by Shelly Ellis
She slowly shook her head. “Dammit, I’m only trying to help, Terry! I’m just trying to save you from heartbreak, but you’re too stupid and pigheaded to see that!”
“Yeah, well, I don’t need your help or your advice! And if you really feel the way about me getting married, you don’t have to show up to the fucking wedding! Stay your ass at home!”
“What is happening in here?” Evan called out.
Terrence and Paulette turned to the kitchen entryway to find Evan staring at them, looking aghast.
“What is going on? We’re at a kid’s birthday party and you two are cussing each other out at the top of your lungs!” he said in a harsh whisper as he walked toward them, looking every bit like the overbearing older brother from their childhood. “Stop it right now! The both of you! This isn’t the time or the place.”
“Don’t worry. I was just leaving,” Terrence said as he shoved past her and stomped out of the kitchen.
“What the hell was that?” Evan asked, and Paulette gritted her teeth, too frustrated to answer him.
Chapter 18
Leila
“What do you mean Paulette isn’t coming to Terry’s wedding? Why?” Leila asked as Evan drove their Range Rover from Paulette’s house.
Isabel was in the backseat, engrossed with the pages of her book and listening to music through her earbuds, ignoring her mother and stepfather. Baby Angelica was slumbering contentedly in her car seat beside her.
“She and Terrence had a big blow-up before he stormed out of Little Nate’s birthday party,” he explained as he pulled onto the main road leading to Murdoch Mansion. “I have no idea what it was about. I couldn’t get a straight answer out of her. I just know she’s not coming to the wedding now.”
Leila gnawed the inside of her mouth.
Oh, hell, she thought as she gazed out the windshield. Had Paulette finally divulged to Terrence how she really felt about his fiancée?
I hope not!
“What’s with that look? Do you know what they were fighting about?”
“N-no,” Leila lied, “why . . . why do you think I would know?”
Evan eyed his wife as he drove. “Lee, baby, tell me the truth. Do you know what they were fighting about?”
She loudly groused and leaned her head back against the leather headrest. “Not exactly. But I know that . . . that Paulette doesn’t want Terry to marry C. J. She thinks he can do better. She doesn’t trust her.”
“What? She doesn’t trust her?” Evan cried as they turned onto their driveway. “Why doesn’t she trust her?”
“I don’t know, honey. You know your sister! She has her own logic that you can’t always follow.”
He slowly shook his head. “I just don’t get why she would do this now!”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I could be going away for a long time, Lee,” he whispered as he drew to a stop in front of the stone steps leading up to the mansion. He glanced up at the rearview mirror to check to see if Isabel was listening. She wasn’t. She was still reading her book. “If I’m going to be in jail for twenty years, I’d at least like to go in knowing my brother and sister are on speaking terms.”
She placed a hand on his knee and gave it a squeeze. “It’ll be all right, baby.”
She then watched as Evan shifted the car into park and removed his key from the ignition. His face clouded over as he stared down at the steering wheel. “Sure, it will,” he said, though he didn’t look very convinced.
A minute later, the entire family stepped through the mansion’s double doors. Angelica was nestled on her mother’s shoulder. Isabel beelined for the center staircase.
“If I hurry I can catch the last twenty minutes of my show,” she said over her shoulder. “See you guys later.”
Evan frowned. “What show?”
“Who knows!” Leila said with a shrug. “Okay, I’ll check in with you before bedtime, honey,” she called to her daughter’s receding back as Isabel took the stairs two at a time. Leila then turned back to Evan. “I was just going to put Angie down in the nursery if you wanted to hang out for a bit. Maybe grab a glass of wine and destress.”
“That sounds good, baby. But give me an hour, okay? I need to get something done in my office, then I’ll head upstairs.”
She nodded as Evan walked across the foyer to the east wing with his head bowed and his brow wrinkled, like he was muddling something over.
He’s still worried about Terry and Paulette, she thought, which is the last thing he needed to concern himself with right now.
