Chapter 6

"He did WHAT to my daughter?"

My mother's voice could have shattered every crystal glass in our dining room when I told her about the divorce the next morning over coffee.

"Seven years of marriage, and he throws it all away for some little gold-digging whore?"

"Mom, please keep your voice down. Lily might hear you from upstairs."

"That precious little girl deserves so much better than a father who abandons his family for his midlife crisis!"

I'd never seen my dignified mother this furious—her hands shook as she paced our kitchen, her usually perfect composure completely demolished.

"I'm going to march into that office of his right now."

"Mom, that's really not necessary—"

"Like hell it isn't necessary!"

Two hours later, the entire Morrison Industries staff watched through glass office walls as my sixty-year-old mother confronted my soon-to-be ex-husband like an avenging angel.

"Do you remember your wedding vows, Jonathan Morrison?"

He couldn't meet her eyes, fidgeting with papers on his desk. "This situation is complicated—"

"It's not complicated at all! You promised to love and cherish my daughter through good times and bad!"

"I did love her once—"

"Love isn't past tense in a real marriage!" Her voice cracked with emotion. "Do you remember how Katherine spent three months organizing your business plan? How she sat through every boring investor meeting, learned financial terminology she had absolutely no interest in?"

His jaw tightened defensively. "I'm grateful for everything she did back then."

"Grateful?" My mother's laugh was bitter and broken. "She believed in you when nobody else would, when everyone else called you a failure!"

"I can't change how I feel about Madeline."

"You can change how you choose to act on those feelings!"

That's when my dignified, proud mother did something I never thought I'd witness in a thousand years—she dropped to her knees in front of his mahogany desk.

"Please," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "Think of Lily. Think of your family."

"Mrs. Kingsley, please get up—"

"I'm begging you not to destroy everything."

He came around the desk, trying to help her stand, panic clear in his voice as employees gathered in the hallway to witness his humiliation.

"Please don't do this here."

"Then don't destroy my daughter's entire life."

But even as he helped her to her feet, I could see the cold resolution in his face through the office windows.

His mind was already made up, and nothing would change it.