51. Rosenna
Chapter fifty-one
Rosenna
“W ow…” Kira muttered beside me. “What an absolute shitshow of a family get-together.”
After venting to her the entire morning about Gavin’s infidelities and Nancy’s outbursts, I practically had to pry her car keys out of her hand as she expressed the sudden urge to get in her car to give Gavin’s parents a piece of her mind. And even after feeling mentally and emotionally drained, I felt absolutely liberated… for the first time in a really fucking long time.
Gavin had stuck to his promise and sent back the divorce papers, effectively freeing me from him. My attorney was finalizing everything currently, and my ex-husband had no complaints or exceptions to any of the terms we presented.
The house that was rightfully under my name would be void of his belongings by the end of the week, the extensive loan that encompassed part of his child support and hush money to his mistresses was dropped from my debt, and he, in turn, needed to pay me upwards of eight hundred grand in losses and damages involving my finances… threw in pain and suffering for good measure too.
And now, with Brent off my back with the rest of my loan paid off, I was a free woman . Well, in addition to the sex-driven, absolutely feral man who ravished me in his sheets every night, I was free.
“Just glad it’s finally over,” I said, with a shake of my head.
“You were literally face to face with two mistresses in the span of a week. Good lord, you could have held your step-child without even knowing it!”
“Baby Cory doesn’t deserve all of this, though,” I whispered, feeling bad for the little guy who had to share his father, or lack thereof, with multiple other children.
“Well, I still think Grace is a bitch. Kid or not, she isn’t any more innocent than Jessica.”
“Of course she isn’t. Not when Nancy was fussing over her like she was her own daughter-in-law. God, it makes me cringe imagining that woman all over me and my future child.”
“You’re not the only one.”
We both let out slight shivers of disgust before a smile broke out on both of our lips as we laughed.
Hearing a knock at my office door, Kira and I both looked over to see my mother standing idly and looking as gorgeous as ever.
“Mind if I come in?” she asked.
Kira stood. “I’ll give you two some privacy.” I sent her a small smile in return, and she walked over to the door, but not before pulling my mother into a hug. “It’s good to see you, Mama Hart,” she said with a smile.
My mother returned the hug. “It’s good to see you too, honey.”
They pulled away, and Kira stepped out of the room silently as I sat, not knowing exactly where to start. My mother adjusted the shoulder bag on her arm, and I cleared my throat as I stood.
“Did you want to take a look around at some of the new exhibits? Beckham’s showrooms have been switched out, so we have a few new displays…”
She smiled and nodded. “I’d like that.”
Soon, we stepped out of my office and somewhat awkwardly stood beside one another as we journeyed to the first showroom. Stepping inside, my mother looked around as I pushed a strand of hair behind my ear nervously.
“Yesterday’s gathering was rather… eventful, to say the least,” she said at last.
“No kidding…” I muttered.
“From the moment you walked into the room, I could tell something was wrong. Call it mother’s intuition, if you will. Same feeling I felt on the day you brought Gavin home to meet your father and me. And when your client walked in and fixed his eyes on you like you were the last woman on earth… I knew things were about to get ugly.”
“Not as ugly as multiple affairs, hush money, and illegitimate children, I would assume,” I added.
She gave a slight shrug. “In hindsight, you had only one of those things, and it was with only one other person. Can’t quite say the same for Gavin.”
“You’re not… disappointed, are you?” I asked her.
“You’re asking me if I’m disappointed that my daughter left a toxic marriage after falling in love with a man who will love her even until her heart’s content?”
“I… I guess I am.”
The answer seemed pretty obvious from her statement; however, given that I expressed my utter dissatisfaction with my marriage to my in-laws and father yesterday with little to no support on the matter, my walls were still rightfully in place.
Seeing my need for her reassurance, even for something as blatantly obvious as this, my mother sighed. “Of course I’m not disappointed in you. I’m more proud of you than anything.”
“Dad sure isn’t,” I said, a bitter undertone lingering in my voice.
“Well, of course he isn’t. Both of you have different visions for what you want for your future. He lost control over you when you started getting older, and he thought Gavin would slide right in and put you in your place as your husband. He’s disappointed because you ended up being more than just a wife. ”
My heart pinched in my chest. She didn’t meet my eyes, and at that moment, I regretted saying those words in front of her.
