“I know you treasure your memories, Ava, but this time you went too far. You hurt our daughter.”
“I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
“How could it not?” His gaze was intense, his expression hard. “You know how sensitive she is about being the maid’s daughter. Finding out about Shannon was hard enough, but for you to rub her nose in it like you did...”
“It wasn’t like that,” she protested. “She came over and demanded to see the memory box. She insisted. She was going to search until she found it.”
“But you shouldn’t have had it in the first place,” he said, his voice harsh with disapproval. “You shouldn’t have lied to me.”
“I didn’t lie,” she protested automatically.
He brushed that away. “You knew if she found out she would be devastated, but you kept the box anyway. Worse, you showed it to Shannon. What the hell were you thinking?”
She cringed in the chair. “Milton, please. You have to understand. Shannon was going to be our daughter. We loved her, and then we lost her. I was simply showing her how much she was wanted.”
“I don’t get it. Why does she matter more than Victoria?”
“She doesn’t. That’s not fair.”
“You’re the one not being fair.”
“I had no idea Shannon and Victoria would ever speak to each other,” she protested. “There was no reason for her to ever find out.”
“It was one thing to have the dinner. That was out in the open. You got together with Shannon without telling anyone. She and Victoria are the ones who have this strange situation in common. Why wouldn’t they speak?” He shook his head. “I genuinely don’t understand why you thought showing that damned box to Shannon was a good idea.”
“She needed to know she was loved.”
“She is loved,” he said loudly, glaring at her. “By her mother and everyone else in her life. She’s nothing to us.”
Tears burned. “She was our baby, and we lost her.”
“Twenty-four years ago. Yes, seeing Cindy brought it all back,but dammit, Ava, this is on you. All of it.” He turned away. “I’ve never seen Victoria so broken. How do you think she felt when she found out we were going to name ShannonVictoria? It’s as if we didn’t make any effort at all.”
“But it’s a family name, after your grandmother. We were always going to name our child Victoria if we had a girl. Didn’t you tell her that? It’s about family connection.” She spoke quickly, frantically. He had to understand that she hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Do you think that matters to her now?” he asked. “Do you think it makes any of this better? It’s not just the name. It’s the mural, the room. All of it. And she’s not wrong to feel hurt. We did have all that in place for another baby.”
He stood and circled around the chair, putting it between them, as if he needed a physical barrier to keep them apart. The rejection stabbed her.
“We should have painted it all over and started fresh,” he said, sounding resigned. “We should have realized what we were doing.” He glanced toward the ceiling. “That damned room still exists, like a shrine to another child. No wonder she’s devastated. We made so many mistakes.”
The fear grew, not just because Milton had never been so upset before but also because of the implied threat. But she knew telling him she needed the room to stay the same would only make the situation worse.
“Maybe I should talk to her,” she said faintly, although she had no idea what to say.
“That’s not a good idea. What could you possibly tell her that would help?”
The harshness of the question nearly made her whimper. “I’m not a monster. This was all an accident.”
“Running into Cindy was an accident. Everything since then has been deliberate. You wanted closure, and I thought it was a good idea, but we were both wrong. That dinner put all this inmotion, which is on me. You’re caught up in the past. I don’t know why. I don’t know why Shannon is more important to you than our daughter, but she is.”
“Milton, no! I love Victoria.” Tears spilled onto her cheeks. “I love her.”
“If that’s true, then sometimes you forget to act like it.”
He stared at her for several more seconds, then turned and walked out of the room. Ava watched him go before giving in to the sobs that clawed at her throat and made her choke. She covered her face with her hands, wishing he would come back and hold her. But that wasn’t going to happen. Not for a very long time.
16
