“We only found out for sure this morning.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it. The entire band. Dean too. All those men have been awful to you. They used you and threw you away when things got inconvenient. You’re owed millions, Claudia.Millions, and if you won’t fight for what’s yours, I will. For your sake and the sake of my grandchild.”
Not to mention for her own sake. Doreen was nothing if not pragmatic. Her own life hadn’t turned out the way she’d assumed it would back when she was a blushing bride. Sheand her new husband, who’d just bought his first dry-cleaning store, were going to be wealthy. Only someone came up with wash-and-wear fabrics, then a recession hit, followed by an energy crisis, and instead of living the high life, they were still scraping by in their early fifties. She’d told Claudia a dozen times over the last few months that she ‘damn well wasn’t about to watch her daughter suffer the same fate.’
“Please leave it alone,” Claudia answered. “These aren’t the kind of men you turn into enemies. If I cooperate, I’ll have a bright, shiny future ahead of me.”
“I doubt that very much.”
“Mom, seriously stop it. You think Zane is going to let his child grow up in poverty?”
“So far, he hasn’t made one move to help you. He didn’t even pay for your hospital stay. Not one lousy night in a double room. And we can’t take this lying down, Claudia. We just can’t.”
“Oh my God, stay out of it. I know these people far better than you, and I know things will get sorted out.”
“You can’t trust any of them.”
“I’m hanging up now.”
“Call me as soon as you hear from him. And if I don’t hear back by tomorrow night, I’m flying there to go bang on his door myself.”
2 A.M. — NOVEMBER 22, 1996
SIENNA
Sienna woke suddenly, her heart pounding as hard as her head, her brain overloaded with thoughts of their children. That full-body raw feeling was still there from having wept for so long. She could tell it wasn’t morning yet because there was no light seeping in past the blackout blinds. Those stupid blinds had cost a fortune, and they never worked as well as the designer said they would.You won’t know if it’s noon or midnight!Ha! What a crock.
Next to her, Zane was snoring. Snoring?! The nerve of that man. If the cheating wasn’t a sign that he was a sociopath, the snoring certainly was. How could he possibly be asleep right now after what he’d done? Correction—what he was doing. The only reason he was even in this bed was because Ivy was still up and they didn’t want her to see Zane taking his pillow to the guest room. They needed time to figure out how to tell the kids, or even if they would tell them at all. The only thing Sienna knew for sure was that he needed to get the hell out of their home and stay gone untilshe decided what she was going to do. But beyond that, she couldn’t see a path forward.
When she returned from Burger King, bloated and burping, she told him he had to move out for a while. Non-negotiable if he wanted any chance at a future with her. They agreed not to tell the kids until Friday after school. They’d need the weekend to get past the fact that their parents were taking some time apart. A weekend. Yes, that ought to do it. Two whole days to go from being part of a happy, whole family to coming from a broken home. If only this had happened at the start of the summer break. Then the kids would have had nine weeks to cry and stomp and rage.
In a feat of mom strength, she had managed to hold it together for three hours after school, her emotions like raging water pounding a hastily constructed dam. She might burst at any moment. She lied and told them she was zipping off to step class as soon as dinner was on the table, but in reality, she was going to find a place to hide until after they were in bed.
Zane had picked the kids up from school, and the entire time he was gone, Sienna stared at a photo album she’d made of Zane’s forty-fifth birthday celebration. The party was a surprise that she’d spent months working on. One hundred of their closest friends showed up at the house to toast to another forty-five years. A huge white tent was erected in the yard with round tables and a stage where some of the biggest names in the industry took turns belting out tunes in between singing Zane’s praises.Not only a hell of a talented musician, but a great man too. No one’s as dedicated to his family as this guy right here.Claudia got up and sang a duet with Zane. Dolly and Kenny’s ‘Islands in the Stream.’ It was all so kitsch and oh so funny.
As Sienna stared at one of the photos, Claudia smiled back at her. She could see her own arm around Claudia’s shoulder. The arm of a foolish woman who thought her marriage was safe with her. She shook with rage as she ordered herself not to call her. Not today. She would say the most awful things, and if she did, there was a chance Claudia would record her and leak it to some tabloid, and then it would be out there forever. What an awful bitch Sienna McCreight was, picking on a woman who just had a baby. It wasn’t Claudia’s job to uphold their wedding vows. That responsibility fell squarely on Zane’s shoulders. And he had failed spectacularly.
Thankfully, Ivy had gone home after school with her best friend to hang out and have supper. Ivy would know something was wrong immediately, and she was like a Rottweiler with a bone when something was up. Parker, who rarely looked at Sienna, seemed oblivious to the entire thing. He made his zombie-like walk to the fridge and grabbed a carton of chocolate milk, then downed the whole thing and went to the rec room to play Super Nintendo. Poppy noticed right away that her mom had been crying and hurried over to give her a big hug, smelling the way children do when they’ve been playing hard outside. “Mom, are you sad?”
“No, baby, I just have allergies today,” Sienna said, dropping a kiss on Poppy’s smooth forehead.
“What are you allergic to?”
“Betrayal.”
Zane, who was standing in the corner of the room trying to make himself small, let his head snap back, while Poppy looked up at her mom, her eyes narrowed in confusion. “What?”
“Umm, pollen.”
“You said betrayal,” Poppy answered.
“Mommy’s being silly.” She pulled a goofy face, then said, “Do I look frightfully bad?”
Frightfully bad—that was their little joke. A character on a cartoon they were watching in a London hotel room had used the phrase, and Poppy thought it was the greatest thing she’d ever heard. Since then, everything was frightfully bad—the weather, her day at school, tofu nuggets.
Poppy smiled up at her, then her mouth lost its curve in favor of a very grown-up straight line. “No, you look sad.”
“I’m fine, my little Poppy Seed,” Sienna insisted. “Now, how about a chocolate chip cookie?”
