Chapter 13
Max
A fter a delicious dinner of filet mignon and lobster, as well as heartfelt toasts from family and friends, I’m leaning against the bar with a glass of whiskey in hand when Corbin Remington approaches, shaking my hand as he offers his congratulations. “What an amazing celebration. I stand in awe of you and Stella for going the distance, especially in this town.”
“Thank you, my friend. I’m so glad you and the family could be here today.”
“We wouldn’t have missed it.” He reaches into the inside pocket of his suit coat, removes a piece of paper and puts it into the same pocket inside my coat. “The item you requested.”
“You found it! Thank goodness.”
“I found it, and it’s airtight with no expiration date. If you’re mentioned in her book, you can stop it.”
“I can’t thank you enough for this, Corb. And for your discretion in handling it personally.”
“Our archivist was surprised when the senior partner turned up in her domain, but she was very helpful in pointing me in the right direction.”
“I bet she doesn’t see you in her world very often.”
“I hadn’t been in that part of the office in years. It was humbling to have to do some real work for a change.”
Laughing, I place a hand over the spot where the document resides inside my coat. “It’s such a relief to have a way to fight back. The last thing I want is to be dragged into her web of drama.”
“I get it. Trust me.”
“Have you run into Kate?”
“I saw her across the room, but I haven’t talked to her.”
If you ask me, Corbin is still in love with his ex-wife, and she’s still in love with him, despite their acrimonious divorce. Neither of them has ever remarried or had another serious relationship—that I know of, anyway.
Corbin’s eldest son, Julian, approaches us.
Out of respect for my friend, I’m cordial to his son, but I’ll never forget the way he hurt my Aimee once upon a time. He’s the epitome of tall, dark and handsome, more so than usual in a tuxedo. In the years since I last saw him, he’s become as celebrated an attorney as his father.
“Congratulations, Mr. Godfrey.”
“I think you’re old enough to call me Max, Julian.”
“I don’t know if I could bring myself to do that.”
“Try.”
“Congratulations, Max.”
“There. Was that so hard?”
“Not so bad.” Julian’s smile has made him one of Hollywood’s most eligible bachelors, but from what Corbin tells me, his sons intend to remain unmarried. Their father carries tremendous guilt over the example of marriage his nine children were raised with, giving each of them an aversion to the institution. It probably doesn’t help that they spend their days dissolving marriages and working on complex family law cases.
“My bride beckons,” I tell them when Stella waves me over to her.
“Congratulations again, old friend,” Corbin says. “And many happy returns on the day.”
I shake his hand and Julian’s. “Thanks for being here to help us celebrate.”
“We wouldn’t have missed it,” Julian says.
When I rejoin Stella, the musicians launch into our wedding song, “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything,” and we step onto the dance floor to the applause of our guests. We fall right into the jazzy dance routine we did at our wedding, without any practice. Some things you never forget.
“The kids went all out, huh?” I ask as the music slows and I draw her in close.
“Did you expect anything less?”
“I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this is truly magnificent.”
“Yes, it is. The best part is the babies.”
We look over to where the little ones are gathered in a tight group of cousins and children who’ll grow up to be best friends like their parents are. Little Rowan has shed most of his suit and unbuttoned his shirt.
“How much do we love that our son has a son who’s just like he was?”
“We love that very much. No one deserves a wild child more than he does.”
“I fear he’s going to be every bit as handsome as our Flynn, too.”
“No question about that.” I pull back to look down at her. “Are you happy, my darling?”
“I am. Are you?”
“If you are, I am, and I have good news. Corbin found the NDA.”
“Oh wow. That’s great news indeed. What happens now?”
“I’ll turn it over to Emmett and get the ball rolling on putting a stop to this memoir of hers.”
“What do you think about Flynn paying her a visit?”
“He offered that, but I nixed it.”
“What if I wanted that to happen, for Flynn to show up at her door in all his glory and for her to think he’s come to speak to her about a part in one of his films, but in reality, he’s come to stop her book?”
“My vindictive little she-cat.”
She laughs. “I can’t help that she brings out the worst in me.”
“This is the only proof I’ve ever had that you’re not perfect.”
“Oh please. There’s been lots more proof than that over the years.”
I shake my head as I gaze at her warmly. “Nope. You’re perfect for me in every way, including your vindictive streak where she’s concerned.”
“Our many children are looking on with relief.”
“I’ll bet they are. We gave them a scare.”
“We gave ourselves a scare.”
“I’d say we can celebrate a fairly good run if our first major scare happened at the end of year fifty.”
She laughs. “For sure, and it’s been much better than a fairly good run. It’s been magical. Every minute of it, well, except for a few minutes this week.”
“Magical is a good word.”
“It’s the only word.”
I hold her close as the remaining members of our wedding party join us on the dance floor—my brother, her sister and some of our oldest and dearest friends. We’ve lost five of the others who stood up for us that day.
Our family and friends come to the dance floor as the band plays a medley of songs from the year we were married: “Love Will Keep Us Together,” “Laughter in the Rain,” “You Are So Beautiful,” “Some Kind of Wonderful,” “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)” and “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love),” among others.
