“What? Crazy? Maybe it is. But he’s made me that way.”
“By going to too many meetings?”
“No,” she answered, her voice a low growl, “it’s the rest of what happened between us. Your little doctor friend wasn’t far from the truth when he accused Grant of being abusive.”
Julia lowered her chin to her chest, arching an eyebrow. “You’re saying Grant hit you?”
“No. He never physically abused me. He didn’t need to. He could break me in so many other ways. And that’s why I’m going to break him.”
“Lydia, I find this very difficult to believe. In the time I’ve known him–”
“You didn’t know him then,” Lydia screamed. “You didn’t know what he was like. Ignored, alone, constantly told it was me, not him. The long parade of women lined up. The constant taunts that I could be replaced.”
Julia sucked in a breath as she chewed her lower lip. “I’m sorry you had a difficult marriage with Grant, but…”
“What?” Lydia prodded, her arms crossed. “He’s changed? I don’t care. He needs to pay for the mental pain I’ve lived through.”
“Maybe if you took the time to get to know your family as they are now–” Julia tried.
“I’d what? Fall in love with them? Realize how wonderful they really are?” Lydia placed a hand over her heart as she pretended to flick a tear from the corner of her eye. “No.”
“What about your daughter, Lydia? Doesn’t she mean anything to you?”
Lydia shook her head.
“She’s angry with you because of what you did, but I’m sure we could repair the damage. You could have a relationship with Sierra.”
“I can’t. I can barely stand to look at her.”
Julia’s features twisted. “Why? Lydia, you’re missing out on a wonderful girl. Sierra is strong and brave. She’s loyal and–”
“She’s not Grant’s.”
The words stopped Julia cold. “What?”
“She isn’t Grant’s daughter. Maybe you’re not as smart as I think you are. That was a pretty simple statement, Julia.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not. Do a DNA test. She’s not Grant’s. I had an affair. Things got worse after that. Our marriage almost ended then, but…I was pregnant. And we stayed together for the baby. Every time I look at her, I think about how much I wish I wouldn’t have had her. I would have left him so much sooner.”
The words burned into her mind. Was this a clever ploy on Lydia’s part to keep Julia off balance or was this the truth? “I can’t believe this.”
“Believe it, sister.”
“Wait, no,” Julia said as she shook her head, then massaged her temples. “That doesn’t ring true. Grant was so awful to you that when you got pregnant with another man’s baby, you stayed–“
“He thought the kid was his. I thought it would fix our marriage. It didn’t. It made it so much worse.”
“Still, you’re saying he was abusive, and yet you left your child with him. Lydia, you’re lying.”
“I’m not. He wasn’t abusive toward Sierra. Had he known she wasn’t his, maybe he would have been, but I didn’t let that happen.”
“Why?” Julia asked. “Why didn’t you tell him?”
Lydia rolled her eyes. “You’re kidding, right?”
Julia screwed up her face and shook her head.
