by Vera Roberts
It was time to write Eli an e-mail.
Simone opened her laptop and began penning the letter to her ex. She restarted several times because she sounded too angry and too hurt. No, she needed to be calm and collected. If she were calm, so would Eli.
Dear Eli,
I know it’s been a long while since we had talked. Congratulations on your new show! I hope it does well.
I’m writing to you because I have some news to share with you. Two years ago, I gave birth to a little girl, Elena. Eli, Elena is your child. I struggled for a while as to how to talk to you and let you know, knowing you’re still married.
I do not want to get in the way of what’s going on between you and your wife and I wish you two nothing but the best. But Elena needs to know who her father is and I would really think it’d benefit you both to get to know each other.
I don’t want money, fame, or any other connection to the D’Amatos. I just want Elena to know her father.
I wish you we—
“Simone,” Pepper knocked on her door. “You have a package.”
Simone stopped typing. “I have a package?” She saved the e-mail and closed her laptop. Pepper placed a rectangular box in front of Simone. “From who?”
“Oh, I think you know who!” Pepper wiggled her eyebrows. “Open it!”
Simone opened the box and read the small note.
For tonight. Wear this. I hope I got your sizes right.
–D.
Underneath the note was a pair of black Gucci heels with a matching black dress. Also included were diamond earrings and a necklace.
“Oh my God,” Simone’s Texan accent came out heavy as she caught her breath. “This is all too much.”
Pepper looked inside the box and whistled. “It seems like someone finally has a new boyfriend.”
****
Faith checked her phone. There were no messages from Eli. He didn’t send any texts, neither. As he promised, he came by the next day to pick up his clothing and then he left. They made small talk and he promised to pick the boys up from school but that was the extent of their conversation.
Faith waited for him to apologize and admit he was wrong. It never did come.
Maybe she can admit that meeting with Darren probably wasn’t the brightest idea. She could also admit nothing inappropriate happened and they agreed not to be in contact anymore. If Eli stuck around to hear that side of the story, he would realize how silly he was in overreacting. He’ll be pissed off for a day or two but he’ll come back around. He always did.
Faith wondered what expensive gift he was going to give her.
“We have a busy day here at the shop!” Krista announced as she entered Faith’s office. “We have a wedding party tomorrow and several heads here today!”
“Yay.” Faith quietly replied.
“Normally, you’ll be happy about those coins you’re getting but I’m sensing you couldn’t give two you-know-whats.” Krista closed the door behind her. “What’s going on?”
“Someone took pictures of me and Darren and sent them to Eli,” Faith rolled her eyes as Krista sat in shock, “so there’s that.”
“How many different ways can I say, ‘I told you so’?” Krista wondered aloud.
“It was a nice lunch and nothing happened. In fact, we agreed to no longer be in contact with each other.” Faith mentioned with a slight smirk on her face. “But Eli huffed and puffed and blew a tantrum. He left last night and only came home to see the kids off to school this morning. He’s flying to do a talk show with his brothers and the trip will do him some good.” She waved a hand in the air. “I’m going to let him cool down and then it’ll be fine.”
“He left last night?” Krista asked, bothered by the unconcerned look on Faith’s face. “And you’re not the least bit concerned where he was?”
“Where could he have gone? He probably went to one of his brothers!” Faith rolled her eyes. “But he came back home today and all is fine.”
“Faith, I know your marriage is none of my business but don’t you think you’re being unfair to Eli?” Krista asked. “I mean, I’ve seen the man try harder than any man I know of to work on his marriage and be committed to you and you’re like whatever with it.”
“The therapy was for him, not me.” Faith repeated a statement she’s long held. “I wasn’t the one that needed to change. It was him.”
Krista wished she could knock some sense into her best friend. She wasn’t a psychic but she didn’t think Eli was going to put up with Faith’s antics any longer. Eli may have been a cad for what he had done, but he certainly wasn’t anyone’s doormat. “You’re going to push Eli to his breaking point and you’re going to regret it.”
“And what is he going to do?” Faith asked. “He knows he’s not going anywhere.”
“If you say so,” Krista shrugged, “I hope you’re right.” There was a knock of Faith’s door and Krista opened it to see a stranger standing behind it.
“May I help you?” Faith asked.
“I’m looking for Faith D’Amato?” The stranger asked.
“I’m she,” Faith nodded.
The stranger handed over a document. “You’ve been served.” He then left.
“I’ve been served?” Faith hurriedly opened the papers with Krista by her side. Her heart dropped when she read the document.
Eli had filed for legal separation.
Twelve
Darren was too good to be true.
Standing in the full-length mirror in her foyer, Simone admired the long, black strapless dress with a leg slit from Jason Wu. She was already a fan of his from his creations he’d done for First Lady Michelle Obama, and now Simone finally had one of her own. The dress perfectly hugged her curves like an old friend. She did her hair in an up-do and Pepper volunteered to do her makeup.
Simone felt royal.
Simone could admit she’s had the worst luck in men and the reconciliation that wasn’t with Eli was just a number in a long string of Never Gonna Happen romances. She’d given up on love and resorted to the thought that she was going to be a single mother for the rest of her life. She was fine with that. She had money to be made and a daughter to raise. That would be more than enough fulfillment.