It irritated her that Paulette would cause this last-minute drama, but she should’ve expected as much from her sister-in-law. In the last few years, Paulette attracted drama like a magnet. Unfortunately, it seemed to have a domino effect on her siblings. Evan was usually the one to intercede in situations like this, but Leila figured it would probably be better for her to take over this one.
“Ev!” she called out to him, making him pause midstride. “Really, honey, don’t worry, because everything’s gonna be okay. I’ll . . . I’ll make sure of it.”
He nodded absently. “See you in an hour. Keep the merlot waiting for me.” He then pushed open his study door and shut it.
Leila turned back toward the center staircase and climbed the stairs, holding her sleeping baby in her arms. When she turned to her right to head to the west wing, she halted. Michael was standing a few feet in front of her, casually leaning against the cream-colored wall.
“What’s Evan worried about?” he asked, cocking his thumb into the pockets of jeans that were so tight she could almost tell whether he was circumcised.
“Do you do anything besides skulking and eavesdropping?” she snapped, then walked past him toward the nursery. “Doesn’t Ida have some errand for you to run?”
He chuckled as he trailed behind her. “No, she’s busy getting a mani-pedi in D.C. right now, but this morning she sent me to Nordstrom’s to get her more panty hose.”
“Well, there you go,” she murmured as she continued walking. When she realized he was still trailing behind her, she sucked her teeth in irritation. “Please stop following me.”
“Or what?”
“Or I’ll tell my husband everything that you’ve said and done. And trust me, he’ll make sure that you get tossed out of here on your ass.”
She drew to a stop near the nursery’s entrance, and he halted beside her.
“Let’s be real, Leila. If you were going to tell Evan all that, you would’ve done it by now.” He leaned against the door frame. “But you haven’t—which says something.”
“Yeah, it says that he has enough on his plate without having to worry about you—or your pitiful attempts to seduce me.”
Michael laughed. “Oh, I’m pitiful, am I?”
“Yes, you are! You may have some game with the senior citizens, but you aren’t as appealing to women below the age of sixty. Sorry to disappoint you!”
“Believe me, sweetheart, if you decide to pass this up, you’re the one who’s gonna be disappointed.”
“I think I’ll survive,” she said dryly before stepping into the nursery and shutting the door behind her, leaving him alone in the corridor.
* * *
“Thank you for coming today,” Leila said as she squeezed a slice of lemon into her water glass and took a sip.
C. J. shrugged. “No problem!”
She and C. J. sat at a table toward the back of the restaurant, in a secluded spot where Leila hoped they wouldn’t attract much attention from the other patrons or the waitstaff if they raised their voices.
Though I really hope that doesn’t happen, Leila thought as her eyes drifted to the restaurant’s glass front door. She expected the third attendee of today’s lunch to step through the doorway at any moment, and once she did, Leila knew the proverbial sparks would fly.
She had orchestrated this lunch with C. J. and Paulette after Terrence outright refused to attend himself, even when
Leila tried for a good hour to convince him. He said he didn’t have anything else to say to his sister until she apologized for what she had said about C. J.
Thankfully, C. J. wasn’t as stubborn as her fiancé. She had agreed to meet with Paulette on the condition that the conversation remain civil.
“I’m not gonna be bullied again by her, Leila,” C. J. had warned her over the phone. “If the conversation goes left, I’m leaving!”
Leila hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
“I’m willing to try to help, though I’m not sure if I really can,” C. J. now said as she shook out her dinner napkin and tossed it onto her lap. “This whole conflict seems to be between Terry and Paulette—not Paulette and me.”
“It’s between Terry and Paulette—but the crux of this whole blow-up is about you, C. J. You know that.”
C. J. lowered her eyes to the white linen tablecloth and nodded grudgingly.
“Plus, Terry is refusing to talk to Paulette.”
