Edward frowned. “Moxie what?”
“I’m surprised you haven’t heard of it.” I turned to him wearily. “Moxie. You know. Regular student by day, adventurous cub reporter by night. It was a huge hit.”
“Moxie Mc—” Frowning, he looked at Madison, his eyes wide. “I remember. Your face was on the side of buses for months when the show came to London. It was your big break, wasn’t it? Made you famous. Made you rich.”
Wide-eyed, Madison looked from Edward, to Jason, to me. She abruptly slapped her hands hard against the table.
“I deserved the role, not you!” she cried in a shrill voice. “I’d been doing commercials since I was a baby! I was the actress, not you. And you were eighteen by then, Diana, way too old for the role!”
“Compared to you?”
“I was seventeen—the perfect age!”
“For getting engaged to my agent?” I said dryly. “The second you heard about the role, you went for him. You knew he could get you that audition, and more. He could get you the career you wanted.”
“You make it sound sordid,” she gasped, putting her manicured hand against her chest in a fake laugh. “It wasn’t like that!”
“Oh?” I said coolly. “So you didn’t seduce him to get him to take you on as a client, and sell you to the show?”
“You’re jealous! It’s not my fault you gave up the audition and rushed home. The next day, when Lenny and I spent time together, he realized I was the perfect Moxie, not you. That’s all!”
“He was fifty,” I said.
“I loved him!”
“You dumped him fast enough, after he got you your first movie role, and you realized that dating a big Hollywood director would help you further up the ladder. You didn’t mind that he had to break up with his wife to do it.”
“Enough.” Jason rose from the table, his face like granite. He looked at Madison. “So I’m number five, am I?”
“You’re different,” she whispered. “Special.”
“I don’t feel special.” Jason looked at me. “I’m starting to think I chose the wrong sister.”
Madison looked frightened. “Jason—”
“Here.” Reaching into his pocket, he tossed a set of car keys onto the table. They skittered helter-skelter down the long polished wood. “I’m taking a car back to London. I’ll leave the keys at the front desk of your hotel.”
“Wait,” she said desperately, rising to her feet. “You can’t leave. I need you—”
He left without a backward glance.
Madison staggered back.
“Does this mean the wedding is off?” Edward inquired pleasantly.
Ignoring him, she slowly turned to face me. “Diana. I know I’ve done a lot of stupid and selfish things. But I never thought you would be the one to list them out. Not you.”
The injured fury in my heart deserted me, just when I needed it most. I rose to my feet.
“I never thought you would attack me like that.” Her crystalline eyes glimmered in the candlelight. Her voice caught as she looked away. “You’re not my big sister. You’re just like all the rest.”
My throat suddenly hurt as I remembered how we first met, virtual strangers to each other attending our parents’ wedding as slightly-too-old flower girls, both feeling awkward, uncertain. My mom had told me Madison’s mother died of a drug overdose when she was a toddler. So be nice to her, she’d chided.
Seeing her sad little face, I’d wanted to protect her. We’re family now, I’d said at the wedding, hugging her over the flowers. I’m gonna be your big sister, Maddy. So don’t worry. I’ll take care of you.
“Maddy—” I whispered.
“Forget it,” Madison choked out. “Just forget it.”
She turned away in a cloud of grief and expensive perfume, stumbling out of Penryth Hall, calling Jason’s name, then her bodyguards’.
The great hall was suddenly quiet, the only sound the whipping of the wind outside rattling the glass panes of the windows.
Edward looked at me.
“I wondered what it would be like, if you ever really let yourself go,” he said quietly. “Now I know.”
A sob lifted to my throat. My knees wobbled beneath me, and suddenly Edward was there, catching me before I could fall. I stared up at him in bewilderment, wondering how he’d moved so fast.
“I was horrible,” I whispered.
“You were magnificent,” he said softly, brushing hair from my face.
“Magnificent?” I gave a harsh laugh. “I was so determined to list all her faults. But what I’ve done is worse.”