When I made it to the hotel, I sent Robert a text, explaining I needed to get away.
Because he was awesome and, in his own way at least, supportive to the last, he replied with a thumbs up, and told me that the press was clamoring for an interview with me.
Me: Remember Renee Lisette?
Robert: The journo?
Me: Yeah. I’ll speak to her.
Robert: Who’s she affiliated with?
Me: Don’t know, don’t care. I’ll talk to her. Give her the scoop.
Robert: If you say so. You sure you don’t want to head to lunch to celebrate? You did brilliantly, Thea. I couldn’t be prouder of you if I tried.
Me: Positive. Thank you though. I’m just a bit overwhelmed.
I hadn’t been. I’d been fine. Then he’d wrecked shit by turning up last night, reminding me of everything that was wrong with my life. Everything he’d made wrong with it.
Walking into the hotel that had an odd little foot spa running down the length of the foyer, I eyed the men and women who had their toes dipped into it. They were seated on black marble, their attention on their phones, and charmed by the idea, I checked in, handed the bellboy what I figured was the equivalent of a ten-dollar tip, then retreated to the spa.
The second my feet were underwater, something inside me was soothed.
Like always.
The water never let me down.
Ever.
I tipped my head back against the wall behind me and tried to relax, tried to find some solace in what would always be a part of my nightmare.
Because Adam? And the rest of his family?
Maria too?
Catholics.
All of them.
And that meant divorce was forbidden, and it tied me to a future filled with nothing more bittersweet than broken promises and morning afters that left me feeling pathetic and lost.
I was the one who’d put up barriers between us, but I was the one who always broke down.
Why?
Because he was the love of my life, and I was his.
But it had all gone wrong before we’d even had a chance to begin.
Cursed?
Yeah. I lived with that knowledge every damn day of my life.
THEA
I was eighteen when I went back home.
Well, home as in the place I’d been born, as in the place Nanny had taken me away from after Momma’s death. But to me, Fort Worth would always be what I considered my base.
Even if I was no longer welcome.
Here on a meet, a successful one, I’d veered off the beaten path and decided to see what it was like around here.
Maybe see a few sights that might prod some memories of happy times spent with my grandmother.
I didn’t remember my parents that much, and I genuinely thought I’d tried to forget them. Which kind of made me sad. Most of what I remembered was arguments though, so it figured that my brain would try to shield me from those harsh realities of my parents’ marriage.
It wasn’t that I wanted to tear that veil away, it was just, I guess, that I wanted to reconnect. With me.
Life with the Ramsdens had been better than I’d imagined. I was left alone for the most part by Anna, Robert was home every day for dinner—Janice told me that was a new development—and we often talked about my future. I thought my potential excited him enough to hang around, and I didn’t mind—he was interesting, and he was interested in me.
We weren’t particularly close, I didn’t think. Not like I was with Janice and Peter, but I spent more time with Robert who’d I’d come to believe was a good person. He’d just married the wrong person.
As for Anna, well, I didn’t trust her.
She’d taken Cain’s incarceration hard. But, I thought, it was the damage he’d done to the family’s reputation that had hurt her more.
Her reelection campaign had been a wash out, and she’d been a laughingstock at the polls, but she was building up a support base, trying to get back into power for the next election.
I’d never met anyone as determined as her, and it was easy to see where her kids had inherited that particular trait.
Robert and I were closer. He gave a damn about me, and even though Peter and Janice felt like family, Robert was starting to feel that way too.
Of course, I’d be leaving home soon. Heading for Stanford where I’d received a scholarship.
For the most part, I was glad. It was time to get away from the shadows of the past, time to make new memories, to forge a