It was almost too much for Bianca to digest. Even if it’s true, how can I believe it? The thought of Vivianne being anything but the definition of ‘heterosexual WASP’ was beyond Bianca’s basic understanding. Plus, Scarlett being conceived before the wedding? Bianca wasn’t naïve. She knew that women often had to lie about being virgins before marriage, especially in the past. But she couldn’t believe it would get to that point between her parents—two people she couldn’t imagine having sex in the first place.
“I bet you’ve always wondered why your mother was such a homophobe. I know plenty about that from the gossip grapevine. Along with all the drama with your sister Parker. From the time she started getting in trouble as a teenager, I pegged her as one of us, even from a distance. It wasn’t long before those rumors were confirmed.”
“I… I can’t believe this.”
“What? That your mother and I used to take intimate trips to the Cape? That we would get buzzed on wine and dance naked in our campus apartment while listening to the Mamas and the Papas? Your mother always had such pedestrian tastes in music, but I loved that about her.” A smirk crossed Ellen’s lips. “Almost as much as she loved what I could do in bed.”
Bianca resisted the urge to clamp her hands over her ears.
“Oh, I’m sure this is all so much for you to take in right now. But doesn’t it explain everything? Why your mother is the way she is? She’s always been so obsessed with not only her image, but your whole family’s. She scorched-earthed all evidence of her younger days because she doesn’t want people digging around me or the life we shared in college. Our relationship aside, I’ve never hidden my love for women. The mere idea of being associated with a dyke like me terrifies her.”
Ellen downed the last of her wine before getting up and grabbing the bottle from the kitchen counter, bringing it back to the coffee table as she continued.
“Even in New York, people talked about her whenever she was in town. They’d ask who died and made Vivianne Blackthe moral arbiter of others’ sex lives. They’d be so sad for Parker while questioning why Scarlett still hadn’t married that man she was engaged to for years. The apple never fell far from the tree, did it?”
The more Bianca thought about it, the more it began making sense. Not just her mother’s irate behavior toward her daughters, but what she had said that night at dinner. “Everything is my fault. It’s because of me you’re all like this.”
Did she think her daughters had inherited her love for women?
“If what you say about my mom is true,” Bianca diplomatically began, “then it does explain a lot about her. But at the same time, I understand it. I may be young, but I’ve learned a few things about the times you grew up in. And I know what kind of world my mother has always inhabited. I’m sure she really did care for you. But my grandparents, what I remember of them, were even more traditional than my parents. They would never have stood for their only daughter being with another woman. But I’m sorry she broke your heart. I’m sorry she cheated on you.”
“I don’t think you understand.” Ellen refilled her wineglass, but her hands were unsteady as she poured, sending drops of red wine splattering across her linen suit. “This wasn’t merely a matter of your mother being a young fuckup who couldn’t stand up for herself and left me in the dust. She went out of her way to hurt me as much as possible. Both her and Phillip fucking Black!”
“I… I don’t know what you mean.”
Ellen set the bottle of wine down and rose from her seat again, looming over Bianca’s petite frame. “Your father. He and your mother…” She wagged a finger in Bianca’s direction, as if she were somehow responsible for her parents’ foibles. “They kept finding ways to destroy my life. No, it wasn’t enough to take my heart and smash it into a million pieces. They continued to haunt me like specters from my past.”
Bianca dug her fingers into the arms of her chair, heart pounding in her chest in warning. Had coming here been a mistake?
“I tried to move on, you know.” The more Ellen spoke, the more unwound she became. She began pacing back and forth, a curl of gray hair bouncing against her forehead. “I started that job in Manhattan. I worked my way up and made my fucking money so I could be just as successful as Phillip Black and your whole cursed family. I even found myself a new girlfriend. A new bride. We married as soon as it was legal in New York. But do you know why she filed for divorce only two years ago, Bianca?” Ellen stopped before her. “Do you know why my dear wife, who has never met Vivianne in her life, left me?”
Bianca shook her head.
“She accused me of still being obsessed with her. See, we had recently moved for the first time since we got together. She found some of my old things I kept in my closet. Things from a lifetime ago.” Ellen blew the curl out of her eyes. “According to her, it’s ‘fucked up’ to keep intimate Polaroids from your previous relationship and the dirty love notes you once wrote one another. Not to mention the locks of hair your old flame happily gave you when you asked. All the hair. From her head,” Ellen pointed to her scalp, which was already enough for Bianca to paint a picture in her mind, “to her sweet honeypot.”
Holy. Shit. This woman is nuts. Bianca needed to leave. Now.
But how? Ellen was blocking the way to the door. She also had access to a bottle of wine and the row of steak knives on the kitchen counter. Would she be crazy enough to hurt Bianca?
Did Bianca want to hang around and find out?
“Do you want to know what really sealed the deal for me, though?” Ellen said. “It was six months ago. I had lost my wife, but I still had the business I’d founded several years ago. Sure, we had gone public to raise some much-needed funds. And, sure, I had some people on my board who I didn’t completely trust. But I was shocked, Bianca. So shocked when I found out someone had bought a majority share in my company, all thanks to those untrustworthy board members who were selling me down the river. To Black. Diamond. Holdings.”
“I…” Bianca’s mouth was dry. “I don’t understand
“Your father—your family—took over my company from the outside. I was powerless to stop it. Over the course of mere months, I was made a fool not only in my personal life, but in my professional life too. I was forced into early retirement because of it. So here I am!” She opened her arms to the window.To Lake Washington. To Bellevue. “I sold everything I had, cashed in my chips, and moved out here. All so I could find your mother and make things right.”
It was the confirmation Bianca had been waiting for. “So it is you. It’s been you all along. You’re the one who has been stalking us. You’re the one who—”
Ellen scoffed. “Oh, don’t be so dramatic. Stalking you? I’ve tried to get in touch with your mother, that’s all. Tried to get her attention. It’s high time she and I had a one-to-one talk about what’s going on in our lives. About what she and that husband of hers have done to me.”
Bianca stood up slowly, praying that Ellen wouldn’t notice. “My mom, she’s at her wit’s end with worry. She’s hired all sorts of security because of your actions. If you just want to talk things out with her, I’m sure my mother would be happy to do that if I ask her for you.”
“You think I haven’t tried, Bianca? I’ve been calling, mailing, texting her for months. She keeps tossing me aside, just like she did forty years ago! That’s why I had to get creative.” Ellen cocked her head to one side. “Who is that sweet French maid of your mother’s? Vivi should really look into replacing her. It only took a few thousand dollars to convince her to leave some well-placed notes for me.”
This is bad. Bianca calculated how long it would take her to get from the sitting area to the front door. Except Ellen was still right there, and she seemed far more limber and alert than Bianca’s mother. Age meant nothing. Especially when one was hell-bent on revenge.
“I’ve been studying your parents and your whole family for quite a while. Who does your mother love best? Oh, she’s never been good at loving more than one person at a time. That was clear when she left me for PhillipBlack.” Every time Ellen spoke that name, she spat it like it was poison. “So I highly doubt she loves all of you girls the same. I instantly ruled out Parker, as fascinating as her exploits have been. She reminds me a lot of myself at that age. Your mother clearly doesn’t love her. It’s a tragedy, really, the way she’s cast poor Parker aside.”