home judging me?”
Dede brushed right past her and stood in the living room. “After what you’ve done, you deserve a good talking to from your mother.” She glanced into Hallee’s room. “Where is she?”
“Day care. I needed some time alone.”
“I bet. Your sister is really angry. I taught you better than this.”
This time, Heather did roll her eyes. “Please. Four husbands. Don’t tell me you never strayed.” Their lives growing up had been a revolving door of men coming and going. Dede tried to be discreet with the dating, but they knew what was going on.
“When I was done, I left. I never cheated. I never went after someone who wasn’t available. David wasn’t free to love you. He had a wife and a family. He was bound to them. No matter how it happened, you knew that and you participated in ruining that marriage.”
That hurt, but deep down Heather knew it was true.
“He degraded you. He made you his dirty secret, knowing you two would never really end up together, not with so much standing in your way.”
Harsh!
“And you went along with it.”
Because I loved him. I thought the time we had together would be enough.
Heather had dreamed about the beautiful life they’d share raising Hallee, knowing it was only a figment of her imagination. Nothing but wishful thinking.
She’d worked so hard to suppress her feelings about Sierra’s family, so she could wallow in their love.
Naïve. Stupid. Callous. Scared. Selfish.
She called herself all those things and more. She knew it couldn’t last forever, but she never expected things to end with David’s death.
“You were the other woman. Not his woman.”
Her heart ached knowing that was true, too.
“You don’t know what we had.” No one understood how David made her feel, what they shared when they were together.
“Sex isn’t love, Heather. It’s a thrill. It’s temporary.”
She knew that all too well. Because the second David walked out the door and went back to Sierra, she felt his absence. All the wonderful feelings inside her dissipated and she wondered if he’d be back. Did he care? Did he really love her? Was the regret in his eyes because he had to go or because he hated himself for cheating on his wife?
“David was married to Sierra. That’s a bond not easily broken.”
Heather had felt it. Though David was with her, in the back of his mind he was thinking about Sierra. He worried about what would happen if they got caught. He feared losing his boys.
“He had no trouble breaking his vows.” That wasn’t exactly true. After that first time, she had to push. Every time she asked him to come visit, she had to coax and tempt him. But still he came to her every time.
She’d felt a sense of power in that.
He’d been drawn to her. But he’d also been pulled back by Sierra and the boys.
“So it’s true. You went after him like you did with Mason.”
She resented how that made her sound. “It wasn’t like that with either of them. I didn’t know about Mason and Sierra. And David and I had a connection.” It had been fragile and tenuous. She’d been careful to never give David an ultimatum because she feared he’d choose his life with Sierra and the boys. Where would that leave her and Hallee?
Exactly where they were now. Alone.
Her mom shook her head in dismay. “Maybe there was something good between you. I hope David didn’t betray his wife and children for nothing. But you can’t honestly believe the relationship could hold up to a divorce and the two of you being together after you both destroyed your relationship with Sierra. Did you think she’d happily allow the boys’ visitation with their father here with you, the woman who stole her husband and tore her family apart? What do you think the boys would think of you? Of their father? How would they deal with seeing their mother upset and sad and hurt?”
“I never dreamed things would go so far. Hallee was a surprise and a blessing I never expected. The relationship became so much bigger than David and me. But none of that matters now. He’s dead. We’ll never be together again.”
“It matters a hell of a lot to Sierra. It will matter to those boys and Hallee when they learn the truth. Maybe you can delude yourself into thinking it all ended with David’s death, but it didn’t.”
“I don’t think that. I’m just saying that I don’t get to be with