Darren was quite convincing.
She felt the sparks when they’d danced at the wedding and the flirtacious texts they’d exchanged over the course of a few weeks. Simone was never a big football fan but always tuned in to watch Darren play whenever his games were on TV. She even bought his jersey to channel her inner groupie.
It’s just a nice dinner. Nothing more.
She had no idea what Darren’s plans were for that night other than he casually mentioned dinner. If dinner was involved, there might be dancing. Simone hoped those Gucci heels were comfortable to do a little movement on the floor. She then wondered if she could still dance. It’d been so long she didn’t know any popular dance moves, nor did she want to attempt any.
“Well, well, well…someone’s looking for a sponsor.”
Leave it to Alicia and her fat-ass mouth to constantly instigate. Simone often wondered if they were adopted. “Good evening to you, too, Alicia.”
Alicia sucked a kernel out of her mouth as she eyeballed Simone’s dress. It was just alright looking and nothing spectacular. “Where are you going this evening?”
“A friend is taking me to a charity auction.” Simone didn’t know if that were true but it didn’t matter. It sounded better than a blind date with the country’s most eligible bachelor.
“A charity auction?” Alicia smirked. “I don’t know of any charity auction happening tonight.”
“Why would you know?” Simone replied . “It’s not like you get out of the house and do things.”
“So you’re calling me a typical lazy Negro?” Alicia fired back.
“Girl, what the hell is your problem?” Simone finally addressed her sister. “You’re killing my vibe here.”
Alicia walked over
to her sister with a smarmy smile on her face. “I know your secret.”
“My secret?” Simone asked. “What secret?”
“I thought you would never ask,” Alicia dug into her back pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper. She began to read it. “Dear Eli, I know it’s been a long while since we’d talked. Congratulations on your new show! I hope it does well!”
Simone snatched the paper from her sister and looked at it. The one day Alicia wanted to use Simone’s laptop, she discovered the unfinished email Simone began to write to Eli. Simone would learn that one day, her sister had no good intentions when it came to her. Simone quickly thought about her reaction. If she blew up, it would be a story for all of the family gatherings for years. If she remained calm, cool, and collected, no one would know.
“What do you want?” Simone asked.
Alicia smiled at her sister. “I want money. Lots of it or I’ll go to the press about this.”
“Do it.” Simone shrugged.
“And another thing…I…” Alicia stopped her speech. “…what?”
“You want to embarrass me? You want to everyone to know about my scandalous ways?” Simone dared. “Go ahead.”
Alicia was slow to fall for Simone’s trick. “You sure you want everyone to know you’re a skeezer?”
“The moment it comes out that you sold me out for the highest dollar, it wouldn’t matter. I can bring up your bully ways and how you were an awful sister. I can also say you blackmailed me and I was forced to come out with the story despite how devastating it would be to my family and our mother,” Simone smiled, “the more you attack me, my status as martyr becomes cemented. After all, nobody likes a bully.”
Alicia stepped up to her sister, who remained unbothered. “It’s going to come out and people are going to hate you.”
“That’s a possibility. The other possibility is no one would care.” Simone heard a knock at her door. “Excuse me, that’s my date. You have fun with your blackmailing scheme, you hear me?”
****
Darren watched as Simone hurriedly rushed to the limo. Her quick strides made the gown flow around her as it accentuated her curves. Her makeup was impeccable. Her eyes, however, were fiery like a scorned woman. He just hoped she wasn’t upset at him. “You look about ten shades of pissed off.”
Simone grumbled as she stepped into the Mercedes limousine. She had a perfectly good night until Alicia and her fat-ass trap ruined it. Because Alicia printed out the e-mail, Simone wouldn’t have been surprised if the poor child took screenshots and posted it all for everyone to see. “Family,” Simone muttered.
“Ah,” Darren nodded as the limo began moving, “gotta love ‘em because you can’t kill them.”
“Oh, you can,” Simone replied, “it’s just too hard to dispose of the bodies.”
“Oh, for sure. And I hate blood,” Darren shivered, “it makes me queasy.”
Simone turned to Darren for the first time since entering the limo. If it were possible for him to become even more attractive in a few weeks, Darren shined bright like a diamond. Wearing an open collar grey shirt that offset his dark suit, Darren was blessed from God Himself. “Blood makes you queasy?”
“I get puke face and all,” he replied, “I can’t handle seeing it.”
“You play football for a living. I’m sure you’ve seen blood coming out from other players?”
“And I turn away like a son of a gun,” Darren chuckled, “nope.”
“You don’t like to watch horror films?” She asked.
“Can’t stand them.”
“No The Walking Dead for you?”
“Hell, no.”
“So I guess I won’t be sending you to the store to pick up my tampons?”
Darren shuddered. “You’re lucky you’re fine because that right there…that right there…” He pointed to Simone, who smiled. “You’re lucky you’re fine. I’m glad you’re smiling, though. I’ll do anything to see that smile all of the time.” He placed his hand on top of hers.
Simone felt an electric current that only a man could bring. “Thank you for cheering me up, Darren. I really appreciate it.”
