In the doorway, Thomas stood strategically to hide his bulging erection. He coughed. “Mrs. Jones. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He reached down and shook her hand.
“Call me Julia,” the older woman said, as she cast suspicious glances from one pair of guilty eyes to the other. “So you’re the reason my daughter’s lost all common sense?” Then she added, “You look taller in real life than in the movies.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Thomas said. Then he nodded to the security guard. “Gerald.”
The men shook hands.
As Sasha moved back to allow Thomas to enter her home, she noted the twinkle in her mom’s eye. Julia couldn’t resist a polite, handsome man. Thomas would charm her, no matter how angry she wanted to be with him.
Sasha showed Thomas into the living room. Just like when he was in her shabby apartment in Chicago, having him enter her world felt incredibly strange. Thomas had such a presence about him that he stuck out like a sore thumb any time he wasn’t surrounded by opulence. It made her basic living room look like the bad set of a budget movie.
She went to the kitchen to make coffee for everyone and noticed that her hands were trembling. Just five minutes in his presence and Thomas had already managed to knock her off kilter.
When she returned, her mother was proudly showing Thomas and Gerald baby pictures.
“Weren’t you quite the cherub?” Thomas said from his place on the floral sofa as Sasha walked in. He flashed her one of his wicked grins.
“Oh please,” Sasha said, putting the cafetière on the table. She could feel heat creeping up her neck.
“I mean it,” Thomas said with a sly look. “You were the picture of innocence.”
He enunciated the last word in a subtly suggestive way that made Sasha cough. She pursed her lips and shook her head, then busied herself with pouring the coffee.
“So,” Thomas said. “Here’s what I propose.” He took a sip of the coffee then instantly made a disgusted face; clearly, it wasn’t the quality he was used to drinking. “The four of us here head to my Aunty Mabel’s house in the Oxfordshire countryside. I’ve been there for the last few weeks trying to get my head together. It’s a beautiful place, very calm. Aunt Mabel’s a dear, really. She will give us all plenty of space to do as we please.”
Julia tipped her head to the side. “You want me to leave my home? I’ve been here for almost thirty years. I intend to die here.”
“Mom,” Sasha said. “Don’t say things like that.”
“It’s just temporary,” Thomas said, spreading his hands wide, palms up invitingly. “I think that considering the circumstances we ought to relocate. Just for the time being. What happened with Bill has got us all rattled. Really, we should have moved on as soon as the letter arrived—”
“What letter?” Julia said, cutting him off.
Sasha pressed her lips together. Thomas’s eyes darted to her.
“Oh,” he said, stumbling over his words. “I-I thought you were aware. Perhaps I was mistaken.”
Sasha sighed. It was time to come clean. “Mom, Bill had been sending me online abuse. He must have been obsessed with Thomas or something and jealous that I was involved with him. He sent me a letter, to the house, saying he’d found out where we lived.”
Julia’s face paled. “Why did you keep that from me?”
“I didn’t want to worry you,” Sasha said soothingly. “But that was why Thomas sent Gerald here in the first place.”
“This isn’t like you Sasha,” Julia replied. “You never used to keep secrets from me.”
Sasha twisted her hands in her lap. She hated seeing her mom like this—upset, fearful. She wished she could comfort herself with the knowledge that had she known getting involved with Thomas would harm her family she would never have done it, but deep down she knew that was a lie. Just being in the same room as Thomas again had reminded her that every negative thing that had come about from their union was worth it and was more than offset by the times they spent between the sheets. If she could go back in time and change the past, she wouldn’t.
“Mom,” Sasha said boldly. “I’m sorry that you got tangled up in this mess. But I love Thomas. I want to be with him. And that means accepting everything that comes with it—the paparazzi, the crazy stalkers, the phone taps, the backstabbing.”
She took a breath. It felt so good to get this all off her chest. Ever since she’d met Thomas, she’d been sucked into a strange game where she never knew whether she was coming or going, whether he’d be on her side or against her, whether he wanted her or despised her. She couldn’t control Thomas’s heart or mind, but she could control her own, and that meant staying true to herself.