We dance for an hour full of love, laughter and happily ever after.
Marlowe
“Are you feeling better, hon?” Sebastian asks as we enjoy the dance party of seventies hits.
“Much better.” The trouble between Max and Stella rocked my world like nothing has in longer than I can remember and made me sick to my stomach. They’re my family as much as they’re Flynn’s, and I love them dearly. Ever since my mother died shortly after I came to Hollywood to chase the dream, Max and Stella have stepped up for me in so many ways that’ve meant the world to me. I couldn’t bear to think of something coming between them.
“We all need them strong and happy and taking care of us.”
“Absolutely.”
I notice Sebastian’s parents, Graciela and José, dancing cheek to cheek on the other side of the dance floor. “Your folks look happy.”
“They really do. If you’d have asked me years ago if they’d ever figure out their shit, I would’ve said no way. Look at them now.”
“True love wins.”
He hugs me tighter. “Sure does.”
“Have you seen our children recently?”
“Ivy’s got them. Don’t worry.”
He had the brilliant idea to pay Ivy to watch our little monsters, as we affectionately refer to the three-year-old twins who’ve turned our lives upside down in every possible way. We joke that they touched down like an EF5 tornado and have had us spinning ever since, but we love every minute with them—and every break we get from the intense demands of parenthood.
“I have a surprise for you,” he whispers in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.
“What kind of surprise?”
“The kind that has my parents taking the monsters home with them tonight.”
“For reals?”
“Would I lie about that?”
“No, you wouldn’t. Best surprise ever.”
“How long will it take for us to miss them?”
“About fifteen minutes.”
We laugh together, something we do every day as we march through life hand in hand. Since our twins, Domenic and Delaney, arrived three years ago, I’ve taken a break from acting to give them my full attention. As soon as they start school, I’ll look around for something to keep me busy. For now, I’m loving life as a full-time wife and mother and occasional producer while Sebastian continues to manage Club Quantum.
“Flynn calls it the ultimate paradox. You can’t wait for a break from them, but the minute you get one, you just want to get back to them as soon as possible.”
“That’s a perfect summary. We’ll have a belly full of kids in Utah and Mexico.”
“But they’ll have all their friends to play with, which makes it so much easier.”
“For sure.”
There’s nothing our babies love more than time with their pals. They ask for Joy, Cece, Scarlett, Rowan, Henry and Matilda first thing every morning. We see them as often as we can because the kids love one another as much as their parents do. The little ones are obsessed with the older ones, and vice versa. Aileen has said that she suspects Logan and Maddie are an easier preteen and teenager than they might’ve been because they’re aware of the little ones looking up to them. I say that’s bull because Logan and Maddie would’ve been awesome no matter what.
“It’s a helluva gift we’re giving them, growing up surrounded by so much family,” Seb says.
“I know. I never had anything like that, and it’s so beautiful to see their bonds already forming.”
“Those bonds will last a lifetime.”
I look up at my handsome husband, who was right there for years, waiting for me to find him and the kind of happiness I once thought would never happen for me. “I can’t wait for Utah and Mexico and two whole weeks together.”
He kisses me. “I can’t wait for everything together.”
Julian
I shouldn’t have come to this party, but both my parents checked in to make sure I’d be here, and since it means so much to them, here I am. Max and Flynn Godfrey were polite to me, shook my hand and said all the right things, but they’ve never forgiven the way I broke Aimee’s heart back in the day. Even if it was almost twenty years ago, a devoted father and brother don’t forget.
Hell, I haven’t forgotten either.
She’s as beautiful as ever, dancing with her tall, handsome husband and equally attractive children. I’m amazed by how much her son looks like his uncle Flynn. Years ago, the family sued the publication that all but said her son was really Flynn’s—and they won.
Disgusting episode all around, and I cheered for her and her family from the sidelines.
Aimee Godfrey is my one major regret in life, not that we didn’t go the distance so much as how we ended. I handled it badly, for reasons that made sense to me at the time. But with the benefit of hindsight, I hate myself for the way I hurt her.
We met when I played high school baseball with Flynn. I’m five years younger than Aimee, which gave her pause at the beginning, but I was mature for my age after what my parents had put us through by then. Aimee and I were like a rocket ship right out of the gate, madly in love and in over our heads from the get-go.
I had no intention then—or now—of falling in love with anyone. After what we went through watching our parents tear each other—and our family—apart for the better part of a decade, marriage and forever isn’t in the cards for me. When you spend your days dissolving marriages, the last thing you want for yourself is that kind of shackle around your leg. My brothers wholeheartedly agree with me. Our goal in life is never to find ourselves in the situation our parents were in when they split up, putting nine kids through the wringer fighting over us and everything else for ten long years.
No, thank you.
That’s never going to be me—or Griffin, Carson, Ethan, Jackson or Roman. The six of us have a pact—none of us will ever get married. Our three sisters, Jordan, Kaidan and Gillian, more or less agree with us, but they haven’t taken the same vow we have. I suspect they’ll be more likely to give in, but we never will.
