Pinpoints of color dotted Leah’s pale complexion. “Let me rephrase that. The first time I met him, and he gave me his business card, with a promise that I would have lunch with him after I graduated from Vanderbilt—it was then that I realized he was a Kent. And even then I had no preconceived notions about hooking up with him because I knew I was out of his league. His intent was to marry someone in his social circle, and I’d become one of his many mistresses. But when I got pregnant and refused to have an abortion, his mother forced him to marry me to protect the precious Kent name.”
“You decided to have the baby, even though you weren’t in love with him?” Cherie questioned.
Leah made a sucking sound with her tongue and teeth. “I was never in love with Alan Kent. That’s not to say I didn’t try to love him, but Alan didn’t want to be loved. He wanted to be obeyed, and that was something I refused to do. Alan thought he was using me whenever we appeared at social events as the loving couple, but what the dumb bastard didn’t know was that I’d used him whenever he wanted sex. I’d become a prostitute when all that I didn’t sell I withheld. That’s when he’d buy me expensive jewelry as a peace offering.”
With wide eyes, Cherie stared at Leah, recalling the times when she’d asked Weylin for money and jewelry. However, it wasn’t because she’d withheld sex from him. Most times, she was too glad to sleep with him, because during that time he was hers and hers alone. She bit her lip to keep from laughing. It was obvious that she and the former headmistress were more alike than Cherie had originally believed.
“What are you going to do with the jewelry now that Alan’s dead?” she asked.
“I’m going to give some to my daughters-in-law and save some for when I, hopefully, have granddaughters. Enough about me, Cherie. Now, tell us why you won’t give Reese a second look when he has been giving you side-eye glances every time he comes into the café.”
“Leah’s right,” Kayana said, giving Cherie a long, penetrating stare. “We’ve spilled our guts about the men who done us wrong. Now it’s your turn.”
She lowered her eyes. “What makes you think someone has done me wrong?”
Kayana frowned. “Stop the bullshit, Cherie! We know the reason you went after Leah every chance you got was that you wanted what she had—a rich husband, the mansion, and all the accoutrements that said you’d made it. But unfortunately, you didn’t know what she’d had to go through to maintain that lifestyle. She had a whoring husband who beat the hell out of her when she refused to do what he wanted, while he had the unmitigated gall to bring his young whore to his mother’s funeral repast and flaunt her in the presence of his wife and grieving sons.”
Cherie put a hand over her mouth. “I had no idea it had gotten that bad,” she said through her fingers.
“It was the height of disrespect,” Leah spat out. “I didn’t care how many women he fucked as long as I didn’t see it. But when I had to explain to Caleb that I knew he’d been cheating on me and the look he gave me was not anger but pity, it was enough for me grow a backbone. Disrespecting me behind closed doors was one thing, but disrespecting me in front of my sons took the rag off the bush. That’s when I decided not to ask for two million but ten as a divorce settlement. There are some things we let slide and others we say “Oh hell no” to. I knew I could deal with my problems with Alan if they were between us, but once they involved my sons, I knew I had to go for his throat. You don’t know how I had to beg them not to lay hands on him once I told them their father had thrown me down the staircase, because right now they would be serving time for murder. Aron and Caleb are six-three, two-thirty, and they were ready to take him apart.”
Cherie had no idea what Leah had gone through to live the life she had aspired to. Suddenly, she felt ashamed of how she’d treated the woman who appeared to have had it all. “I’m sorry, Leah.”
“For what?” the redhead asked.
“For being a real bitch when I said those nasty things to you.”
Leah rested an arm over Cherie’s shoulders. “I’ve forgotten it, and so should you. I’m ready to live my best life, and you should do the same. You have a beautiful house and two friends who will be here whenever you need someone to talk to. And I happen to have one son who’s still looking for that special woman.”
Cherie laughed. “Thanks, but no thanks.”
“Her sons are gorgeous, Cherie,” Kayana said, smiling.
“Gorgeous or not, I’d prefer to find my own man.”
Kayana nodded. “But are you ready for a relationship?”
A beat passed as Cherie pondered Kayana’s question. She’d moved and had established residence in a new state. She was furnishing her home to fit her lifestyle and had planned to embark on a new career as a teacher.
“I think so.”
“So, you’re no longer carrying baggage from your last relationship?” Leah asked.
“No,” she answered truthfully. “I left everything in Connecticut.”
“If that’s the case, then do you want to tell us about it?” Kayana asked.
Cherie had known it would be only a matter of time before she would have to reveal to her book club friends the events in the past that had made her who she was today. She owed it to them to be truthful with them, as they’d been with her.
“Okay.”
Chapter 11
Cherie drew in a breath, held it, and then slowly let it out. It was as if she had to pump herself up to reveal what she’d never told another person. Not even her mother.
“I met this guy when I was fifteen, and the year I turned sixteen, we began sleeping together. We continued to see each other even after he married, and that’s something I’m not very proud of.”
“Why are you blaming yourself for that?” Leah asked. “After all, he was the married one.”
