“Dad never visited us,” she said slowly. “Not until the end when he showed up to tell us he’d bought us a new house with a swimming pool and a view of the water.”
The house her mother lived in now. The one she had to sell. A house she’d never really liked.
“Dad bought that house while we were gone. The first time we saw it was when we came home. All our stuff was moved in. But Mom never left here that whole summer.” Harlow stared at her aunt. “Did my dad buy a house and move us into it without my mom ever seeing it?”
Lillian closed the album. “Well, this is awkward. I’m not sure what Robyn would want me to do. I suppose the truth doesn’t matter now, so I’ll tell you. That’s exactly what he did. Your parents were having a difficult time, and he wanted her to be happy.”
A month ago, Harlow would have accepted that statement and moved on. But now she knew more. She knew that her father was a chronic cheater who didn’t respect the women he was with. Now she knew her father had cheated on her mother, and that was the main reason their marriage had ended.
She thought about the long months of her cancer treatment and how her mother had been there for every second of it. She thought about how her mom had taken her and Austin away for the summer. She remembered visiting the school and her mother crying and hearing, “You’ll always be welcome here,” from her aunt and uncle.
Twelve years ago, while she’d been dealing with cancer treatments and her mother had been by her side, her father had cheated, and her mom had found out. Things had gotten so bad that her mother had taken her and Austin across the country while she figured out what to do next.
Somehow their dad had convinced her to give him another chance. Harlow wasn’t sure if the house was a bribe or what, but somehow it played into all this.
“I didn’t know,” Harlow whispered. “About any of it.”
“You were a child, darling. You weren’t supposed to know.”
Her mother had protected her and her brother. She’d never let on there were problems or what Cord had done. She’d made the summer happy and wonderful, allowing Harlow to heal. And in the end, she’d taken her children home because that was where they would be happiest.
“I don’t know if I could do that,” Harlow admitted. “Sacrifice myself for my kids.”
“You would. It’s biological. When you have children, everything changes.”
She thought that might be true. Everything had changed for Robyn. Even if Cord had sworn he would never cheat again, she’d suffered through the pain of it. She’d been betrayed by the one person who had vowed to love and protect her forever. Once shattered, how could that trust be rebuilt? How could she have gone on for so long?
Harlow had known in her head that marriage was hard and love required a lot, but until this exact second, she hadn’t understood what that really meant. The bigness of loving someone else. The responsibility of having children. Thinking about that now put her own problems in perspective.
“I have a really great life,” she said aloud.
Lillian smiled. “That makes me happy, sweet girl. It’s all I’ve ever wanted for you and your brother. To have a really great life.”
* * *
After three hours of listening to Mindy sob, cry and swear she couldn’t understand what had gone wrong, Robyn escaped. Her claim of needing to get dinner started was actually the truth, which helped her say the words sympathetically, as if she really didn’t want to leave her friend.
Not that she didn’t care about Mindy and how she’d screwed up. She did. Mostly. It just wasn’t a surprise. Of course Payne was going to find out—Mindy wasn’t an experienced cheater and liar. She was a bored novice who had done something incredibly dumb, and now she was paying the price for it. As was Payne.
In the kitchen, Robyn went through the contents of the refrigerator and pantry, then thought about how many people they now had to feed. Assuming Mindy stayed for a few days, which seemed likely, there were six adults, including an eighteen-year-old male who ate enough for three regular people.
They’d already gone through all the chicken Mason had bought at Costco, not to mention the cookies and the pies. There were three steaks in the freezer, but that wasn’t nearly enough.
She made a menu and grocery list for the next couple of days, including breakfasts and lunches. She was just finishing it when Harlow walked into the kitchen.
“How’s Mindy?” her daughter asked, looking concerned. “I could hear her crying from the hallway.”
“It hit the fan, and she’s sorry about that, but I’m less sure she regrets actually sleeping with Dimitri.” Robyn held up her hand. “That came out more harshly than I intended. Ignore my mood.”
Harlow surprised her by hugging her. “Mom, this is a lot. You came out here to think about your own life, when suddenly you’re dealing with me and Austin and now Mindy.”
“Thanks for understanding. I’ll be fine. I’ve already talked to Salvia and told her the invasion is my responsibility, not hers. She’s here for Lillian. She’s going to get someone in to help with the extra cleaning, starting tomorrow. We’ll handle our own cooking, shopping and kitchen duties. I’m going to need you and Austin to help with that.”
“Sure. Let’s start now. What do you need?”
The cheerful attitude was a bit unexpected, but Robyn wasn’t going to question it. “If you could do grocery shopping, that would be a big help. I’ll reimburse you for the food.”
Harlow scanned the list. “This is very doable. I’ll get Austin to come with me.”
“Thank you.” Robyn looked at her. “I’m sorry our time together got cut short.”
“Me, too, but we’ll be able to talk when this settles down. Do you think Mindy will be getting a divorce?”
“I have no idea. She’s suddenly realized how important her marriage is to her, but it might be too late. I’m not sure Payne will forgive and forget.”
“I wouldn’t,” Harlow said flatly. “Kip’s used up all his extra credit with me already. If I found out he’d cheated, I would break up with him and then back his car off a pier.”
Robyn held in a smile. “You might want to stick with ending things and avoid the felony.”
“Fine. I’ll break up with him and think about backing his car off a pier.” Harlow waved the list. “I’m heading out now. Austin’s in his room, right?”
“Last I heard.”
Her daughter left. Robyn returned her attention to what she had on hand for dinner. There were four nice-looking avocados for guacamole and several freshly picked tomatoes for salsa. She had tortilla chips in the pantry, along with spaghetti, beans and plenty of spices for her to make her own taco seasoning. Harlow and Austin would bring back lettuce for salad. As she didn’t think Lillian was up for taco spaghetti for dinner, Robyn would make fresh gazpacho to go with her salad and maybe a small cheese plate.