The very thought of being legally bound to a woman is so preposterous to me as to be repulsive. Marriage ruins everything. I’ve seen that my whole life, and even all the happy couples I see before me on the dance floor can’t convince me otherwise.
Once upon a time, I ran around with Flynn Godfrey, Hayden Roth and Emmett Burke, and I know stuff about them—and their partners in crime at Quantum—that would set off a world-class scandal if it ever got out. No one will hear it from me, especially since I enjoy the same lifestyle they did before they became happily domesticated.
I negotiated Flynn’s divorce from Valerie Ward, which turned ugly, as most of them do.
Even though I don’t believe in the institution, it’s nice to see Flynn happily married to Natalie now. I didn’t believe him when he said he’d never get married again after the Valerie disaster. But Hayden? That was a true shocker. His family of origin is even more fucked up than mine—and that’s saying something. He’s happy as a pig in shit with his Addison and four beautiful little girls who follow him around, looking up to him like the superhero he is to them.
Good for him—and Emmett, who allegedly married a spitfire in Leah. Their little guy, Holt, is a cutie, and Emmett seems happier than I’ve ever seen him.
They all deserve happiness, no doubt about it. Hell, everyone does. But not everyone needs a wife or even a long-term partner to be truly happy. I love my life as a single man about town, dating anyone who catches my eye, moving through life unencumbered, able to do whatever the fuck I want whenever the fuck I want without answering to anyone. It works for me—and for my brothers.
The six of us work for my dad—or will as soon as Roman finishes law school at Stanford—at Remington Family Law, the firm our grandfather founded more than sixty years ago. Only Carson isn’t an attorney. He’s our chief investigator and is damn good in that role. Our sisters and two of our cousins work for our mom’s boutique firm, Kate Remington & Associates, making us frequent rivals in divorce cases. Even as we face off as adversaries in court, we go out of our way to stay close as siblings. That was critical to our mental health during the long custody battle, and our group of nine has remained tight well into adulthood.
This is the first time all eleven of us have been in the same room at the same time since Roman graduated from UCLA almost three years ago. That’s fine with us. Our parents are barely able to be civil to each other, leaving us to dread days when we’re together. The funniest part of it, if you can call it funny, is that we all believe they’re as in love with each other as they ever were.
We have no idea what came between them to blow up their marriage into a modern-day War of the Roses . Neither of them has ever divulged that detail, not that it matters now. But they’ve never remarried, nor has either had a serious partner in the years since they split.
I finish my fourth—or is it fifth?—glass of champagne and head for the restroom to take a leak. Like everything else about this party, even the rented bathrooms are classy. As I’m heading back to the tent a few minutes later, I nearly crash into Aimee as she comes toward me, not paying attention to where she’s going.
“Hey.” She would’ve stumbled had I not reached out to her. The second my hands touch her skin I realize my mistake.
Her audible gasp indicates I’m not alone in feeling the punch of connection we’ve always shared.
The second she’s steady, I release her.
“How are you?” I ask her.
She crosses her arms, as if she needs the protection. “Fine. You?”
“Good.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“Nice party for your folks.”
She can barely bring herself to look at me, even after all this time. “Uh-huh.”
“Your kids are all grown up.”
“Yes, they are.”
“Congratulations on your beautiful family.”
“Thank you.”
“I… um… It’s nice to see you, Aimee.”
“Uh-huh.” She moves to step around me, and I take the hint that this conversation she didn’t want to have is over.
I head back into the tent.
“Julian.”
I turn back to her, brow raised.
“It’s nice to see you, too.”
She walks away, leaving me with a feeling of deep regret that’s so foreign to me as to belong to someone else entirely. As a rule, I don’t believe in regrets.
“Were you talking to Aimee Godfrey?” Carson asks when I return to our table.
Like me, he has brown eyes and dark hair, but where mine is cut every four weeks by a professional, his is long, unruly and often looks as if he cuts it himself. He probably does. He teases me for being metro. I tease him about being a slob.
“Yeah.” I signal the waiter for another drink. Ethan is our designated driver tonight, so I’m free to indulge.
“How was that?”
“Awkward.”
Carson winces. He knows better than anyone how it went down with her. “She seems happy.”
“She does. I’m glad for her.”
“Don’t let her get under your skin. You made your choices for good reason.”
“I know.”
“Julian…”
“I hear you. I’m okay.”
I watch Aimee come back into the tent and go straight for the table where her devoted husband waits for her. She slides onto his lap, smiling as she wraps her arms around him. Across the massive tent, her gaze connects with mine. I feel her in every corner of my body, something I’ve never experienced with anyone but her.
Thank God for that, because I have no desire to feel wild and out of control like I did with her.
“You’re better off without her,” Carson reminds me. “You’re better off by yourself than with someone who fucks up your head the way she did.”
“You’re right.”
“You’re goddamned right I am.”
Everything is better this way, or so I tell myself, but when Aimee finally looks away, I feel like I’ve lost something special, something I never wanted in the first place.