C. J. nodded again. “Yeah, he’s dug his heels in with this one. I’ve tried to get him to cave a little, but he won’t listen to me. He told me not to bother defending her, that she wasn’t worth it.”
Leila’s shoulders sank.
“I didn’t even tell him that I was coming here today to meet her for lunch. I didn’t know how he would respond. I made up a lie about meeting friends.”
Leila anxiously gnawed her bottom lip. “I had to lie, too.”
“Lie about what?”
“I . . . I didn’t tell Paulette you would be here today.”
C. J.’s mouth fell open.
“She thinks she and I are the only ones meeting up for lunch.”
“What? Are you serious? You mean she doesn’t even know I’m here? But you told me—”
“I know! I know! And I’m sorry for doing this. But I knew if I told you the truth, you wouldn’t do it. You’d think we were ambushing her.”
“Because we are!”
“And if I told Paulette the real reason for today’s meeting, I knew she wouldn’t show up, either. She . . . she kind of blames you for all of this.”
“But that’s ridiculous! I didn’t do anything wrong!”
Leila closed her eyes. “I know that. You know that. And I’m hoping that today’s meeting will finally make Paulette realize that, too. She’s being stubborn and obnoxious and only making—”
“What’s this about me being stubborn and obnoxious?” Paulette asked.
Leila’s eyes flashed open. She gazed up at her sister-in-law, who was now fixing her with a cold glare over the top of her Chloe sunglasses.
“Oh,” Leila said, anxiously shifting in her chair. “I didn’t . . . I didn’t know you were here.”
“Yeah, I could tell,” Paulette said dryly. “So it looks like we’re not alone for our little girls’ date.” She gave a contemptuous glance at C. J. “You’re just full of surprises today, aren’t you, Lee?”
C. J. didn’t comment but only looked at Leila, letting her take the lead on this one.
You created this mess, the look said. You’ve got to fix it!
“Paulette, honey, please . . . just have a seat,” Leila urged.
Paulette didn’t budge, making Leila let out a huff.
“Come on, girl! It’s just lunch! You came all this way. You might as well eat a salad and hear us out. You can be pissed at me later!”
Finally, ever so slowly, Paulette pulled out one of the chairs at their table. She tossed her crocodile clutch near her bread plate before flopping back into her chair.
“Fine,” she said succinctly before yanking off her sunglasses and glowering across the table at Leila and C. J. “I’ll stay.”
Thank God, Leila thought. At least she’d won that skirmish, but she knew that soon the real battle would begin.
The waiter appeared seconds later to refill their water glasses and to take their orders. After he walked away, their table quieted again. The tension between the women returned.
“So you said you wanted to talk,” Paulette said, breaking the strained silence. “So talk!”
Leila took a deep breath. Here it goes.
“Look, I didn’t want to get involved in this, but—”
“But you did anyway,” Paulette finished for her, adjusting the knife and fork near her plate.
“I did it for Evan’s sake,” Leila quickly clarified, “and for your family’s sake. I’ve known you guys for years, Paulette, and it’s painful to watch you fight like this. This is such an important time. Evan is going through a lot, and we don’t know how much time we all still have together as a family! Do you really want to waste that time bickering?”
Paulette’s hard visage softened.
“I mean . . . won’t it hurt not to go to your brother’s wedding?” Leila persisted.
“Of course it will! But I didn’t choose not to go to his wedding. Terry rescinded my invitation, and he did it because he couldn’t stand to hear the truth!”
“The truth about what?” Leila asked.
“The truth about her,” Paulette said, fluttering her fingers in C. J.’s direction, making the other woman narrow her eyes.
“If you’re going to talk about me, can you at least address me like I’m sitting at the table with the rest of you,” C. J. said.
“Fine. I will!” They watched as Paulette pivoted in her chair to look squarely at C. J. “I reminded Terry of all the stuff he’d conveniently forgotten—like the fact that you lied to him when you first met. You didn’t tell him that you sneaked into the hospital that day to interview him. You didn’t tell him that—”
“Oh, my God!” C. J. threw back her head and slammed her hands on the table. “That was over a year ago! He confronted me about it. I apologized for not being honest with him. We sorted it out and put it behind us! If he can forgive me, then why can’t you?”
