Chapter Twenty-Three Stella
Chapter Twenty-Three
Stella
I’d left Lukas with Everly. We agreed I’d run over and see if I could gather any intel from Hanna. He couldn’t do it. Too
obvious. So, the unwanted task fell to me.
Then I saw Hanna on her steps outside, ripping apart boxes and packaging, desperate to claw back control as her life shattered
into pieces. In those few seconds, my eagerness to gain the upper hand fizzled. I recognized a woman in pain. Lost in panic.
Now this.
Years of therapeutic training kicked in. Defuse the anger and recenter the conversation. “Let’s calm down. We can sit and—”
Jeremy shook his head. “What are you doing here?”
Hanna looked horrified at his tone. “Jeremy.”
His gaze traveled around the room. From the boxes to the wine bottle. A dangerous mix of confusion and anger thrummed off
him. From a few feet away I could see his hands shake. The Xavier news had him reeling.
He turned on his mom. “You kept calling. I thought you were hurt or sick or something.”
The pleading in his voice had Hanna rushing to his side. She set her glass down and dodged around the coffee table. For every
step forward she took, he took one step back.
She finally came to a halt with her hands in the air as she surrendered the high ground. “I’m sorry.”
“I wanted to make sure you were okay.” He visibly swallowed. “I never expected . . . I can’t . . . What you two were saying
can’t be true.”
“I should go.” I stood up, debating whether my presence was helping or causing the unraveling to pick up speed.
“Why?” Jeremy made a sound as if lost in the space between anger and confusion. “You already know more than I do.”
The pain winding through his voice drowned out the fury. I felt sick for him. For both of them. “That’s not true.”
“The meeting today.” Hanna started talking. She hadn’t moved but she spouted off the damning information without hiding behind
excuses. “It was with Xavier’s lawyer. About the distribution of his assets, which impacts you.” She nodded to the chair across
from the L-shaped sectional. “Please sit down.”
Tension bounced around the room with the energy of a projectile. The toxic energy held Jeremy stiff and unyielding. “Not until
you tell me the truth.”
“She’s trying,” I said.
His gaze shifted to me. “I heard what you said. About Xavier.” Before I could come up with a response he shifted his fire back at his mom.
“You told me that my father was a guy you met in college. Someone you didn’t know well.
You never saw him again, but you wanted me so you didn’t end the pregnancy. You insisted you had no regrets.”
“I don’t.” Hanna reached for him but pulled back at the last second. “Honey, you are the best decision I ever made.”
“No. Don’t do that. Tell me the truth.” He folded his arms in front of him. Shook his head. He’d mentally closed down even
as he demanded more information.
Every counseling tool and strategy rolled through my mind. But I wasn’t on my turf. I didn’t have control of the room or the
trust of the participants. Every word that floated into my head sounded harsh and judgmental. I couldn’t find the right sentence,
the right sentiment, to make this moment tolerable.
Hanna didn’t wait for help. “Xavier Tanner is your father.”
The truth sounded so much worse when she said it out loud. She’d been a kid. Technically an adult, sure, but barely. Xavier
had been this looming presence. This millionaire who used the power of his reputation and withering threats with equal precision.
He collected information about people. He used it to box them in and make them jump to do his bidding.
“Did he force you?” Jeremy asked.
That tone. So raw and lost. So devastated. It mirrored the expression on Hanna’s face. This wasn’t my family. Not really.
Not my problem. Not my clients. But still.
“Honey, no.” This time Hanna touched him. She gently laid her hands on his forearms. Careful yet clear. “I was young and starstruck.
He was charming and attentive. At least at first.”
Jeremy looked at his mom’s hands but didn’t push her away. “Everyone says he was an asshole.”
Confirmation that Jeremy and Xavier never had a relationship. So many questions rushed into my mind. I buried them . . . for now.
Hanna stood there with her chest rising and falling on harsh breaths. “He turned out to be, but the sex when I got pregnant
with you was consensual. I promise.”
Shit. That wording. What had he done to her?
“I didn’t see who he really was at first. I’d heard the rumors but was blindsided by his words and gestures.” Hanna sighed.
“I know it sounds lame, but he took me out. We went to nice places. Not in town, but away. On these trips. I laughed and saw
new things. I got a peek into this grand life that was so different from my own.”
Jeremy frowned. “So, it was about the money?”
“Not really. I’d just lost my mom and looking back I think I was desperate for a connection. He listened to me and didn’t
judge.” Hanna looked like she was searching for the right words to explain. “I felt special. Like I understood him when no
one else did.”
“Did you love him?”
Hanna didn’t hesitate. “No, and despite what everyone is going to say when they find out, I wasn’t looking to be the next
Mrs. Tanner.”
“But you still slept with a rich, old guy because he gave you stuff.” Jeremy sounded repulsed.
I could understand why. Xavier had to be, what, sixty back then? Almost sixty? Hanna, with her expressive face and big doe
eyes, had been toned and pretty. Still was. The idea of her having sex with Xavier, even understanding the missing father angle, made my stomach heave.
“That’s it, right?” Jeremy asked.
“Hey.” He likely was too angry to see Hanna’s broken expression. I rushed to cool things down a bit. “Don’t do that to her.”
Jeremy’s frown demanded I back down. “Are you two friends now?”
No, but that didn’t mean I wanted to watch Hanna get emotionally pummeled by the person she loved and sacrificed so much for.
