14
Sienna had pinned all her hopes on my two “heartbroken” sons. But for some reason, this time, neither Adri an nor Jack intervened. They ignored her week–long vigil at their gate.
I had assumed their feelings for my daughters–in–law weren’t that deep.
I was wrong. Both of them went off the deep end.
For a time, Adrian drank himself into a stupor, neglecting the company entirely. Someone at a business dinn er tried to set him up with a girl who looked remarkably like Olivia. A replacement.
Adrian had flipped the table, then proceeded to systematically destroy the man’s company, bankrupting him
in two weeks. His parting shot was legendary: “My wife is one of a kind. Do you really think you can just fin
a replacement?”
When I heard, I asked Olivia how she felt.
She was cracking sunflower seeds, and she laughed. “Oh, look at him, playing the devoted husband. Who‘ he performing for? When I was around, he couldn’t seem to kick Sienna out of his heart. Mom, don’t get me wrong, but in a man’s eyes, the only things worth having are the things they can’t get or have lost forever What good is this belated devotion to me? I’d rather have two handsome young men waiting on me.”
I thought she was absolutely right. Howard had refused to divorce me, acting as if his love for me was eter nal. But he had still gone behind my back to see Serena, lying to me for over twenty years. If I felt a flicker o sympathy for him now, I’d be pathetic.
So when Howard pushed past my secretary and burst into my office, I simply tapped a few keys on my com puter and printed out a document.
The divorce papers. It was time to finalize what should have been done years ago.
His eyes were bloodshot. “Eleanor, why? Why did you lie to me? Why did you leave in such a cruel way? D you have any idea how much guilt I’ve lived with? The doctors say I have a severe psychological disorder People say I’ve lost my mind. My hair turned white overnight. I’m on medication every single day. Don’t you feel anything for me?”
I laughed, a cold, sharp sound. “You lied to me for twenty years. I lied to you for five. We’re more than even Sign it. And don’t even think about trying to force me to go back. You have no power over me anymore, How
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ard.”
He clutched the papers, his voice trembling with a desperate longing. “Don’t you feel anything for our twenty- five years together? I haven’t seen Sienna in five years. Even when she cried and begged, I turned her away. I know you were angry. I won’t do anything to make you angry ever again. Eleanor, I was wrong. Can’t you just
look back, just once?”
‘No. Not divorcing you back then was your one chance. You wasted it.”
He took a sharp breath, his eyes squeezed shut. He shook his head fiercely. “No. I will never divorce you. If I
ust try hard enough, I know I can win you back.”
I scoffed. Who gave him that kind of confidence?
