“I called around and told people I was your aunt, trying to find you to break some bad news personally.” Julia walked into the room, hands in front of her like a penitent. “After tonight, I needed to talk to you. I’ve done everything wrong since Saint-Tropez, and it’s time I started acting like the person I hope my children grow up to be. The kind of person who owns up to her mistakes.”
Hanna led the way to the room’s sitting area, just a small couch and an armchair with a coffee table between them. “What mistakes are you owning up for?”
“For letting Steven blackball you with the nanny agencies. He was so angry you turned him down. I should have said something right then. Called them and fixed what he did, but we were on vacation. That meant being stuck in a hotel room with him, and when he’s unhappy, he takes it out on everyone around him. I just wanted to keep my head down until it blew over.” Julia settled on the edge of the chair.
Hanna took the couch cushion nearest the chair. “Believe it or not, I understand. What you said when I left… I got the idea you were stuck. But what you did hurt, Julia. I can’t ever get a job in that business again. And now, your husband isn’t just trying to ruin my life. He’s trying to ruin Gregory’s.”
“I know.” Julia folded her hands in her lap, one thumb gripped tightly in the opposite hand. “Steven wasn’t this man when I married him. At least, I didn’t think he was. He was handsome. Ambitious. Still in the shallow end of business but working hard to move up. I thought he loved me. Now I think what he loved was my father’s connections.”
“But he’s like that now.”
“Yes. He is.” Julia’s smile had no humor in it. “You aren’t the first one he’s done that to, Hanna. You certainly aren’t the first woman he’s tried, or succeeded, to cheat on me with. This is an old story, filled with ‘I’ll never do it again’ and ‘it’s not that big a deal’ and ‘I did this because you can’t be what I want’.”
Hanna leaned forward. “I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t have to deal with that. You deserve better, and so do your kids. Every day you stay with him is another day your children believe this is how love should be.”
Julia stared at her hands for a long moment. “I know. But our prenuptial agreement isn’t very favorable to me. He talked me out of having my own lawyer look at it when I signed it. God, I was young and stupid. I don’t know how to get out of this.”
“Then we’ll get you help. Listen.” Hanna reached out to take the woman’s hands into hers. “It’s humiliating to ask for help. Especially from someone you look up to. But this isn’t just about you. It’s about your kids, and that’s worth swallowing your pride, isn’t it?”
A shuddery breath escaped Julia as she looked up at Hanna. “Yes.”
“Then ask your family for help. I imagine your father’s connections can help deal with this. That prenup may not even be legal, given its terms. Your father probably has attorneys who would love a crack at it.”
Julia managed a watery chuckle. “My father has the nastiest sharks in the legal ocean on retainer.”
“I thought he might. Now imagine this.” An idea had started to creep around the edges of her mind. “Steven was bragging about that stock your father’s going to give him. The stock in Gregory’s company. That’s worth quite a bit, isn’t it?”
“That stock is valued at more than we’re worth right now, and you know we aren’t exactly poor.” Julia’s tone was wry. They sat easily within the top one percent of the wealthiest class, and she knew it. “It was going to give him more than money. It was going to give him status. He’d made himself my father’s heir apparent, and Steven had so many plans for that. It was something I thought of doing once, but Steven didn’t like the thought of his wife having more than he did. He wanted to ‘provide for me’. So I let those plans go.”
Hanna squeezed Julia’s hands. “How willing do you think your father will be to give Steven the stocks once he knows how poorly Steven treats you?”
Julia’s eyes welled up with tears. “My father wouldn’t give him a dime. But then I’d have to admit what’s been happening, and that I picked a terrible husband, and that I’m a failure.”
“Oh, no. No, Julia. You aren’t a failure. Steven’s a failure. You’re someone who had the best intentions, and who was brave enough to love someone. It isn’t your fault Steven is a terrible person. That’s all on him.”
Tears spilled over onto Julia’s cheeks. Then she melted into hard, wracking sobs that shook her entire body. Hanna slipped off the couch to kneel in front of the crying woman and hold her as she finally allowed the years of pain and shame to tear through her.
When at last the weeping eased, Julia drew back to look into Hanna’s eyes. “I don’t know what I’ll do when I’m not his wife anymore.”
“Anything you want,” Hanna said. “Maybe starting with those plans you set aside because Steven didn’t like them. Ask your father to teach you more about his assets. Convince him to giveyouthe stocks. Gregory’s about to start working with his shareholders more. It’s a good time to get into business with him. As a side benefit, it will probably humiliate the hell out of Steven.”
Julia stared at Hanna a long moment, then said, “I see why he loves you. Can we make a deal? You and me.”
“That depends on the deal.”
With a final squeeze, Julia freed her hands, then picked up her purse from beside the chair. “I’m going to call my father right now. To be honest, I’m scared to do it, and it would be nice to have someone here while I do.”
“I’m glad to stay right here while you call him.”
“I’m going to talk to him about giving me the stocks. He told me once a few years ago that he’d wanted me to have them to start with. Then I’d gotten married, and I hadn’t shown any more interest in being a stockholder. Since Steven and I were married, and hedidhave interest...” Julia rolled her hand in an and-so-on gesture.
Hanna caught the idea. “Giving them to Steven would be like giving them to you. You’d get the benefit anyway, and your husband would enjoy it.”
“Yes. I’m going to call up and tell my father what’s happening. Once he agrees that the stocks will be mine? You’re going to bemyrepresentative. And for your part of the deal, you’re going to go straight back to Greenhill Hall and tell Gregory I’ll work with him.” Julia’s stare turned serious. “Don’t let Steven ruin anyone else’s chance at happiness. Go get Gregory back.”
Old fear stirred in Hanna’s belly. Fear of rejection. Worse, fear of dismissal, fear of taking the chance of caring for someone, when they might walk away and leave her to find for herself once more. The story of her life, told over and over again. A tale of a woman named Hanna who reached out to those she wanted to love, only to find her hand closing on empty air as no one reached back for her.
What if he doesn’t want me anymore? What if he never did? What if I was just his princess for a night, and now the party has ended, he realizes I was never a princess at all? Could I handle that if it happened?