“You don’t want to say something you can’t take back.”
He pulled away from Hanna. “I’m leaving.”
“No!” She ran in front of him, blocking the door before he could storm out. “I know you’re furious with me for not telling
you the truth, and you don’t understand my choices. I barely do, so I get it. But we need to talk this out.”
He refused to look at her. “I begged you for years and you wouldn’t tell me the truth. I don’t want to hear anything you have
to say now.”
“Okay, but driving in this state, when you’re pissed off, is dangerous.” Hanna didn’t relinquish her position at the door.
“Stay. I’ll leave you alone. We won’t talk until you’re ready.”
“I’m not sleeping here.”
The kid lashed out, not caring if his strikes drew blood. Totally understandable. His world had been tipped upside down. Still,
his anger was difficult to watch and to hear and he wasn’t my child. I couldn’t imagine the turmoil inside Hanna right now.
She inhaled as she engaged in an obvious internal battle to ratchet down the emotional furor. To not flinch. “I’ll sleep in
my office downstairs. You can have the run of the house.”
“His house.”
“No.” The strength slipped back into Hanna’s tone. “This is our house.”
I hadn’t even thought about the potential financial arrangements. She owned the café and the building. This house. One day,
not that long before the Tanners disappeared, Victoria raged on about Patrick using their money on other women. Isabel thought she meant Hanna but that never made any sense to me. Hanna worked her butt off and lived
frugally. If she was getting money from either of the Tanner men back then it couldn’t have been much.
“Did you keep me from seeing him? Did he want to know me?”
Oh, Jeremy. This poor kid. Another example of Xavier Tanner roadkill.
Hanna’s mouth opened. Whatever answer she might have had died before she could say the words.
Jeremy shook his head. “Forget it. I wouldn’t believe whatever you have to say right now.”
This was brutal. Necessary for them to move forward, probably, but neither of them could see that right now. “Maybe we should—”
“I’m going downstairs.” He slipped his keys out of his pocket. “Here. This is to my car. I’m not running away. That’s your
thing.”
Hanna took the key fob. “I had my reasons. Reasons you’re old enough to know now.”
“Not because you want to tell me. It’s because you have to tell me. Because something happened today with the attorney that
changed everything.” He shook his head. “And that sucks.”
He reached around her for the doorknob. After a second of hesitation, she moved to the side and let him go. He had the door opened and slammed behind him within seconds. I could hear his stomping footsteps on the stairs outside. That was the only sound in the building.
Hanna rubbed her hand over her chest, as if she could hold back the pain threatening to swamp her. “Feel free to gloat.”
Not going to happen. “I’m sorry.”
Her cell dinged. She grabbed it and stared at the screen. “It’s the security app for the café. Half the time he deactivates
the alarm so he can go in and out without trouble. Looks like he didn’t this time. Not yet.”
“You don’t think so right now, but you’re a good mother. Trust me. I’ve seen a lot of the opposite. I’m a reluctant expert
on this sort of thing.”
Hanna’s hand dropped to her side as her focus switched back to me. “Since when do you care about me or my feelings?”
Not angry or an accusation. She sounded more confused than anything else.
“You’re not the only one in the room who’s made bad choices, Hanna.” We’d both made them that day fifteen years ago and many
times before and after. I craved absolution and understanding. Whether she wanted the same or not, I gave them to her. “You’re
human.”
She plunked down on the arm of the chair as she stared at her cell screen. “I feel like a failure. A terrible person. A shitty
mom.”
“One thing I’ve learned on the job—people who worry about being terrible people usually aren’t.”
She wiped her face. Choked back tears. “I think Jeremy would disagree with you.”
She deserved better than this. She deserved better than the cyclone of chaos Xavier had let loose on her life. I didn’t need details. I knew him and had experienced his destructive nature.
“When you were trying to reach Jeremy to talk to him and protect him, his first worry wasn’t about your messing up his social
calendar or calling him too many times. It was for you. He worried you needed him and came running. Even now, you’re worried
about him driving so he doesn’t. That’s a good kid. My guess is he has a good mom.”
I knew that last part to be true. People talked. I’d seen them together for years. Watched her maneuver through a thick layer
of belittling and sneering from Victoria and her friends, but even the most discerning parents and teachers admitted Hanna
and Jeremy had beaten the odds.
She continued to fiddle with her cell, cradling it like it was a lifeline. “Why are you being nice to me?”
I couldn’t help it. Maybe I owed her. An answer that was as confusing to me as it was to her. So, I skipped a real response.
“I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“It’s going to take all I have not to rush downstairs and beg for his forgiveness.”
“He’s an adult now. At his age you were a mom.”
“The thought of him . . .”
I put my hand over hers and felt the tremors running through it. “You’re going to be okay. So is he.”
“I wish I believed you.”
“We’re going to need each other, so believe.” Because this was just the beginning.
Aubrey’s face in the attorney’s office. No surprise or anger. She didn’t issue threats or stomp around. She’d known about Xavier’s provisions in advance. From the attorney or maybe from Xavier himself. Somehow. That was the only explanation for her calm demeanor.
That meant one thing. Aubrey was in charge, and she was going to dismantle our lives piece by piece. I could almost see her,
sitting somewhere, lounging and gloating over Hanna’s distress.
Aubrey won this round. She couldn’t win another.