is Mr. Hawthorne and his wife." He then turned to Wyatt and Sylvia. "And this is Miss Rebekah Fletcher."
Rebekah felt as if she'd turned to stone. Why were Mr. Hawthorne and his wife here? Shouldn't it be Faye Hawthorne? If Faye already knew she wasn't a real Hawthorne, why would the head of the family want to meet her?
Her mind was in such a whirl that she forgot to greet them.
Jensen nudged her with his elbow. "Say hello."
"Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne, it's a pleasure to meet you," she mumbled automatically, but the greeting felt all wrong.
Sylvia beamed and rose from her seat, walking over to study her future daughter-in-law's face.
"Rebekah, it's so wonderful to finally meet you. Are you hungry? It's almost lunchtime. Let's eat and talk."
Sylvia guided a bewildered Rebekah to the table. Jensen followed, taking the seat on her other side. Rebekah managed a shaky greeting to Wyatt and then shot a desperate, pleading look at Jensen, who simply gave her a reassuring smile.
Under Sylvia's enthusiastic encouragement, Rebekah ordered a couple of dishes. While they waited for the food, she decided to take the initiative.
"Mr. Hawthorne, Mrs. Hawthorne, I'm so sorry to have wasted your time. I'm not your daughter. I promise I will give you a full explanation…"
"Don't worry about that," Sylvia interrupted, taking Rebekah's hand. "It doesn't matter if you're not our daughter now. You will be, sooner or later."
"What?" Rebekah had no idea what she meant.
Sylvia continued to beam at her, pleased with everything she saw. She had a weakness for pretty faces and couldn't tear her eyes away. But when she glanced past Rebekah at her own son, she saw him glaring at her, teeth clenched, in a silent warning not to say too much.
Sylvia knew he didn't want to see Rosie, but she had treated the girl like her own daughter for years and couldn't bear to see her family torn apart.
"Rosie has already left The Capital. No matter what, you two cannot cut ties. Do you hear me?"
"You can adopt her as your daughter. I won't interfere."
"You—!"
"Enough," Jensen cut her off. "Your future daughter-in-law is in there. Stop worrying about other things."
Without waiting for a reply, he turned and went back into the private room.

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