Page 112 of Embracing the Change

Darryn went on like Roland didn’t speak. “He talked Allegra into letting him come up with us.”

In homing in on Jamie, I’d missed that Nico had stood too.

Oh dear.

And presently, my son demanded of his father, “Why are you here?”

“To talk to your mother, of course,” Roland returned.

“Does she want to talk to you?” Nico asked.

“No, she does not,” Jamie answered for me.

“All right, everyone—” I tried.

Roland interrupted me. “It’s actually fortuitous you’re all here, including you, Oakley, because I am officially done with being the bad guy, and you should know what you’re getting into.”

He directed that last to Jamie.

My heart squeezed.

“So you’re a magician now?” Valentina sneered.

God.

I hadn’t forgotten how wounded she’d been at her father’s betrayal (oh no, a mother never forgets something like that). They’d been particularly close. She’d been daddy’s little girl.

Of course, I had not shared why we’d split up, but children found their way to learn things.

And they’d learned them.

“Darling—” I tried again, my eyes on my youngest.

I failed again.

Valetina was laser focused on her father. “Drop the satin curtain and voila! You’re not a cheating bastard anymore?”

With that, my heart bled.

“Valentina, my lovely, maybe you should go to the study while I deal with your father,” I suggested.

“Fuck that, Mom,” Valentina retorted. “He’s hooked me. I’m interested. How is he no longer the bad guy?”

“I cannot believe you’re speaking to me like this,” Roland ground out.

“I cannot believe you’re crashing a family lunch where we’re bonding with our new sister and probably soon-to-be stepdad,” Valentina returned, then her eyes pierced her own sister and she finished, “Thanks, Allegra.”

And Allegra, also wounded by the failure of her parents’ marriage, had always had a soft spot for Roland.

Her face flushed.

Darryn put an arm around her shoulders, but he murmured, “Sorry, but you bought that, baby.”

“Your mother didn’t care,” Roland stated, getting everyone’s attention again, as I felt Jamie come to stand at my side.

“She didn’t care about what? You fucking everything that moved?” Nico asked.

“Nico,” Felice whispered, reaching out from the seat she still occupied on the couch to wrap her fingers around his forearm.

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