Her main purpose when she met my father was to be his wife, nothing more, nothing less. She gave up her dreams and aspirations because she was blinded by love, oblivious to the control he exerted over her until she realized it and was simply… compliant, just so she could raise me and keep our shattering home together.
“Mom… I didn’t mean to—”
She shook her head. “You’re father and I are getting a divorce.”
“What? Why?” I asked, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion, though it was quite obvious why they were separating.
“No reason in particular… just realized that I was more than just a woman on his arm. I am more than a stay-at-home mother… and I am more than just a wife to him. It only took me thirty years of marriage and my beautiful, fearless daughter to realize that for myself.”
She smiled sadly, and I went over to her. I pulled her into a hug as she squeezed me close. I hadn’t hugged her in this way in such a long time. And in this moment, after everything we’d both been through, it just felt right.
“I… I didn’t mean to be so distant towards you over the years… I was just angry.”
“Rightfully so. You were the backbone of our home, you know. Despite how controlling he was… you had him rattled, babydoll. He couldn’t tolerate your defiance and pushed you to your limits to make you cave into his demands. And as much as you think you took him on alone, I was in the corner, cheering you on just because you were doing what I never could.”
“Standing up to Dad?”
She shook her head. “Being your own woman and standing up for yourself and what you think is right.”
Tears pooled in my eyes, and I pulled away as a shuddered breath left me. “In the beginning, when I met Beckham, I kept beating myself up, criticizing myself for making the wrong decisions.”
She wiped away one of her own unshed tears before she wiped the tear from my cheek with her thumb. “Well, regardless of whether or not those decisions were wrong, they were your decisions. Not anyone else’s.”
I smiled softly and simply enjoyed the feeling of her wiping away my tears, in the same way she had done when she was comforting me in the past after I had an argument or dispute with my father. As I got older, I pushed her away, but she truly was always there for me. And for that, I would forever be grateful to her.
She let out a tired sigh. “You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to slap some sense into Nancy over the years.” I couldn’t hold back my soft giggle as she shook her head. “I’m still a little bitter you didn’t get a few more in, but the old woman could barely keep her balance, poor thing. If you kept going, it would’ve been just sad, no matter how much she deserved it.”
“Would you feel better if you knew I slapped Gavin in his office and had him begging for my forgiveness after I threatened to ruin his life?”
A smile graced her lips, and she placed a small kiss on my forehead as she held back her laugh. “That’s my girl.”
Walking her back to my office, we talked a bit more before we were cut off by a knock at the door. Looking over, my face flushed as Beckham stepped in, looking as handsome as ever. Like I said before, the feeling of obsession… fixation was starting to be mutual. I genuinely didn’t know if I would get used to seeing him every day without having some kind of reaction, and to be quite honest, I didn’t mind it.
“Well, look who it is…” My mother smiled.
Beckham walked over to my desk as I sat behind it. “It’s good to see you again, Mrs. Hart.”
“I have to say, Mr. Garcia, you’ve become rather popular in the last day or so with everything that’s happened. Nancy can’t stop talking about you.”
Beckham tilted his head in thought. “Well, if I’ve heard correctly from your daughter, Nancy has never truly stopped talking her entire life. I’m sure it’s nothing new.”
My mother and I couldn’t help but laugh.
My mother checked her watch after a moment and stood. “Well, it’s best I get going. I’ll give you both some time to yourselves. It was lovely to see you, Beckham, and Rosenna, sweetie, we’ll talk soon.”
Standing up, I gave her a farewell hug before she stepped out of my office to leave.
Beckham placed his hands around me from behind, and I giggled softly as he placed a kiss on my shoulder.
“My little flower… Everything okay?”
I sighed as I turned in his hold, wrapping my arms around his neck.
“No, Mr. Garcia, everything is perfect. Way too perfect with you.”
He hummed, biting at my lip playfully as his hand lowered to shamelessly caress my butt.
“Well… I actually have a surprise for you, Flower. And once you see it, only then will everything be perfect.”
“If I recall correctly, the last surprise you gave me was what my previous husband labeled as a ’glorified publicly displayed sex shrine’ in one of his text messages to me. Should I get my hopes up?”
He rolled his eyes as he leaned down and nipped at my collarbone.
“No. Not another sex shrine… at least not yet. ”
“Beckham,” I said, my voice laced with warning.
“Trust me, Flower… this surprise is only slightly better than a display of my love and underlying obsession for you.”