didn’t have to stay with Sierra if he wasn’t happy.”
“But he didn’t leave her. What ate away at David was that he wanted things to work out with her, right?”
She pressed her lips tight, not wanting to confirm it. Not wanting to feel the hurt that he wanted Sierra more than he wanted her.
“There was no way to fix things. Once she found out about us, she’d leave him.”
“And you’d be there to pick up the pieces. I’m surprised you didn’t tell her yourself.” Her mom leveled the accusation with such conviction.
Heather glanced out the window at the blooming flowers, not feeling as cheerful as them by a long shot.
“You thought about it,” her mother answered for her. “Wow. How selfish can you be?”
Very.
But it didn’t mean she didn’t feel for Sierra, that she didn’t feel guilty and rotten about herself for what she’d done. It didn’t mean she didn’t regret her choices at the same time she cherished her memories of David and that she got Hallee.
“Why does she get everything and I’m left with nothing?”
“Nothing? You have this house. You have Hallee. What have you left Sierra with? A cheating husband. Questions about how he really felt about her and their marriage. She can’t even grieve the man she loved because of his betrayals. She has to put on a good front for the boys. She has to preserve his memory for them because she doesn’t want her children to know what a bastard their father was to their mother. She has to find a way to tell them they have a sister. That means a talk about how their father had sex with her sister and produced a child. Can you imagine?”
Yes. Because she’d have to have that same discussion with her daughter someday.
“She has to face the whispers and stares from others when they find out the children are all siblings and that her husband cheated on her with her sister.”
“I’m the one who will get the worst of that.”
Dede glared at her, waiting for Heather to get it.
She did. But she didn’t have to like it.
“I’ll keep my distance.”
“Right. Like you won’t run into each other. This is a small town. Be realistic, Heather. For once, think things through.”
“What do you want me to do? I don’t have a lot of options. I’m a single mom on a fixed income with no support.”
“You have a fifty-thousand-dollar payout that your sister has been paying for because you slept with her husband. David took out a loan to get that money. Did you know that? And how do you think that makes her feel to be paying her husband’s mistress who happens to be her sister? Did you even think about that when you accepted that money?”
“I didn’t know about the loan. I thought he was well off enough to give it to me to support his daughter. What was I supposed to do? The bills from the hospital were piling up. I needed a place for me and Hallee that wasn’t some dump in an apartment complex I could barely afford along with day care while I worked.”
“Right. So now do you expect your sister to foot the bill for her husband’s affair?”
“I expected Hallee’s father to do his part!”
“Were you also hoping Mason would make your life considerably better? You barely know him, yet you went to his home with a clear purpose and it had nothing to do with horseback riding with Hallee.”
Getting called out by her mom sucked.
“Mason is a great catch. He’s never been married. He’s been spending all that time with the boys, so he obviously likes kids. I thought maybe he wanted some of his own. He’s got a great job, makes lots of money, and Hallee would love growing up on a ranch.”
“Except you didn’t even ask him if he was seeing someone before you threw yourself at him.”
She took her shot. “I had no idea he and Sierra had a thing.”
“Really? Then you’re the only one who can’t see that man is obviously head over heels in love with her.”
Frustrated and angry to be the bad guy in everything, Heather rolled her eyes. “Everyone loves Sierra. I got the memo a long time ago.”
Her mother fisted a hand and took a step forward, rage rolling off her. “You knew Sierra and the boys were spending a lot of time at Mason’s ranch. Didn’t it occur to you that something might be going on?”