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She pulls back and holds me at arm’s length. “It took guts to do that.”
“Thanks. How is she?”
“She’s getting better. It was a real shock to her, the whole second family thing. She’s proud of you though, I can tell you that much. Come on in.”
I follow Sasha inside and Isaac comes too but hangs back by the door, probably mindful of my mother’s frostiness towards him that day on the beach. Mom is curled up on the sofa with a blanket wrapped around her and Tanja, another of my dancers by her side. They both turn their heads as I approach.
“I’ll leave you guys alone,” Tanja says, standing off the sofa. “Happy birthday, Aurelia,” she adds, almost apologetically.
I smile my thanks and settle next to my mom. To my surprise, she opens her arms and pulls me towards her. To be honest, I’d been expecting to have to coax her towards me. She wraps her arms around me for the first time in as long as I can remember. It feels nice, but I know better than to get too used to it. Mom’s alone again, but it won’t be long until a replacement is found for Chuck, I’m sure of it.
“I’m sorry, Aurelia,” she says, firmly, and to my great surprise.
“You have nothing to be sorry for, Mom.”
“Yes I do. For everything. For bringing that man into our lives, and for allowing him to get away with so much deception for so long. If I had known about the houses and all the other things he’d been buying with your money, I would never have stayed with him. I certainly would have insisted he give back our name. That man is worse than the devil for taking everything from you like that. You work so hard…” She chokes out a sob and I hold her closer.
“It’s ok, Mom.”
She hiccups more sobs against my shoulder and I feel so sorry for her. She really did love Chuck. But then, the babies…
“Mom?”
She sniffs. “Yes?”
“The girls. How…?”
Slowly, she pulls away and puts both hands over her eyes. “They’re not his. Chuck is not their father.”
“I know, Mom. He told me it wasn’t possible they could be his.”
Her head jerks up sharply. “What? What did he mean by that?”
“He had a vasectomy. That’s what he told me.”
Her voice shrinks to barely a whisper. “He did?”
I nod.
“I just thought he was infertile. I asked him if we could see a doctor about it but he refused, and I just figured he was embarrassed about it. I never told him about the IVF because I wanted him to think… Oh God!” She drops her face into her hands again, emitting huge shoulder-racking sobs. “I’m such a fool.”
I rub her back, unsure of what else to do. They had both deceived each other. But Chuck did it with malice, whereas Mom did it to protect his feelings, even though that didn’t make it right.
“He knew they weren’t his babies all along.” She shakes her head and stares wide-eyed at the floor. “No wonder he wasn’t interested in them. My poor girls…”
“They’ll be fine, Mom,” I say, trying as best I can to comfort her. “They’re so young. They won’t remember any of this.”
“But, Aurelia… the media reports…”
“Well, yes, they’ll be able to look back at articles in years to come, but we don’t need to keep the truth from them while they’re growing up. What you did wasn’t terrible. Misguided, yes, but not a crime, and not with the intent of hurting anyone.”
“It’s going to come out in the papers what I did,” she whispers, her voice trembling.
I nod. I’m guessing the print presses are running reports about the mysterious origins of not just the twins, but me too. But if anyone cares less about me because my conception wasn’t typical, I don’t them as a fan. My mom’s ego is fragile though, and this will probably hit her hard.
“Maybe you should see a therapist when we get back to L.A., Mom. Meet up with some of your close friends, talk to a professional, lay low for a little while—no beach club lunches or shopping trips where the paparazzi can follow you. Stay home and enjoy the girls.”
She sniffs and wipes her sleeve across her face.
