A Silken Thread - Brenda Jackson [87]
Her face contorted in more anger. “How am I? How do you think I am after finding out about your affair?”
He crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the kitchen cabinet. “Don’t pretend you care about me having an affair when you gave me the go-ahead to indulge in one years ago. When you stopped being a wife to me.”
“Is that all you men think about? Getting between a pair of women’s legs?”
“No, companionship is nice, too. Having someone to talk to, do things with. Having someone there for you. But you refused to do those things and be those things over twenty years ago and I never was unfaithful to you.”
“Then why now?”
He couldn’t help but give her a genuine smile. He could answer that question easily. “Because I finally met someone I truly like.” He came close to also adding, Someone I love.
“Well, your timing on this one was awful, Wilson. And you’re right, I really don’t give a damn that you’re sleeping with another woman. But I refuse to let you behave so deplorably with a woman I will be interacting with on occasion. But then, your thoughtlessness has given me what I wanted. In a way it worked out in my favor.”
He lifted a brow, not sure where she was going with this. “What do you mean?”
“There’s no way Erica will marry Brian now.”
He heard the finality in her voice and couldn’t help but smile. “Don’t fool yourself on that, Karen. Erica loves Brian and she will not let anything come between them. Not you, me or Rita.”
A smile hovered on her lips. “I beg to differ.”
It was the sound of her voice at that moment that made him think there was something going on here. He decided to play his hunch. “Who sent those pictures to everyone, Karen?”
“How would I know? Evidently you and your mistress got sloppy.”
“No, I don’t think so,” he said, moving across the room to her. “I hope this isn’t something you concocted to—”
“To do what, Wilson? I didn’t force you to sleep with Rita Lawson. But you did, without thinking of how it would look to me or your daughter. Rita might have been your first fling, however, I doubt, since you’ve gotten a taste of a woman after all these years, that she will be your last. That doesn’t concern me.”
“Because you think you’re going to get what you want out of this, don’t you?”
She chuckled. “I have no idea what you’re talking about and it doesn’t matter. Our lives are what they are. You’re not going anywhere and neither am I. The only fool in all of this is Rita Lawson. What did you do? Promise to leave me for her? You and I know that won’t be happening.”
She was so sure of herself, he thought. So sure of him. “Not this time, Karen.”
She lifted a brow. “Not this time, what?”
“I refuse to let you manipulate me in whatever game you’re playing. I want a divorce.”
She seemed truly shocked. “A divorce?”
“Yes. We haven’t had a real marriage in years. I thought I could live with that, but I can’t.”
“You have no choice.”
Now it was he who smiled. “Yes, I do.”
She stiffened her spine. “If you leave me for her, Erica will hate you. I’ll see to it.”
“I’m not going to let your threats keep me from living a happy life, Karen. I met a woman that I can truly enjoy life with and I intend to do just that. And I’m going to believe that our daughter will realize what you’re doing. One day she will discover just what a mean, hateful, vindictive and manipulating person you are. When she does, then she will hate you. Is that what you want?”
Karen flinched. “That won’t happen.”
“For your sake, you better hope that it doesn’t. I won’t waste my time telling Erica my suspicions because she probably won’t believe me, considering everything. But eventually, she will find out the truth about you. There are some secrets that can’t be hidden forever.”
Without having anything else to say, he walked out of the kitchen.
April glanced across the table at Griffin. Surprising her, he had shown up a few hours ago and she was glad to see him. He had whisked her off to her favorite L.A. restaurant and she hadn’t wasted time before telling him that Erica was postponing