“Thank you for being my date tonight. I’m afraid it’s going to be long and drawn-out but it’s for a good cause – raising money to help fight childhood cancer.”
“Are you going to bid on anything?”
“Nah,” Darren grabbed Simone’s hand and kissed it, “I’ve already won the best prize.”
Thirteen
“How are you feeling?” Nick asked.
“I want to get so drunk, I don’t want to remember how I even got to California,” Eli replied.
Eli waited in the dressing room backstage at the Ellen show as the family was set to make a rare appearance with all of them in tow. Although the brothers often saw each other, it was rare it was just the five of them alone without significant others or children tagging along.
While the on-screen focus was the show and the brothers, the off-screen focus was on Eli. When he left his home last night, he spent the night at Joey’s. Joey called up one of their cousins who helped draft the legal papers and dropped them off that morning. Eli arrived home to drop off Nate and EJ at their respective schools before heading back home to clean out his closet. He kept the apartment from the previous separation and promptly moved back into it.
He felt miserable. Things weren’t supposed to end like this. They were supposed die together in old age, holding hands. They were supposed to chase each other around in the retirement home. They were supposed celebrate their golden years at bingo or whatever it was that older people did with their time.
Not anymore.
Faith said she was going to forgive him but it was proven a lie. Eli should’ve known she didn’t care to be in therapy and tried hard to pinpoint all of the problems on him. Some of the problems, he took responsibility for. Some of it, he had no doing. But Faith was angry and he tried to understand her anger and placate it.
Then it became a lost cause.
Other than the brief conversation he had with his mother, Eli never thought about Simone or wondered where she was or how she was doing. He didn’t care. He was completely committed to Faith and devoted all of his free time and energy to her. It didn’t matter, after all. Faith was still texting and seeing Darren, in spite of Eli.
This is all your fault.
He already knew what Faith was going to say, what everyone else was going to say. Had he not slept with Simone, Faith wouldn’t have met Darren. Had he not slept with Simone, he wouldn’t be filing for separation. Had he not slept with Simone, none of this would’ve happened. While Eli took the blame for a lot of things, not everything was his fault.
He participated in intensive counseling, read a marriage book, and even started going to church more. He let Faith set her own hours and didn’t pressure her to stay at home with the children like he originally wanted. If anything, Faith had more freedom to do whatever she wanted.
And according to her, that included Darren.
Eli shook his head at the thought of them. If they wanted to be together, fine. He wasn’t going to fight for her any longer. It was clear Faith didn’t want to be married to Eli and he wasn’t going to stand in her way. She and the good quarterback could go have a nice life for all he cared.
“This is the second time I have left my wife for something related to my actions.” The weight of his marriage weighed heavily on him and he wondered if he would truly be the first brother to enact a divorce. “I don’t think I can do this anymore.”
“She needs time, Eli,” Kieran stated, “what happened was heavy and she’s still dealing with it.”
“We have a newborn. She has more freedom to do whatever she wants. She was still talking to the quarterback dude and I didn’t say shit because that’s what she wanted!” Eli shook his head. “And yet, I’m still the asshole. She can go out to Ladies’ Night, she can go on weekend trips, I’ll stay home and watch the kids or hire a nanny
when I need to work, and yet, she’ll keep bringing up the affair like holding it over me gives her some sort of power. It’s almost like she gets off being resentful and hateful. Like all of that goddamn therapy didn’t mean shit.”
“So what are you going to do?” Tony asked.
Eli looked at a picture of his family taken when E.J. was just born. “I don’t even know anymore.”
“She’s going to raise hell the moment you step foot on NY soil,” Joey replied, “she won’t go down without a fight.”
“She can have whatever she wants,” Eli conceded, “we’ll work on the separation agreement when I get back but I’m not going to contest everything. We have to be separated for a year before we can get a divorce.”
“And when that year is up?” Nick asked. “Then what?”
“Hopefully, everything will be spelled out in the agreement so the divorce will be smooth sailing.” Eli replied. “I only have one condition for her. If and when we divorce, I want the D’Amato name back. I don’t care what she does as Faith Sheppard but I do not want D’Amato associated with her.”
The remaining brothers agreed. “Sounds fair enough.”
“I want to talk to her,” Nicola added.
Nicola getting involved meant more heartache and bullshit for Eli. He was lucky his mother wasn’t the stereotypical mother-in-law from hell but he didn’t want to give Faith any ammunition. “Mother, stay out of it.” Eli politely warned. “You shouldn’t get involved.”
“The moment this affects my grandbabies, I will get involved.” Nicola fired back.
“Do not get involved,” Eli stated with a bit of bass in his voice, “In fact, no one gets involved. Kieran, Joey, and Nick, that includes Tiana, Zoe, and Zerrin. Do not make this any uglier than what it is. If she wants to go to the press, if she wants to drag my name, let her. It’ll just make the divorce easier.”
*****
The talk show appearance was a wild success. Eli demonstrated how he creates designs with a few audience members, while Nick showcased a hidden talent of mixing and scratching records. The brothers shared tales from growing up and even surprising Nicola with a few of the stories.