Cherie nodded. “Yes. My past is my past, and I’d like it to remain there.”
Kayana came over and propped her elbows on the countertop. “I’m going to give you some advice just this once, then the topic is moot. If you’re sleeping with the man and you’re having unprotected sex, I suggest you tell Reese about your past and insist he tell you about his, because if something comes up that you’re hiding, then whatever you’d share with the man will be shot to hell. And it’s the same with him. Graeme and I were very open with each other when we talked about our first marriages; we were given the option to continue to see each other or walk away. This is not to say that Graeme placed all the blame on his wife for their failing marriage, but he did accept some of the responsibility for not understanding what she’d been going through.
“It was the same with me and James. I married him knowing his family believed I wasn’t good enough for their son, but I was so madly in love with him that I didn’t care what they thought of me. It was the reason I allowed James to turn our home into a place where his friends could hang out as if it were a social club; he knew his parents didn’t approve of me and were reluctant for me to mingle with their fake-ass friends.”
Cherie’s jaw dropped. “You mean they never invited you to their home?”
“I could count on one hand the number of times I crossed over their threshold during the nineteen years of my marriage. But, to be honest, I didn’t give a shit about them because I felt they were morally beneath me. James’s father also cheated on his bougie wife, and what makes it so sad is that she knew it. I was nothing like my mother-in-law because I’d told James even before we were married that if I found out he was cheating, it was over. Apparently, he’d forgotten who his wife was; when I discovered he’d gotten another woman pregnant, I was out.”
Cherie thought about her affair with Weylin. There was no doubt his parents would not have approved of or accepted her, and that was evident when the Campbell family lawyer called her every low-down epithet he could think of.
She closed her eyes and said a silent prayer for strength, because what she was about to tell her book club friends was something she’d never revealed to another living soul. “I’m going to tell you everything about the man with whom I had an affair for years, but I’m still not ready to divulge his name.”
Kayana held her hands. “We don’t have to know his name, Cherie.” Her voice was low, soothing.
Cherie nodded, smiling. In that instant, Kayana became her therapist, and she trusted her enough to bare her soul. “I . . . I was fifteen when I was awarded an academic scholarship to a prestigious prep school.” She took a deep breath, held it, then slowly exhaled. She told Kayana and Leah everything from giving a fellow student her virginity to continuing to sleep with him throughout college and then beginning a week following his honeymoon. The more she talked, the easier it was for her to reveal the incidents that had turned her into a jealous, manipulative woman who used her wiles and her body to get what she wanted from her adulterous lover. There were gasps from Leah and Kayana when she told them she’d sold her baby to his father because his wife was unable to give him a child.
Leah’s eyelids fluttered wildly as she struggled to blink back tears. “I can’t believe he tricked you into having his baby when it was his original intent for you to become a surrogate.”
“I know it sounds crazy, but when he told me, I went ballistic and threatened to go to the press about our affair. Then, once I cooled off, I realized women agreed to become surrogates for different reasons. Wills comes from a very wealthy family, as does his wife, so I quoted an outrageous figure I was certain he wouldn’t accept. I was shocked when he did, but when I met with his lawyer to draw up the contract, the supercilious little man called me names I won’t repeat, so I doubled, then tripled the original amount. Wills wanted his child, so he was forced to give me whatever I wanted. I got a two-bedroom condo in an exclusive gated community and stock in his family’s company. I held onto the shares before selling them back to Wills for more than they were listed for on the stock market. When I sold the condo, I was able to pay cash for this house and invest what was left over in a retirement account.”
Kayana was grinning like a Cheshire cat. “Girl, I really like your style.”
Cherie inclined her head in acknowledgment. She was not only book smart but also street smart. As a young girl, she’d overheard women talk about how they were able to get over on the men with whom they were involved, never thinking that one day she would use their tactics to get what she wanted from a man. Weylin may have thought he was manipulating her when it’d been the reverse. She had become the winner when he gave her money, precious jewelry, the condo, and stock in his family’s real estate conglomerate. She may have given him a son, but every time he looked at that child, he would be reminded of how he’d gotten him, and it wasn’t out of love. Fast-forward five years, and now she had a second chance to right the wrongs. A chance to fall in love with someone worthy of her love. Someone she could trust completely.
“Do you ever hear from him?” Leah asked.
Cherie flashed a wry smile. “We had an agreement never to see or talk to each other again once I delivered the baby. He’d conveniently forgotten about that when he called me a day before I closed on this house to complain that I didn’t tell him I was selling the condo.”
“The SOB had a lot of nerve to complain about something that belonged to you,” Kayana stated angrily.
“Exactly,” Cherie drawled. “I told him to fuck off and hung up. He called back and left a voice mail, but I deleted it without listening to it. He wanted a son, and I gave him one. Case closed.”
Leah rubbed Cherie’s back. “I’m so sorry you had to give up your baby.”
Cherie lowered her eyes. “Either I was stupid or under some crazy spell when Wills said he wanted me to have his love child. And looking back, I know that now I never would trade my son for all the money in the world.”
“Did you get to see the baby?”
Cherie shook her head. “No, Leah. I was given a sedative before giving birth that made me loopy, so I never got to see or hold the baby. But I do remember hearing him cry.”
Kayana squeezed her fingers. “You say this man is very wealthy. Are there photos of him and his wife andyourson?”
Cherie had divulged a lot of her past, but knew she had to choose her words carefully because she wasn’t ready to name William Weylin Campbell III as her former lover. “Not really. They tend to keep their personal life very private.” Weylin had released one photo of his wife holding their adopted infant son wrapped in a blanket. Michelle had held the baby at an angle to conceal his face.
Kayana let go of her hands. “You said he called you. How long had it been since y’all had decided to sever all communication?”
“It will be five years in May.”
“And you didn’t change your number?” Kayana questioned.
“Maybe she was hoping he would call her,” Leah interjected. “And he did.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Leah,” Cherie countered. “I allowed Wills to control half my life, and not changing my number allowed me to take back some of the power I surrendered to him. I could make the decision to talk or not talk to him. Even after he called, I decided I wasn’t going to block his number. He can call and leave as many messages as he wants, but I’m not going to talk to him or listen to any of his voice mails.”
“Cherie’s right, Lee. Her ex was like a puppet master, pulling the strings to make her do whatever he wanted. He probably expected her to change her number or block his calls, and I’m certain he was shocked when she didn’t.”
Leah rubbed Cherie’s back again. “I’m glad you got out of it when you did, or the selfish bastard could’ve come back and demanded you become a brood mare for him and his wife.”
