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Dad finally looked at her, a woebegone light in his eyes. Dad didn’t do woebegone any more than he did nervous. But he was doing it for Bron. “We need to consider her feelings. With Sienna in your bridal party, everyone will think she’s taking sides against her mother.”
“No one’s going to think that,” Sienna snapped.
“That’s why your mother came to me, because she didn’t feel you would understand.”
He reached out, then dropped his hand to the table, as if he thought touching her was a bad idea. “I probably should have told you it was my idea, but now you know—” He shrugged, sadly, wearily. Falsely? “—we should honor her wishes.”
“But we won’t have an even number of bridesmaids and groomsmen,” Bron groused.
“I’m sure you can find someone else.”
Sienna saw a sheen of tears in Bron’s eyes.
As if seeing them too, her dad said, “I’m so sorry. But Angela could make the divorce much more difficult. She could go back to the courts to ask for more money, even try to take the Atherton house. I should never have bought it before the divorce.”
Sienna looked at him, shock making her voice low. “You bought it before the divorce?”
His jaw ticked. “You know your mother and I hadn’t been good for years. I needed a quiet place to go. I was thinking with a damaged heart—” He held his fist over his chest. “—instead of thinking about my financial well-being.”
Sienna looked at Bron. “Did you know about the house?”
“Absolutely not.” Her blue eyes were watery with her vehemence. “Your father and I didn’t start dating until after the divorce. I only knew he was unhappy.” Then she added quickly, “But not because he ever said anything.”
“But the divorce is done. Mother can’t do anything.”
“It’s not only about the trouble she can cause,” her father said. “It’s about her feelings. We don’t need to hurt her unnecessarily, don’t you agree?” He looked at them both beseechingly. “I should have thought about this before.” He covered Bron’s hand. “When you first said you wanted Sienna in the wedding. My bad.”
Bron looked at Sienna. “I guess you’re right,” she mumbled. “I wasn’t thinking how your mom would feel.”
Sienna fumed. Mother should have said something on Wednesday, but she’d gone to Dad behind Sienna’s back, just the way she always had, getting Dad to do her dirty work.
Sienna muttered ungraciously, “Okay, whatever you want.”
Her mother offered her a fabulous vacation to Santorini with one hand while with the other, she’d stabbed her in the back.
She’d never been so angry. There was absolutely no way she was going on any damn trip.
Right now, she couldn’t even stand the thought of her mother.
* * *
Angela didn’t cry.She hadn’t cried for years. But Sienna’s words had crushed the fragile hope inside her.
I can’t go.
Just that, no apology, no question of making the trip later, no opening for Angela to beg, with Sienna’s tone adding the words not now and not ever. Then her daughter had hung up with a curt goodbye.
That had been Friday evening, and as much as Angela wanted to call back, she didn’t. Not on Saturday or Sunday either. She’d thought about calling Teresa to ask if Sienna had said anything to her, but she didn’t do that either.
By Monday, she’d accepted that she would never have a good relationship with her daughter. She’d lost that chance years ago. They might have lunch occasionally, but they would never be close.
Still, when the doorbell rang midmorning on Monday, her heart leaped.
It wasn’t Sienna on her doorstep. It was a statuesque blonde the same age as Angela’s daughter. Donald’s new flame, the woman he’d be marrying at the end of September. The woman who was having his child.
“Hi.” The blonde raised her hand and gave a little wave. “I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Bron.”
Angela remembered. Bron had been Donald’s executive secretary for two years before the divorce. She’d talked to the woman on the phone and seen her the few times she’d stopped by Donald’s office. Not that she’d ever dropped in out of the blue to take him out to lunch.
