Liesl wiped the corners of her gritty, reddened swollen eyes, “how?”
“My sister Mara’s restaurant is one of his favorite places to dine. She specializes in Mediterranean cuisine and he’s Portuguese. He goes there a lot. At least once a week.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat, “shit, really?”
“Yeah,” Elsie grinned wickedly, “Mara might have disappointed my parents by dropping out of law school to become a chef, but she’s created a hell of a following with the rich and elite.”
She nodded and then sighed, “I might not even have anything to give him.”
Janka ran into the other room and then came back carrying her laptop, “just in case he changes passwords or tries to adjust things,” she pulled a thumb drive from her purse, “put everything and anything you can find on this. We can sort through it later but at least you’ll have whatever he was working on.”
“I’m bad at this stuff. My laptop is for watching movies and it’s probably why he used my computer. He knew I wouldn’t go snooping around. It would take me hours,” her voice trailed off as Elsie turned the computer towards her and started hammering away at the keys. “What are you doing? If this illegal or could get you in trouble, you could get disbarred.”
“If there is anyone in my life worthy of getting disbarred for it’s you. Besides, his comment about you being an aunt really pissed me off. Does he expect you, him, and your sister to be some kind of happy family. Fuck him. Fuck her.” Elsie muttered through gritted teeth as she shoved the thumb drive into the device, “also, fuck your mom for not calling you back when you needed her. I get your sister is pregnant but she’s having her brother-in-law’s baby. Shame on her. Shame on all of them. Let’s burn the world.”
“He said he had to marry her because his grandfather’s will stipulates any child born out of wedlock can’t have the money left in trust for them.” She whispered, “I don’t want to ruin a child’s life.”
“You’re not.” Elsie was on a roll now as she clicked and dragged hundreds of files Liesl had no idea were even on her computer to the drive. “There are plenty of parents in the world who work at McDonald’s flipping burgers. The kid will get his trust fund eventually, but we don’t have to make it easy for his parents.”
“This is crazy.”
“Yes, it is.” Elsie looked to her with a devious gleam in her eye as she held up the thumb drive, “hide this somewhere he will never find it when he comes back Saturday with his moving truck. We can sort out the rest later. Are you in?”
As she looked at the stack of papers he’d presented to her with no warning, she gave a single nod. She wasn’t going down without a fight.
Liesl sat in the coffee shop with her mother and stared sadly into the latte she couldn’t even enjoy. Right now, under the supervision of Elsie and Janka, her husband was removing his basic belongings from the house. Having a powerful family like Merlin McGrath had meant everything was moving along quickly. The papers had been filed. She had not contested, and they would be divorced in under a month. New Hampshire was making it easy for them.
Her mother was quiet, “they set the wedding date for the day after the papers should be finalized.” She paused, “your sister asked for you to be there.”
“She can go fuck herself,” she spat bitterly.
“She’s your sister, Liesl,” her mother reached for her hand sighing when Liesl drew it backwards. “What do you want me to do? I’m stuck in the middle here.”
“You shouldn’t be stuck in the middle. Your daughter acted like a whore and has been fucking her brother-in-law for months,” her brother interrupted the conversation as he entered the coffee shop loudly drawing attention. He plunked down beside Liesl and hugged her tight, bringing on another set of tears. “I’m so sorry, baby girl. I didn’t know. I just found out when I got back into town a few minutes ago. Meredith let me know right away.”
“Fred, your sister isn’t a whore,” Lorraine Sutherland sniffed. “She made a mistake.”
“No mom. A mistake is when you circle b instead of a on a multiple-choice quiz. A mistake is putting salt instead of sugar in your coffee. Having an eleven-month-long affair with your sister’s husband, while having sex with other men and engaged to another schmuck, is not a mistake. Liesl would never have suspected either of them. Meredith told me how he told her. Who the fuck tells his wife of five years he wanted a divorce with no warning and a stack of signed papers. Then for Sandy to text her and tell her how long it’s been going on and how much they are in love? She asked her to give up the house, so she and the baby have a place to live.”
“No,” her mother made sad eyes at Liesl. “You didn’t tell me.”
“Why should I? It’s not like it changes anything, Mom.”
“Liesl, it’s not black and white for me. There’s a child to consider.”
“Well, I refuse. I’m not giving up the house. I’m contemplating selling it to the lowest bidder and letting them raze it to the ground out of spite.” She rested her head on Fred’s shoulder sadly, hating how much she was still crying over the pair of them.
“I’ll bring the bulldozer,” Fred nodded his agreement. “You can move in with me and Meredith.”
She sniffed and reached for her coffee, “I hate him. I hate them both so much.”
“You don’t hate your sister.”
“Mom, stop telling me what I feel.” She felt Fred’s supportive kiss to her temple and felt grateful for the love he was showing her. “She’s your baby. You’ve been making excuses for her since the day she was born, but this I can’t forgive or forget. She could have been with anyone else but my husband. I loved him. I spent eight years of my life with him, loving him and doing everything for him. I should have listened to Fred.”
“You should have but now is not the time to be playing what if’s,” Fred said softly.
“Fred, I gave up everything for him. He wanted a housewife to hold his dinner parties and look pretty on his arm. I followed his damn fitness regime and ate the food he bought so I would always look good on his arm. I had my hair styled the way he liked it. I haven’t been allowed to cut my hair the way I like in seven years. Seven fucking years of having hair to the middle of my back because he liked being able to pull it when he was behind me,” she knew she’d overshared when her mother gasped. “I worked as a receptionist to subsidize my income as an artist when we met and he made me quit. I was only allowed to show the pieces he approved of lest they sully the family name.” Infuriated she snapped, “I hope their baby is ugly.”
“Liesl!” her mother snapped. “It is not the baby’s fault.”
“I didn’t wish it dead, I wished it ugly.”
Her brother snickered at her comment earning him a glare from Lorraine as well.
Liesl looked at Fred, “when he takes his glasses off, his eyes are beady. I hope they have a beady eyed baby with her big nose. I hope it’s a girl too. Nothing would be more insulting than his first being female.”
“Liesl,” her mother tried again.
“You know Mom, you named us all after your favorite movies. We could blame you for bringing the drama to our lives.” Fred tossed out snidely. “You did encourage Sandy to be theatrical.”
“Very funny. I’m pretty sure I didn’t tell your sister to let her brother-in-law bone her for drama.” She groaned and slapped her hands on the table. “I’m upset with her too but she’s still my daughter and I still must support her the best way I can. She’s going through it right now.”
“She brought it on herself.” Fred refused to sympathize with his youngest sister. “She’s twenty-six and she knew better. She made a conscious decision.”
“She’s not the only one,” Liesl said quietly. “He knew what he was doing. It’s not only her fault. I want him to pay. I want him to suffer this humiliation the way I am.”
“Well, you could sleep with his brother.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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