down until I felt like”—her voice cracked, and tears welled in her eyes—“like the ugliest, oldest, most worthless person on this earth.”
She spun, trying to regain her composure. As she wiped her cheeks and blinked away the tears, she saw…Finn.
Beside Rom at the other picnic table, he rose, obviously ready to go to war. She could hear his low curse.
Straightening her spine, she shook her head. My fight.
He stood for a moment, then slowly resumed his seat.
She drew in a breath. He’d come to support her. His presence gave her strength like nothing else would have done.
I can do this.
When she turned back around, both Dillon and Hailey were standing, their expressions appalled.
“Mom,” Hailey whispered. “I’ve never seen you cry.”
“If I needed to cry, I did it in the bathroom or bedroom, so I wouldn’t upset my children.” Anger put the rest of her thought into words. “But it seems I won’t have any children, so what’s the point in trying to be strong?”
Hailey stepped back as if she’d been struck.
“Dad said”—Dillon swallowed—“you dumped him for some pervert. And he’d forgive you and take you back. That he needs you back.”
“Dillon, he’s trying to support two unemployed women without my salary. Of course, he wants me back.” As her patience faded, she pulled papers from her purse and tossed them onto the table. “Since one of your parents is obviously lying, I brought our credit card reports from the last three years. You can see what we normally spent before the arrival of the slaves. You can also see when expensive clothing and jewelry store expenses appear. That’s Alisha. When those expenses double again and the liquor stores show up, those are Kahlua’s purchases. She loves her alcohol.”
“But Dad said he started to drink because of you,” Hailey objected.
Valerie snorted. “Early in our marriage, when Barry started drinking like his alcoholic father, I told him if he wanted children, he had to agree to abstinence. It’s why we never had alcohol in the house.”
Hailey’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t have a problem?”
“No. But I didn’t want him to be tempted, so I abstained to support him.” Valerie shook her head. “Kahlua wouldn’t. Instead, he joined her, and the drinking started to affect his work. And his behavior.”
She realized she was rubbing her cheek when Dillon’s gaze focused on her hand.
Her son stared. “He hit you?”
“It was the last straw, yes.”
Chin trembling, Hailey picked up the credit card reports. “These stop in November.”
“That’s when I started divorce proceedings, canceled the card, and separated our accounts.” A movement caught her attention.
Barry was stomping across the grass toward them.
Wasn’t that wonderful? “I take it one of you mentioned this meeting to your father?”
Hailey went red. “Sorry. I thought if he talked to you when we were here…”
Her soft-hearted daughter.
“I’ll tell him to leave,” Hailey said.
“No.” Valerie searched deeper for courage. “Let’s get everything out in the open.”
Barry stopped at one side of the picnic table and scowled at her. “What lies are you telling them, babe? Or are you saying you’ll get your ass back where you belong?”
“Sorry, Barry, but you have enough women at the house. I won’t return.”
“Then you’ll lose your children and your grandchildren.” He made a sweeping gesture. “Tell her, kids.”
Yes, it was obvious he’d set this whole thing up to get his way. Olivia had been right about how manipulative this was.
“Dillon.” Valerie turned to her son. “Do you know what emotional blackmail is? It’s when a person threatens to withhold their affection to force a person to do what they want.”
She turned to Hailey. “For example, if Rom cheated on you, you’d want to leave him, I assume.”
Hailey looked appalled but nodded. “Of course.”
“What would you do if I said you had to stay with him, or I wouldn’t love you or be your mother any longer?” When Hailey’s mouth dropped open, Valerie nodded. “That’s emotional blackmail.”
“Hey, now…” Barry’s protest trailed off.
Because dismay and distress had filled her children’s expressions.
“Shit. That’s what we did. What we said.” Shame filled Dillon’s expression. “God, Mom, I’m sorry.”
“We did.” Hailey glared at her father. “We did because you instructed us to, Dad. You lied to us and then told us what to say to Mom.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I believed you, and I was so upset for you, and I couldn’t believe Mom would cheat on you, but you swore she did.”
She launched herself at Valerie.
Valerie caught her—and here was her little girl, no matter how old she was,