Broken Love Story (Love 3)

“Adrian?” Nanny says as we all look at her and then back at him as his face goes white. “What are you doing here? Where is Lucille?” she asks him, and his mouth opens and closes.

“Who is Lucille?” Judy asks him, and Nanny finally answers.

“His wife!” she says. “They just moved into the condo next to me.”

And the madness breaks out.

Chapter Thirty

Blake

“His wife?” I stand here, not sure I understand what is going on, so Nanny continues, “They moved into the condo next door.”

“Adrian,” Judy says, looking at him. “What is she talking about?”

Nanny throws up her hands. “You have got to be kidding me,” she says. “Well, I guess like father, like son.” She shakes her head. “Adrian and his wife, Lucille, who is a lovely lady …” She turns to look at us, then back to Judy and Adrian, who looks down. Ethan and Elliot stand beside him. “They moved into the condo. They downsized because they are now empty nesters.”

“Empty nesters?” Judy asks.

“Yes, their daughter is eighteen,” Nanny starts. “Oh, I think she is eighteen; I might be wrong. What is her name again?” She looks at Adrian, and he doesn’t answer. “Anyway, she just went off to college; she got accepted into University of Houston. Their son, who is named Evan,” she says, “he just got married. They have a beautiful little boy.”

“Oh my God,” Judy says, looking at Adrian. “This isn’t true, right?”

Adrian looks down at the floor, and we don’t even see Elliot move or hit his father in the face. “You fucking asshole.” I spring into action, grabbing him and holding him back. “You motherfucker,” he sneers at him.

Judy cries silently by herself, Ethan holding her now. “I can’t …”

Everyone looks at Samantha, who slowly walks to her. “I want to be sad for you and hurt for you,” she says, and my mother goes to stand beside her, “but I can’t. When he sat at that table and told me that if I took care of my wifely duties, Eric wouldn’t have left me …”

Jensen now hisses. “Motherfucker,” he sneers.

“When you came into my house and spat your shit in my face, gutting me and making me feel like I did something wrong. Telling me that maybe if I stopped harassing him when he was home and had been more understanding, it wouldn’t have led to that, or maybe if I had been there for him and caring to his needs, he wouldn’t have gone elsewhere.” She uses her finger to wipe away a tear. “I guess I should be a bit more compassionate and feel bad for you, but I don’t. I feel nothing for you.”

“Samantha,” Elliot says to her and walks to her, and my father and I both go on alert. “You can’t say that.”

“I can’t?” She turns to him and laughs. “Why not?”

“She’s family,” he says.

“NO!” she yells out, “she isn’t my family. Family holds each other up; family supports each other. Families don’t shit on each other to better themselves; they don’t fucking cut each other down at the knees. They don’t leave them to cry by themselves in the bathroom.” I walk to her now, standing beside her.

“SO what?” he says. “You’re going to choose him over us?” He points at me.

“Any fucking day of the week,” she says proudly. “I just hope I’m good enough for him. He deserves the best there is, so hopefully, that is me.” I put my hands over her shoulders, pulling her to me. “You guys keep this shit up, and I’ll make sure you never see the girls.”

“You can’t take my babies away from me,” Judy finally says.

“Wake up,” she tells them. “It already happened. We’re moving. Far away from here, where they don’t have the fear that someone will take them away from their mother,” she says but doesn’t stop. “Where they won’t have to worry if they will end up homeless.”

“Samantha,” Judy says, and Ethan and Elliot both stop her.

“Mom, let’s go,” they both say. “It’s enough.”

Adrian is now standing by their side. “I can explain,” he says, walking behind them.

My father stops Mr. Feldman. “You don’t pull this case, I’m going to get a subpoena for Lucille.” He doesn’t say anything, just nods his head and walks off.

I look down at Samantha. “I think I just got my girls,” she says, laughing. I lean down and kiss her lips in public.

“Holy shit.” I hear Nanny say. “I need a drink.”

Samantha looks over at Hailey and leaves my side. She walks up to my sister. “There are no words that I can say to thank you,” she finally says, and the tears stream down her cheeks. “Nothing I can say will make what they did to you okay,” she continues, and Jensen kisses Hailey’s forehead. “I swear I had no idea, none …”