Chapter 1 #5
Olivia’s passion had been ballet since the age of three, and she had been formally trained, seriously talented, and totally dedicated.
A car accident at twenty-five had changed her life forever, while she was dancing with the American Ballet Theatre.
Now thirty-seven, she had been a paraplegic in a wheelchair for the twelve years since the accident.
Her career had ended brutally. The driver, a close friend she danced with, and another passenger died in the accident.
Olivia had survived, but nothing else in her life had.
Her life as a dancer vanished instantly, with a severe spinal cord injury.
She had to rethink and rebuild everything in her life.
She and one of the dancers and choreographers she worked with, Francois Vernier, had been in a serious relationship for seven years and were engaged at the time.
Olivia had ended the relationship immediately afterward, as soon as she understood what her future would look like.
She refused to be a burden to Francois, or an object of pity, or a tragic figure.
She ended it with Francois while still in the hospital.
He was devastated, but she was relentless in her decision, and refused to see him afterward.
He wanted to stay with her to care for her and still marry her, and she refused.
It had been twelve years since she had contact with him, since the accident.
He had waited seven years to marry. She was the love of his life.
He had finally married when he realized she wouldn’t come back.
He had been married for the last five years and Olivia hoped he was happy.
She was thirty-seven years old, still stunningly beautiful even in a wheelchair.
She taught advanced ballet classes from her chair, and worked on both set and costume design for a small but respected dance company.
She made enough to live on, in a small ground floor apartment near Lincoln Center on the West Side in Manhattan.
She did everything physically for herself.
She had a woman come in to help her every morning with the tasks she couldn’t do on her own, but in every way she could be, she was independent, and never sorry for herself.
Felicia had wanted to hire live-in assistance for her, and Olivia had refused, said it wasn’t necessary and she knew their mother couldn’t afford it, and she managed fine on her own, after extensive training and rehab.
Olivia made the best of everything, and had a strong upbeat personality.
It had broken Felicia’s heart to see her at first, but it was impossible not to be overwhelmed with admiration for her.
She never complained, unlike Charlotte. Olivia’s strength and indomitable spirit were a sharp dose of reality for them all.
There had been no man in her life since the accident, and she no longer heard from Francois Vernier at all, nor did she want to.
It was past history, like her life onstage.
She fended well for herself. It was a source of sorrow to Felicia, and one of life’s cruel blows, but Olivia wasn’t an object of pity.
She had refused to become that after the accident.
She was determined and positive about everything she did, she loved her job and her students, and was deeply concerned about others, with a generous nature.
Veronica and Isabelle were the closest to each other, as the two youngest. Veronica had made a difficult life choice that her mother didn’t approve of.
She had graduated from Columbia Law School, passed the bar the first time, and landed a job with an important law firm, with a brilliant career in corporate law ahead of her, until she met Anson Phillips in her first job.
He had been the CEO of two major corporations, had gone into politics, and was an extraordinarily charismatic man.
Veronica was twenty-six when they met, and he was forty-seven when he ran for senator.
She had campaigned for him. He was a client of the law firm where she worked, and he spotted her quickly, and fell in love with her.
Their affair began while he was campaigning, and then he won the election.
She traveled with him as an assistant, and he ultimately set her up in an apartment where they could meet discreetly.
It was a passionate love affair. He had been in a bad marriage since his twenties, but he and his wife were Catholic and he was afraid a divorce would hurt him politically.
His wife was fiercely opposed to the idea of a divorce, and Veronica and Anson were excruciatingly careful and never got caught.
He was honest with her that there was no hope of marriage with him, and he wanted her near him and available at all times.
She gave up her job and her future law career for him, and he set her up in a beautiful apartment.
She had been his mistress for ten years.
There was no hope of marriage or a future where she could be visible, but she loved him and had given up her life for him and had no regrets.
She spent her time waiting for him, and preparing for their time together.
Felicia objected vocally and strenuously to Veronica’s decision, but Veronica was unwavering in her love for Anson.
She was thirty-six now, and Anson fifty-seven, and she never swayed from the path she had chosen, much to her mother’s dismay.
Her sisters didn’t support her decision either.
Anson was a charming, handsome, powerful man, and he made it up to Veronica in countless ways with a luxurious apartment, employees who had signed iron-clad confidentiality agreements, wonderful trips where they met most often abroad, and visits to her at the apartment in New York when he could get away.
She had everything she could have wanted materially, a beautiful home, an elegant wardrobe, jewelry he bought her from discreet jewelers.
She could share no social life with him, and stayed mostly out of sight except when he could easily explain her presence publicly with some excuse or lie.
She couldn’t have a job, in order to be available to him whenever he wanted.
Her sisters were shocked by how completely she had given up her life for him, but she never doubted for a moment that it was the life she wanted and was right for her.
She knew she could never marry him. Veronica loved him deeply, and was happy when she was with him.
Charlotte predicted it would end in disaster for her sister.
Felicia was desperately upset about it, Quinne felt sorry for her, and Olivia tried to be supportive, although she too was sorry for her.
Veronica lived in golden isolation, waiting to be at the beck and call of the man she loved, and who she knew loved her.
It was a high price to pay for the time they spent together, which was never enough, but she was a consenting and willing partner in the life she had fashioned to accommodate him for the past ten years.
She had even given up the hope of having children, but she was willing to give it all up for him.
And she had no financial needs since he paid for everything in her luxurious lifestyle, which was all he could give her.
He was a very wealthy man and could afford it, as long as he didn’t get caught.
He was willing to risk that for her, although he was extremely careful, and everything he paid for was through convoluted channels via his lawyer.
He had a whole secret financial structure for Veronica’s support.
Isabelle was the youngest of Felicia’s children.
Her dreams were more human scale than her sisters’.
She was a beautiful woman, and having grown up without a father—she was two when her father died—all she wanted was to be married and have children and a “normal” family life.
She was married to the son of a wealthy New York very social banking family, and like Veronica, she had a luxurious lifestyle, provided by her husband.
She was thirty-four years old, and had three children, Tyler, Charlie, and Penny, and had been married for twelve years.
Her lifestyle was more respectable than Veronica’s, but materially their lives were similar, with beautiful homes, numerous employees, and an extremely pleasant way of life, and they didn’t have to work for what they had.
And both of them were dependent on their men. The two sisters had that in common.
Charlotte was critical of them both at times.
She thought they were wasting their lives.
Veronica had achieved her life by being a mistress, and Isabelle by being a wife.
But Charlotte had an independence that neither of them had, because she had earned every penny she had herself.
She depended on no man, unlike Veronica and Isabelle.
Isabelle never had any career aspirations, and never wanted a career, just a husband and children. She had a happy, sunny nature and appreciated the life she had. Olivia and Quinne didn’t care about money, and didn’t envy the others. The only jealous one in the group was Charlotte occasionally.