Page 73 of Storm in a D Cup

‘Genie Stacie called me when I was in hospital.’

The fish flopped again. Once, twice. ‘You’ve known for weeks…?’

‘Yes. I’ve been tormenting myself, thinking of how to tell you, and now that you know, it’s like this huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. And now all I want to do is win my kid back and build a relationship with her.’

Forget that you’re dying inside, Erica. You need to make some sense out of all this.I cleared my throat, but I only managed to croak out my question. ‘W-why is she telling you now?’

‘She told me that she’s always loved me, even when she married Tom Jackson.’

So much for trying to understand. I didn’t want to hear any of this.

But Julian was an ebullient fountain of information. ‘Genie Stacie said that if I’d died in that hospital, I would have never known the truth about my daughter…’

My daughter.Up until this very moment, every time I’d heard him proudly say that, he’d always been referring to Maddy. His daughter, whom he’d lovingly adopted. Our daughter. And now, in the space of an instant, these two wonderful words,my daughter, meant something completely different. A kid. His own, biological kid!

We’d moved to Tuscany eight years ago as a family, with a million visions of happiness in our heads – our dream home, our dream businesses, our dreamlifethat we had truly earned. We deserved to finally be here, together as a family. Wewerea family. But if our dreams had finally come true, they hadn’t lasted all that long.

Because now Genie Stacie, the seemingly dumb Hollywood bimbo, had outdone me. She had used all she had, daughter included, to try and get Julian back. They had history. Chemistry. And they even shared biology now as Joey’s parents. That was one thing that Julian and I did not have. And, judging by the way our sex lives and IVF had been going, it was looking pretty clear that we had reached the end of the line. Was this what life had turned out to be, while we were busy creating dreams of our perfect future? Had this been fate’s plan all along? To give us the illusion of happiness, only to whisk it away from beneath our feet, just as we were about to get there?

I turned away from him, trying to stifle the sobs that were now shaking me from head to foot.Awh, hell.

‘Come on, Erica. Try to understand. What am I supposed to do, turn my back on my own blood?’

Funny life, wasn’t it? First my mother turned out not to be my mother at all. Then she had a child from another relationship. Then my first husband Ira produced a child from another relationship. And now it was Julian’s turn – the only person in the world who I thought would never ever do anything like that to me. The one man I had entrusted my whole life and family to, had in fact been the one to deal me The Blow of Blows, finally putting me out of my misery and annihilating me once and for all.

Because the one thing Julian had wanted from me I couldn’t give him, and life had found a way to award him for all his kindness to the world. And punish me for trying to be happy. The moment I’d most feared had arrived. Julian Foxham didn’t need me anymore. Now he had a child of his own.

To think I had cried maybe once in seven years, so happy we were.Happy times are up, girl – you’ve had your share, now make way for the Bad Times.

No longer able to stifle my sobs, I slapped my hand over my mouth and fled his office. There was nothing I could say, and if there had been, I was unable to say it.

*

‘Oh my God, Erica, I’m so, so sorry,’ Renata offered as she hugged me.

‘Yuh, thanks,’ I managed as I tried to blow my nose, but I was still far from even being able to breathe. Renata’s was the first place I ran to. My go-to person, who was always around for me.

‘Julian and Genie Stacie, I can’t believe it…’ she repeated for the tenth time since I’d got there. ‘Here, let me get you something stiffer to drink. How about a Bloody Mary?’

‘How about a Bloody Genie Stacie instead?’ I quipped and laughed at my own pathetic little joke. God, not even in times of duress could I refrain from making a joke?

‘Here,’ she said, shaking her head as she pulled a pitcher out of the fridge. ‘I just made this. I had a feeling you would show up sooner or later and that we’d need it.’

What she didn’t mention was our little unspoken diatribe about Leonardo Cortini, but that was another story. Right now, out of the two marriages, mine was in clearer and more present danger than hers.

‘So what are you going to do now?’ she asked.

Suddenly the fish was back in my stomach, flopping like mad again. ‘Apart from sleeping in the guest room, what can I do? I’m still reeling here – I have no idea what to do. All these years I thought Julian and I were solid, and instead…’ I broke down into such violent sobs that my chair began to creak.

Renata let me sob for a while, just to get it all out. After a long, long moment, she groaned: ‘I still can’t believe it… Is there any way at all you might be wrong?’

I stopped sobbing and sat up to look at her inquisitively as I rolodexed through the possibilities. There were none whatsoever, and I began to bawl all over again.

‘Come, here, lie down on the sofa for a bit,’ Renata suggested, guiding me off her chair. She was probably worried I’d shake it apart. ‘Where are the kids?’

‘Warren’s in Siena as usual and Maddy’s with Angelica…’

‘Again? Those two are inseparable lately, don’t you think?’

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