“No!”Sandy’s indignant squeal echoed off the walls of the dining room. “You cannot be serious.”
“I am serious,”Merlin shrugged.“I was always so wrapped up in business and work I forgot to appreciate the woman who was my wife.I might be too late to save the marriage but I’m not too stupid to admit I was wrong,and I should have done better.Your talent is a gift,Liesl.Not that it matters to you,but I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks Merlin.”
“You bitch!”Sandy squealed.“Can you not let me have anything?”
“What the hell are you talking about now?”Fred cut in.“Nothing about today was supposed to be about you.This was Gran’s unveiling.”
“No.It was supposed to be about burying the hatchet with me.”
“You would have to actually be sorry for the shit you pulled in order for Liesl to accept the apology.An apology I might add you never gave her.”
“I don’t owe her an apology.She owes me.She cut me off like I was a gangrene foot.”
“Gangrene would have been easier to get rid of,”Liesl muttered.
“You owe me an apology Liesl for not doing what sisters do and loving me unconditionally.”
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?”
“It didn’t matter what I did,you were supposed to be my big sister and love me no matter what!”
“You had sex with my husband and got pregnant and then harassed me for months.Mother Theresa would have shunned you.”
“I’m your sister.You’re supposed to have my back.”
“You’re my sister and you should have not fucked my husband!Then lied about it.Then constantly and consistently tormented me.”
“You were supposed to say you forgive me and I would have stopped.”
“You went too far.”
“I’m your sister!”she shrieked at the top of her lungs.
Liesl stared at her shaking her head in amazement,“you do realize the biology of being sisters is a reciprocal relationship.If I’m your sister,then you should be mine.Sisters don’t fuck their brothers-in-law.”She saw Sandy’s head snap.“You don’t get to be a shitty,bitch of a sister who doesn’t play by the rules of any kind of social construct and then demand I bow down to your demands.Fuck you,Sandy.”
“Mom!”Sandy turned to her mother.“Make her stop.”
Liesl looked to her mother and waited for the words she knew were coming.Words she’d heard her entire life.The ones telling her to stop upsetting her baby sister.She braced herself for the inevitable disappointment.
Her mouth fell open in surprise when her mother spoke.
“Sandy stop being a spiteful bitch.Your grandmother is right.Isaias was right.Your father was right.You’re mentally ill and unhinged and I can’t do this anymore.You cannot torture your sister and expect she’s going to keep on loving you.It doesn’t work this way.”Her mother walked to Liesl and kissed her forehead.“I’m sorry love.Your father would have had my head on a platter.I wanted this meeting tonight so I can make sure everyone knows how I feel.I’m done with Sandy’s drama.I can’t do it anymore.”
“Mom!”Sandy bellowed,her voice cracking as she dropped into a chair at the dining room table.“You can’t pick her over me.”
“I’m not.I love you both,equally.Which is why I cannot keep doing this.You need professional help,Sandy.I started going back to therapy and I’m learning to set boundaries.Your child with Merlin is your responsibility.Not mine.I’m not responsible for your actions.If you want to emotionally blackmail me with threats of suicide or infanticide,then don’t bother speaking to me.”
Sandy had tears streaming down her face.
Lorraine looked to Merlin,“you married her.You made her your responsibility.I will happily be a grandmother to your child,but I do not want anything more to do with your squabbles,arguments,and fights.Moving forward,do not bring her to my door when you can’t control her.”
“I am not a child for you to decide who has to babysit me!”Sandy yelled at her mother.
Merlin lifted an eyebrow,“you sure about this,sweetheart?Because all I’ve ever seen from you is the bratty behavior of an overindulged child.”
“Well,”she stomped her foot,“you’re a cold fish.”
“Did it not occur to you the reason I’m a cold fish is you?”he looked her over.“You dress like a teenage girl desperate to get the attention of all the people in the room because you know you’re not interesting enough on your own.”
“You stared at me all the time.From the day we met.I know–”
“Stop,”he held up his hand.“Sandy,it doesn’t matter where you go everyone stares at you.It’s not because you’re beautiful or sexy or glamorous.It’s because you’re a fucking trainwreck and the world can’t stop but to stare at the horror unfolding.I made a mistake of letting you blow me in the bathroom because I was drunk,stupid and a bit pissed off at Liesl the day of the party because she chose to be at her family’s event instead of at my side at the country club.”
“Merlin!”Liesl was shocked at his words.
“I was wasted,Liesl.I barely made it up the walkway to the house.I didn’t want to be there.I wanted you with me and you chose your family over me,and it pissed me off.She offered to help me with the ice cream thing.For the record,I wasn’t hard when I fucked her in the bathroom,and she faked the orgasm despite what she likes to tell everyone.”
“Liar!”Sandy screamed.
“She said she never blackmailed you.”
“It doesn’t matter any more Liesl,”Merlin said sadly.“She did.I can give you all the emails and the witnesses to prove it but at the end of the day,I shouldn’t have done what I did.All I need to do now is make sure my son is born within wedlock,so he gets his trust fund.”
“Or”a voice spoke from the door,“you could just divorce her and be done with it.You’re not going to be CEO either way now of McGrath Industries so you could simply create your own trust fund for the child.”
“Isaias.”Liesl turned to face him,her heart pounding excitedly.
Her eyes raked his form.He appeared exhausted with deep lines around the corners of his eyes and his mouth drawn but,the way he was staring at her made her heart skip a beat.All the love in the world couldn’t compare to what he was sending her way.He crooked a finger to her as he tossed something at Merlin.