“Because my brother is more forgiving than I ever will be!”
“Obviously!” C. J. snapped back.
Leila looked uneasily between the two women. They were getting louder. The other restaurant patrons were now turning in their chairs and looking in their direction. This was going left—fast.
“Let me tell you something, C. J. If Tony ever broke my heart the way you broke Terry’s, I would’ve never, ever forgiven him! I can’t believe you would just . . . just dump my brother and waltz back to your ex like—”
“I didn’t ‘waltz back’ to my ex! That’s not how it happened!”
“But you started dating him again, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did—and Terry started dating again, too, while we were broken up. What’s your point?”
“My point is that you could’ve driven my brother into another depression with your . . . your petty selfishness!”
“Selfishness?” C. J. squeaked. “Selfishness?”
“You could’ve ruined him. But he made it through despite how badly you treated him—and just when he started to bounce back, you swooped in to mess with his head all over again! He never had a chance!”
“Are you serious? Terry asked me to take him back! Because he loves me and I love him. We didn’t—”
“But I’ll be damned,” Paulette continued as if she hadn’t heard her, “if I quietly sit by and let you—”
“Stop!” Leila shouted, holding up her hands again. She just couldn’t take any more of this bickering back and forth. “Ladies, just . . . just stop, please . . . before we get kicked out of the restaurant.”
Both women immediately fell silent. C. J. looked supremely pissed and on the verge of getting up and walking away from the table. Paulette looked smugly proud of herself.
“Look, I didn’t bring you guys here for this. I brought you here to resolve your issues—not to make it worse.”
“I get that, Leila, and I appreciate it . . . but it looks like it’s a lost cause,” C. J. said, removing her napkin from her lap and dropping it to the tablecloth.
Paulette snorted before taking a sip
from her water glass. “I couldn’t agree more.”
Leila watched helplessly as C. J. shoved her chair back from the table and rose to her feet.
“Like I said before, I love Terry and he knows that,” C. J. argued. “My feelings for him are real, and I don’t have to prove a goddamn thing to you, Paulette . . . to any of you, for that matter!”
“Wait, don’t go! Not yet!” Leila pled. “We know how you feel about Terry. We know you love him!”
“No, we don’t,” Paulette sneered.
“Dammit,” Leila shouted, finally losing her cool, “can you stop being a bitch just for one second? You’re acting like a child, and it’s going to—”
“I’m acting like a child?” Paulette raised brows and pointed at her chest. “I’m acting like a child because I want to protect my family from yet another user . . . from yet another liar who could ruin my brother’s life?
“Remember how we let Dante into the family with open arms? Huh? Remember . . . remember how we . . . we didn’t ask any questions and just accepted him? And what did that get us?” she barked, making both Leila and C. J. go still. “Remember Marques and what he did to me . . . what he did to my marriage, to my entire life? I will never forget that shit!” Her voice cracked. Tears welled in her eyes. “I’m not going to be that stupid, naïve girl anymore! I’m not letting it happen again!”
Paulette lowered her head and began to weep. She grabbed her dinner napkin and wiped her eyes, smearing her mascara as she sobbed.
C. J. stood awkwardly by her chair, twisting the strap of her satchel. Leila reached across the table and squeezed Paulette’s hand.
“Honey, what they did to you . . . what they did to all of us was wrong. There’s no denying that! But C. J. isn’t Dante. She isn’t Marques, either. You’re judging her based on what other people have done, and it’s not fair.”
Paulette finally raised her reddened eyes to look at Leila.
“She’s a good person, and Terry loves her. He loves her! I mean . . . let’s be honest. Did you ever think something like this would happen? I would have bet hell would freeze over first before Terrence Murdoch would want to marry someone.”