didn’t even know I had.”
Their server came back to the table with plates of big golden waffles and crisply done chicken. They both sighed with anticipation. There was a smaller waffle for Sydney. She came skipping back to the table with Lucas just in time.
“Uncle Lucas made these just for you, Mommy. Aren’t they nice?”
Sherri smiled gently as Lucas placed Sydney back in her chair. “The nicest thing ever, sweetie.”
“This is the best day, isn’t it, Mommy?”
Sherri looked at Sydney and then at Lucas. “Yes, it is. The best day ever.” She just hoped that there would be many more after she got Trevor out of their lives once and for all.
Chapter 15
Lucas leaned back in his desk chair and rubbed his face with both hands. He wasn’t tired from a long day of work; he was energized, the way he usually was. He had the stamina of a young stallion and it took a lot to make him weary. He felt a weight on his shoulders, however, but it wasn’t his. His concern was all for Sherri and Sydney. She’d finally told him about her confrontation with Trevor, and he was proud of the fact that his head hadn’t exploded when she did. She had told him Sunday evening after Sydney had been tucked into bed. They had gone downstairs and snuggled up on the sofa. He remembered every word of her confession, if that was what it was.
“I didn’t say anything before because I just didn’t want to deal with it. I wanted to get Sydney and have a great weekend and just not deal with the crap. I wasn’t scared or anything. I was just angry. The nerve of him, just showing up out of the blue with this crazy idea that we should suddenly be a family after all this time. I couldn’t believe the nerve of him. And there are a bunch of holes in his story, Lucas. Like why he’s decided all of a sudden that I’m the answer to his prayers or something.”
Lucas had listened quietly as she vented her rage over Trevor’s sudden appearance in Columbia, but he had a few questions for her.
“So what’s your mother’s role in this scenario? Was she really close to him or something?”
Sherri’s face had darkened, and she frowned. “My parents always loved Trevor. He had finished law school and he’d just started working for a firm here. They just thought he was the best thing that ever happened to me, probably because he came from a wealthy family. They live in L.A. and they’re big society people, whatever that means. My parents have always been image-conscious, really concerned about appearance before substance. Father was always worried about what ‘people might think’—that was his mantra when we were growing up. And Mother was even more so,” she said with a slight roll of her eyes.
“I know he worked hard to make his business successful and I respect him for that, but it always seemed to me that he was more concerned about his public image than anything else. So was Mother. The way the house looked, the way we were dressed, the way we behaved, all of those things were more important than anything else,” she had said sadly.
“Do you know why they were like that? Was it something in their past that made them so status-conscious?”
“I have no idea because strange as it may seem, I don’t know that much about how they grew up. Neither one of them will talk about their families much at all. Mother is an only child, and Father has two brothers but they don’t live here. They’re originally from Virginia, both Mother and Father, and as far as I know neither one of them has been back there since they moved here.
“I have so many questions I don’t even know where to begin getting answers. I’m calling my mother tomorrow to find out why she and Father have decided to be on Trevor’s side, and I hope she has a good answer because I truly have no clue. You’d think they’d be on my side seeing as how he’s the one who ditched me and took off like a jackrabbit when I found out I was pregnant. But they blamed me and my loose behavior for the whole thing. Can you believe it?”
“No, I really can’t. I can’t imagine my parents acting like that toward my sisters. In fact, I can guarantee you they would have had the opposite