They both shake their heads at him, and Sienna expects a lecture, but the man shrugs. “No way I would either.”
Poppy turns to her mom, putting her small hands on her cheeks and wiping away her tears. “I’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t mean to run away.”
“It’s okay, baby. It’s okay,” she says. “Were you trying to find me because Ivy was going to do the thing she wrote about in her diary?”
“I thought maybe you could stop her, but I got lost.” Her face scrunches up into a tight, red ball, and she starts to cry, clearly remembering the awful moment when she realized she had gone the wrong way and didn’t know how to get back. She leans her head on Sienna’s chest and sobs while Sienna rubs her back.
When she’s finally done crying, Poppy turns to Claudia. “I’m sorry. I hope baby Elliott is okay.”
Claudia puts a hand on Poppy’s cheek. “He’s fine. You took very good care of him.”
“He’s a pretty heavy baby. My arms aresore.”
Claudia and Sienna both laugh, and it feels like the greatest thing in the world. To laugh again, when only minutes before they were facing a future of unspeakable pain.
Sienna hugs Poppy again. “I love you so much, my girl.”
“I love you too, Mommy.”
“No more secrets.” Sienna tucks a lock of Poppy’s hair behind her ear. “From now on, we tell the whole truth.”
The helicopter lowers onto the roof of the hospital. Poppy gives Sienna a thoughtful look, then reaches up and smooths out her mom’s now-wild hair.
“Do I look frightfully bad?” Sienna asks with a silly grin.
“Yes, you do.” Poppy answers in her little fake British accent. “But it’s nothing a hot shower and some tea can’t fix.”
The hospital staff whisks the children away on gurneys, and a nurse brings their moms to a private waiting room. Sienna and Claudia choose chairs next to each other even though the rest are empty. They sit in a state of happy exhaustion, their shoulders touching.
Sienna knows that at any moment the rest of her family and the band will come bursting through the door, and she longs for a few more minutes to think before the circus begins. She realizes Claudia is as much a victim of her husband as she is. They’re no different than Angela. She’s suddenly filled with regret for every unkind thought she ever had about Claudia—for the way she manipulated things in her favor. “I want to apologize for coming up with this stupid lie and pressuring you into it.”
“No, please don’t apologize. I’m the one who created the situation in the first place. You were just trying to fix things.”
“But it wasn’t the right thing to do,” Sienna answers. “And I wasn’t doing it for the right reasons. I can say it was for my kids and Elliott as much as I want, but the truth is, deep down, I couldn’t take the humiliation.”
“Sienna, you’re not the one who should feel humiliated.”
“But I do anyway. I had one job—to keep my husband happy. And clearly, I didn’t do it.”
Shaking her head, Claudia places her hand on Sienna’s. “That’s not true. What happened between us had nothing to do with him not getting what he needs from you.”
“It must have.”
“No, it really didn’t. Not with someone like Zane. I think he only wanted me because Mike had me. And maybe because of the music. I don’t know. But that first night, it was just a way to save ourselves from the grief we were feeling. It’s like only the two of us could understand the guilt, you know?”
Sienna’s heart squeezes. “It must have been so awful when you found out.”
“Devastating. It still is,” she answers. “I can’t stop going over every little thing I did wrong in our relationship and wishing I could change it so maybe he wouldn’t…”
Sienna flips her hand over and gives Claudia’s a squeeze. “There was nothing you could’ve done to save him.”
“I wish I could believe that.”
“It’s true.”
“Tell you what, I’ll stop blaming myself for Zane cheating if you’ll stop blaming yourself for Mike ending things the way he did.”
Claudia stares at her, then they both shake their heads. “Easier said than done, right?” Claudia says.
