Three Wishes(132)

Alistair didn’t smile back.

Then Maxine felt it, a wave of something horrid pounding at her back and she turned to see Lily, who was even paler than Laura who seemed rooted to the spot, her mouth open in shock – supremely unhappy shock, Maxine felt it important to note – and Lily looked ready to commit murder.

“How dare you!” Lily shouted, advancing on them. “Go away! Go! Get out of my sight! How dare you!”

The hard, angry look on Alistair’s face softened as he gazed at Lily but he remained resolute.

“Lily, you must listen, Jeffrey and Danielle told me about McAllister,” he implored. “Please, you must listen.”

“I don’t have to listen to a thing you say,” Lily snapped and turned to Maxine. “Let’s go.”

Maxine was looking between everyone. She knew who Jeffrey and Danielle were and her eyes narrowed on them then they swung to Alistair and you’d have to be blind not to see her face screamed “traitor”.

“We’re going,” Maxine declared, moving to Laura.

“I want to hear what they have to say,” Laura said quietly, staring at her children and everyone stopped.

“Laura, the booking for the ceremony is firm. If we miss it or we’re late,” Maxine put her hand lightly on Laura’s arm, “we can’t be late or they’ll have to move to the next wedding. Saturdays at the Registry Office are booked solid. Lily and Nate were lucky to get the one they have and even still, Nate had to pull strings.”

“You two go, I want to hear what they have to say,” Laura replied then turned to Lily. “I’ll drive your car. After I’m done here, I promise, I’ll follow.”

Lily was shaking her head but Alistair started speaking and all attention turned to him.

“Lily has to hear it.”

“Lily’s going to go marry my son.” Laura’s voice, which had been soft, now had a fierce tremor running through it. “I’ll deal with Danielle and Jeffrey.”

“I’m not leaving you alone with them.” Lily’s voice also had a vein of iron coursing through it.

Laura turned to Lily and took her hand. “You must go. Go to Nathaniel. I’ll handle this.”

“No,” Lily shook her head again and said with finality, “we’re family and family sticks together.”

Then, before Laura could reply, Lily turned to Alistair. “You have ten minutes.”

They’d all walked into the house. Lily didn’t sit or offer refreshments and neither did Laura. Maxine was standing sentry. Alistair took his cue and stayed standing as did Danielle who, Maxine noted with ire, was staring about her looking at the newly furnished, sumptuous sitting room like she’d walked into a squalid hovel and Jeffrey who was staring intently, even hungrily (but not in a good way, in a way that made Maxine’s skin crawl), at Lily.

“You now have nine minutes,” Lily stated after they’d stood there for awhile and no one but Lily said anything.

“Your fiancé is a criminal,” Alistair stated bluntly.

Laura gasped. Lily’s eyes narrowed and her hands clenched to fists. Maxine tensed.

Alistair went on. “Jeffrey and Danielle have had private investigators investigating him. I’ve read the reports. Not only was McAllister a petty thief and runner for a gangster, your soon-to-be father-in-law was a gun dealer.”

Jeffrey moved forward and Lily took a step back so he stopped but, unfortunately, he spoke.

“Lily, they’ve both gone legit but you should know his mother was murdered. There’s even the possibility he did it, that Nate murdered his own mother,” Jeffrey said, his voice dripping sincerity, false sincerity even the biggest fool on earth could tell he was an out-and-out liar.

Then it started, the vile words spewing forth, not only from Jeffrey but also from Danielle. And not just about Nate, though the words about Nate were more shocking and sad than vile, but also about Victor.

Maxine found it took every bit of willpower in her not-very-full (at the best of times) reserve to stop herself from moving forward and scratching their eyes out.

“Quiet!” Laura suddenly shouted, finally stopping the words and all eyes moved to her. “Quiet,” she repeated in a lower tone, her voice again trembling but this time with anger. “I thought,” she began and then stopped, blinking and swallowing, visibly trying to get control, then she started again, “I thought I was ashamed of you before, of who you are, what you’ve become, all you’ve done, but now, now… now, I don’t even know what to say. You aren’t just no longer my children, from this point on you no longer exist.”

That was when it happened, Maxine was sorry to say. That was when her willpower gave out (but, it might also have been all the champagne she’d consumed that morning, she did, very much, like her champagne). She would, of course, look back and deeply lament her actions but it was beyond her control. She liked Laura and she loved Lily and she couldn’t have stopped herself even if she tried.

Which she didn’t.

For, after Laura made her statement, Danielle walked right up to her mother and slapped her across the face.

And that Maxine could not abide.

Luckily for Maxine, she had a partner-in-crime, because Lily apparently was just as finished with the conversation and she didn’t abide the physical abuse from daughter to mother either.