Thirty-Two #3
“We know what happened that summer.” He’d leave out that it was conjecture to try to spook her.
“You hated that Roger had a girlfriend who took him away from the family and you decided to find out who. When you discovered it was Yvette—a double whammy of Chinese and the local summer help—you were furious. Those weren’t Malcolm’s perspectives about Yvette that you kindly shared.
They were yours as well. Then there’s the bracelet. ”
Color was flooding back into Valerie’s face and she cleared her throat. “Why would she lie about the bracelet?” Her voice trembled but she was trying to give him support and he was grateful, and proud of her.
“Because she was becoming friends with Yvette behind Roger’s back. Penny hates being left out.”
Valerie glanced over. “That’s not nice to say, although I can see it. Tracey mentioned her insecurity.”
Penny’s face was growing red. “Shut up.” Valerie’s decision to join the conversation seemed to have increased her anger.
Nico kept his expression as cool as possible while his brain spun through what they knew.
What else had she said that he could bring up?
Or at least reasonably extrapolate from?
“When Yvette found out she was pregnant, she went to Penny first, to get her advice and because she thought they were friends, although Penny must have told her to not mention their chats to Roger.”
“Those are lies,” said Penny through gritted teeth. “This isn’t a game, Nico.”
Lies. Games. Nico remembered something Roger had said during Monopoly about what happened after Peter’s accident.
No one could find Penny. Malcolm was late to see his son.
He had an idea. A brain wave. A potentially unethical, yet entirely excusable assertion.
Well, allegation but whatever. “No, we found out at Helena’s memorial that you and your father met with Yvette while Peter was being admitted to the hospital. ”
Every single eye in the room moved in unison from him to Penny. All except for Valerie’s. She was gazing at him, and he prayed she wasn’t disappointed with his decision to lie. Then she gave him a tiny nod.
“It was Tracey Jefferies, wasn’t it? That bitch.” Penny exploded. “I knew she’d been following me around that summer, like a dog. Do you know how mortified Dad was? His first grandchild a teen pregnancy with someone like that?”
“You told Dad?” whispered Roger. “Before me? You knew?”
She said nothing. David reached out to take Jenn’s hand, both of them wide-eyed.
“You were also the P that Yvette went to twenty years ago,” Nico said. “Did she ask for the money or did you offer it to keep her away?”
“It was you?” repeated Roger. “You did that with Dad, behind my back? Lied for thirty years about knowing I had a child?”
“It was the right decision,” she said. “Dad knew it would ruin your life to be saddled with that girl.”
“I had a child. You had no right to keep this from me.”
“You only knew Yvette for a summer,” Penny snapped.
“I was in love!”
“You might have had a crush back then, but now you’re in love with an image. A perception based on nostalgia.”
Roger looked at her with what Nico at first thought was contempt, but it morphed into pity. “I can see why you think that,” he said. “You don’t understand love can simply happen. You’ve never known its magic.”
“Stop talking like a teenage girl. What magic? You don’t know what would have happened with her.” Penny sounded infuriated. “I bet the baby was to trap you. You could have broken up the next day.”
“It doesn’t matter what might have happened,” said Roger. “You took away my opportunity to find out.”
“Roger, we’re Badgertons. I wasn’t going to let my children lose out on their rightful inheritance to her, the same way Dad wasn’t going to let her take our name.”
“Fuck the money. My daughter is a Badgerton as well, and thanks to you, I missed her entire life.” Roger stared at Penny as if he didn’t recognize her. “I want you gone. Now.”
“I live here.”
“I said now. I can’t stand the sight of you. I might be a father but you stole my chance to be a dad.” He didn’t raise his voice or change his tone, but there was so much hurt and anger coming off him that it choked the room.
Penny glanced around the shocked faces and decided to make a graceful retreat. “I’ll talk to you when you’ve calmed down.” Penny turned on Valerie. “Look what you’ve done.”
“You’re just like Dad,” said David softly.
Her back stiffened. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
He shook his head. “You shouldn’t.”
She left and Roger sat down heavily on the chair as Alice came up to give him a hug.
Nico took a few deep breaths to try to flush out the emotions.
It made him uncomfortable to witness a rawness that was usually covered by the veneer of civility.
He felt a deep pity for Roger, and none for Penny.
The room was silent, and when Valerie took the opportunity to escape, Nico didn’t hesitate to follow her out the door. This had nothing to do with him.
After all, it was a family matter, and he wasn’t family.
That was fine by him.