Hollywood Heir (Westerly Billionaire #4)(73)

Delinda sniffed. “Oh, you’re a little heart tugger, aren’t you? Or I’m getting soft in my old age.”

“No, soft isn’t the word I would choose to describe you,” Sage said with a straight face.

Delinda laughed. Her expression turned almost tender. “I spoke to your mother. I understand you better now as well. I wish there were something I could do to—”

“She’ll come around one day. I’ll keep my heart open, and it’ll happen.”

“I may have been a little harsh with her.”

“Me too,” Sage said, meeting Delinda’s gaze. “It was time.”

Delinda’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Welcome to the family, Sage. You’re going to fit in just fine.”

“Hey, Eric said the same thing to me. Is it a compliment?”

Delinda’s expression remained carefully blank. “Why don’t we head into the dining room?”

“I’m taking it as one,” Sage announced as she and Delinda made their way in.

Delinda chuckled.



Never had Eric imagined he would see his grandmother enter a room laughing with Sage as if they were old friends. He rose from his seat to hold out Sage’s chair and noted Tadeas did the same for Delinda.

“It looks like the two of you found common ground.”

She smiled up at him and said, “We did. We both love you.”

Eric swayed on his feet as her casual declaration washed over him. Sage loves me. He took a seat beside her, feeling dazed and jubilant all at once. I’ll have a second chance with her, and this time I’ll get it right.

Across the table, his mother and father did not sound as happy with one another. His father said, “What exactly was it that Nicolette thought was more important than being here?”

“She said there was a photo shoot she couldn’t postpone. The invitation was last minute,” his mother said in defense.

“You make too many excuses for her, Stephanie. The rest of us were able to drop everything to be here.”

A tension filled the room.

“I’m not excusing her absence, Dereck. All I’m saying is that this is a new career for her, and she might not have felt that she could leave—”

“She doesn’t need a career, Stephanie. If you let her, she’d have enough money to do as she pleased.”

Spencer took his wife’s hand. “Here we go.”

Stephanie threw her napkin down beside her plate. “It’s always about money with you. Always. Can’t you see that Nicolette needs—”

“She needs to be here. But you wouldn’t tell her she should be. You’re still punishing me and using the children to do it.”

“Oh my God, this is not about you.” Stephanie threw her hands up in the air. “Just once could you let it be about someone else?” She looked around as if only now realizing how unprivate their conversation had been.

A painful silence fell over the room, broken only by Reggie telling his son, “It’s okay, they’re divorced. We probably shouldn’t have sat them together.”

“What does divorced mean?” Skye asked Delinda.

Without missing a beat, Delinda said, “It means I shouldn’t have been the one to ask Nicolette to come.”

Skye turned to Hailey. “I don’t understand.”

Hailey looked down at her daughter with a sad expression. “Sometimes even when people love each other, they can’t get along. They separate. That’s divorce.”

Skye frowned and addressed Delinda. “What does that have to do with Nicolette?”

Spencer answered before Delinda could. “Grandmother Delinda was trying to say that she also feels bad that Nicolette isn’t here.”

Skye’s face crumpled. “Auntie Hailey, you love Spencer. I love Spencer, too. I don’t want you to separate.”

“Oh, honey. That’s not going to happen.”

“But that’s what divorce is.” Skye pushed her chair back and ran from the room.

Both Hailey and Spencer took off after her.

“Well, that’s just perfect,” Dereck said.

Brett leaned across the table. “Dad, don’t—”

“Don’t what? Ask about my daughter? She is my daughter as well.” Dereck turned to glare at his ex-wife. “No matter how much doubt you’ve filled her with. Unless she’s not mine, and then why don’t you finally admit it? Because I can’t live like this anymore—not knowing. Is she Mark’s or is she mine?”

Stephanie gasped. “Do you really think now is the time or the place to discuss this? All you’ve done was upset Spencer.”

“Spencer will get over it. Tonight was about Eric,” Dereck said.

The dinner suddenly crystallized why Eric had put an ocean between himself and his family. He understood but could not condone his father’s behavior. His mother had cheated and then married the man who had fathered at least one of the children she’d claimed were Dereck’s. His mother was jumping to the defense of the children she’d taken with her when she’d left her husband—the same three she’d built her new life around—a life that hadn’t included Eric.

Eric closed his eyes briefly, then turned to check how Sage was handling the scene. She took his hand in hers, and there was more love in her eyes than he felt he would ever deserve.