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Mom drops her mouth open.
“That was a first for me,” Miles continues. “So’s being here with you.”
“Jonathan divorced both your mothers?” Mom asks.
Chance and Miles nod in freaky synchrony.
“I’d like to meet them. I’m sure we’d have fun together.”
“Billionaire Wives Club?” I ask, even though she didn’t see billions. Ever.
She raises her hands in the air. “Perfect idea! Then you three are the—”
“Billion Heirs,” I say.
Her smile slips. “I hope money is all that you inherit from your father.”
I glance at Chance and then Miles.
“Although from just a short time meeting you two, I know that’s not the case.”
Chance takes a sip of his iced tea. “What do you mean?”
His voice is calm and even, not showing a hint of the anger he’s shown me since I arrived. Then again, she didn’t ignore his warning and sleep with a woman he’s protecting.
“You lived with your father until he died. Yes?” she asks.
Chance nods. “But we weren’t close.”
I can tell there’s more to that sentence, but he’s being diplomatic. I’m not sure if it’s out of kindness to my mom, or if he’s minimizing his past because it sucks.
“He divorced my mother when she was pregnant with me,” Miles tells her. “I understand that’s the same with you.”
Mom nods. “Yes, but…” She flicks her dark gaze at Chance and then looks away.
“Nothing you can say will hurt my feelings when it comes to my father,” Chance says. “Our father.”
She clears her throat. “We were both fairly young when we met. Me more than Jonathan. And like you said, Miles, he divorced me when I told him I was having a baby.”
I reach out and set my hand on her forearm. Give her a smile.
She offers one back and takes a shaky breath.
“He was sweet to me while we dated. And a short time into our marriage. Then he changed. Became mean. He didn’t want a child and was so angry at me for getting pregnant, as if it doesn’t take two people to make it happen.” She swallows. “I also learned that he was having affairs.”
Holy shit.
“He slept around?” I ask, although I shouldn’t be too surprised.
She nods. “Very young women. I was twenty-two, but he liked them even younger.”
“He did,” Chance agrees. “He told me I was a mistake. Never let me forget that. That the women he married messed everything up by getting pregnant.”
“Jesus, didn’t he know about condoms?” Miles asks, although we all know the answer to that. He glances at Mom and sheepishly adds, “Sorry, ma’am.”
She waves him off. “It’s been thirty-five years. I got the best thing out of the marriage right here. I’m sure your mothers think the same.”
Silence for a moment, until Chance speaks.
