Page 92 of Storm in a D Cup

‘What channel?’

‘Any channel. It’s all over the news.’

‘Is it Julian? Is he OK?’ I rasped as my heart jumped into my throat. ‘Was there an accident?’

I gripped the phone in naked terror, already seeing myself standing in a horrible black dress in a graveyard. Had his plane crashed? Was I an unwitting widow? Had he been caught in a tsunami? An earthquake? Had someone kidnapped him? Had a bomb dropped on his hotel? Had my nightmares somehow come true after all?

‘Oh, he’s fine – at least untilyouget your hands on him,’ my sister snorted angrily as I fumbled with the remote. I was so nervous I dropped it twice. And, practically on every channel, there he was, my loyal, beautiful husband, with his arms around Genie Stacie’s perfect derrière as he practically pushed her into a limousine, so desperate was he to get his hands on her – so desperate was he to touch a thin, beautiful and glamorous woman again (I assumed he hadn’t in all these years in Tuscany with me). All this while the ticker tape ran a repeated message as if World War Three was about to begin:

Genie Stacie Grant and Julian Foxham announce their engagement to the press. Love child thrilled to see her parents reunited.

My heart forgot to beat, leaving me bloodless and cold all over. My lungs forgot to breathe, and I think I must have passed out while sitting on the sofa.

‘The tabloids and media have described their secret night out like a homecoming,’ Judy informed me. ‘And you can imagine what kind of homecoming.’

But I was unable to think, unable to even dislike her sick joke. My brain was frozen and my face paralyzed. All that talk about his love and loyalty toward me and the kids – where had that gone? Was it just to keep me good while he sorted himself out for his new life? Apparently so. But he’d lied to me the entire time, and here was the proof. He was supposed to have tried to reason with Genie Stacie into joint custody– not roll around in a limousine with her! How could hedothis to me, go parading around the world, now flaunting his once presumably clandestine relationship even in front ofcameras? After all we’d been through? We were a team. Or at least I thought we were. All this time I’d thought he was on my side, that we were inseparable. In love. A family. But now he had this whole new other family: Joey and Genie Stacie.

He was done with us. Genie Stacie and his biological daughter were his final choice, and he hadn’t even bothered to let me know. Was it possible? Was it all falling apart like a deck of cards?

I could’ve taken anything from anybody, but not this. Not Julian – the man I had trusted enough to try marriage again. The only one who I thought would never hurt me, had done it in one single blow. Twice.

‘Erica, are you there?’ my sister called. ‘Don’t be upset, honey – men are all the same, you’ve always known that.’

Had I? Yeah, I guess I had, only I thought Julian was an exception. Christ, how could I have been sostupid?

‘Honey, why don’t I fly over and we can sit this one out together? We’ll go shopping and spend all our husbands’ money, OK?’

The truth was I had been wrong to be so sure of Julian. I’d given him my full support regarding Joey. All he had to do was go get himself a lawyer, go through a few hearings and get at least joint custody. Easy. But no, men have to be men. Cheaters. Liars. Dedicated to their own pleasures. Forget the (first) wife and kids. People should beincarceratedfor cheating. Really, why is it that they went unpunished for such a heinous crime? Betrayal was just as bad as murder, because every time, a little piece of you died.

I could have called Julian (just to tell him what I thought of him) but he beat me to it.

‘I’m busy,’ I snapped at Maddy who was holding the phone out to me.

She eyed me, up to my elbows in the kitchen sink, with a look of pity on her face. ‘Mom – you want my advice? Talk to him. You don’t want to upset him.’

I’d had enough of people telling me I didn’t want to piss off the man who had lowered his royal standards (if you’ll pardon the pun) to marry a mere mortal like me and then wanted out the minute his starlet appeared. Julian wasnotperfect. Far from it. He was a huge procrastinator, had become too laidback and had adopted this cavalierdomani, domani(tomorrow, tomorrow) attitude. Well, he certainly didn’t waste any time on this. When were people going to understand that and stop venerating him like a bloody god? And now that he’d officially cheated on me,Ihad to talk tohim?

‘Is he still there?’ I asked Maddy, then took the phone from her.

‘I’m here,’ came his deep, low voice. The voice of the man I loved more than any other and who had betrayed me at the drop of a hat.

‘Good,’ I said, and then hung up on him.

My cell phone rang endlessly for the rest of the day. People wanting to know more. What did I think? Was I surprised? Was it something out of the blue? So I turned it off.

But when I checked my emails later, there was a message from Dad:

Hey kiddo, long time no hear. Give me a call. Dad x

I glanced at my phone. If there was anyone who would understand, it was him.

He answered on the second ring. ‘Hey, princess!’

‘Hey, Dad, how’s it going?’

‘Good, good. I’m going fishing tomorrow.’

‘Wow. You haven’t done that in ages,’ I said, glad to distract myself with everyday chitchat.

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