A wife for my brother

It was more than obvious to Leonard that Deanna would remain in the lives of these three children forever. She would have to deal with Daniel, even if she avoided him as much as possible, she would have to deal with all of them. Her life was on stage, up there she was a shining star, giving all her talent for the pure love of music, but her heart was still beating for that idiot and his children.

He was in his office that morning, the premiere of the play would be in two days, and everyone, absolutely everyone, the most respected members would be there. From the mayor, the chief of police, several powerful businessmen, the ladies of the hour; the whole money zoo. Everyone who thought Deanna was his mistress.

And, of course, the three Crusher children. Certainly not Camilla, nor Harry and Laura, but Charles and Susan would be there for sure. Daniel would have to have his blood frozen to show up at the presentation of his ex-wife who had left him for another man. But if he dared to show his face, he wouldn’t go alone. Of course not, the bitch would be hanging on his arm. And Deanna would have to see her.

He thought about it for a few moments and called his assistant.

– Find out where Beverly is right now, call her and tell her I need to meet with her.

– The lawyer? –

– Yes. If she refuses, argue that it’s urgent, that it concerns her and has to do with Crusher… She’ll come running –

– Well…

It was time to confirm first hand that his inquiries had been answered.

The few minutes he had seen her again were enough for him to not be able to get her out of his mind. She was so beautiful… as always. More beautiful. All full of energy, the same energy that had blown him away when he first met her in Harry’s apartment. She hadn’t given him a single smile, but he didn’t need to, it was etched in his mind. He’d had to take a lot of deep breaths to find the courage to walk into that theater and not fall apart again. He had glued the pieces together with concrete, but as soon as he had set foot in front of the Ambassador’s door, all that concrete had broken.

He was in love with her. He could deny it, make excuses, look away, be angry and furious, resigned, tormented, whatever; he was in love with her. Nothing would stop that feeling or erase it from his heart, even if she was on the other side of the world, even if she looked at him coldly or barely spoke to him. Fuck! He loved her desperately, she drove him crazy.

And he’d had her all to himself just to ruin it. She had loved him with the same need and he had wasted it. How stupid could a man feel after more than a year and a half? Very stupid. He had even dreamed of having children with Deanna. Now all those dreams were shared with Leonard, who had apparently “settled down” for her. He had stopped talking and whispering about his love affairs and was following her around, it was obvious that the guy was up to his neck.

And who wouldn’t be? He himself felt like drowning. He thought about it and thought about it a thousand times: to go and see her sing. They would talk, they would laugh about the betrayed and abandoned husband, but he didn’t care. He wanted to see her, he had to. Even if it was just for one night and it would make him the talk of the town for weeks, he had to see her. He couldn’t just introduce himself to her, he had no excuse for that. He would have to put up with seeing her with Reed, even if it tore at his insides.

-This woman sent tickets for everyone, she has no shame. What does she mean, we’ll be the laughingstock of the whole world? It’s outrageous! –

– Well, I’m going, Mom… – Susan replied.

– So am I…

– How can you do this, Charles? Susan, you really are terrible!

– Why not? Just because your son behaved like an idiot doesn’t mean I should take the blame for him… The little I saw when I took the kids there was anticipating a great night at the opera and I’m not going to miss it –

– I’m sorry, Mom, but I won’t stop going either… –

– Good heavens! You know they’re going to talk about this ad nauseam? She humiliated your brother with that disgusting guy and you’ll still be in the front row! –

– He humiliated her first with Beverly… Deanna has every right to move on with her life.

– It’s true, dear. Stop worrying about gossip and rumors; it is not the young lady’s fault that our son is an idiot –

– Charles! –

– Well, it’s true… I wouldn’t have made such a rude mistake with a woman like her… Oh, don’t look at me like that! I didn’t make it with you either, you were always the love of my life –

– I’ll end up putting you in an old people’s home… – Camila told him a little ashamed.

– Of course not, you love me –

– Well, I won’t go, even if I’m crazy… Harry and Laura won’t go either –

– Harry couldn’t show his face no matter how much he wanted to, Deanna wouldn’t forgive him and I doubted Laura would… I can’t believe what they did to her –

– Laura was desperate and rightly so, Susan –

– I know, but anyway it was no way to tell her anything… After the way she helped them…

– Daniel won’t dare set foot in that place, I’m sure… –

Charles and Susan exchanged a look. He could pretend all he wanted, but his own instincts would tell him that he was attracted to Deanna. They just hoped that seeing her with Leonard wouldn’t cause a scene.

– What should we wear to the theater? – Naomi asked her.

-Whatever you want, baby… -They don’t use etiquette so much anymore… –

– No! We can’t go as we please. I’ve seen the ladies in beautiful dresses and the men in suits… You have to wear a suit, Ethan… –

– Oh, no!

– Wear whatever you want, Ethan… –

– Come on, Deanna! It’s our first time at the opera… …. – Naomi told her a little disappointed.

She loved clothes, fashion, pretty things. She wanted to take the opportunity to dress like the elegant and sophisticated ladies she saw in magazines.

-All right… How about this? Tomorrow I’ll rest before the premiere. Why don’t the four of us go shopping together? –

– Yes! – Naomi went crazy.

– But first you have to ask your dad’s permission… –

– Deanna! –NôvelDrama.Org owns this.

– Yes, baby… If he gives you permission, I’ll pick you up early, we’ll go shopping and we can have a nice pizza… –

Naomi ran to talk to Daniel as soon as she heard him come back from work. She made sweet eyes at him, smiled tenderly and he said yes. She was still a child and she was already manipulating him the way she wanted, a terrifying adolescence awaited the father. Inwardly, it was another chance for him to see her, if only for a few moments. She would go to the children’s house.

When Beverly found out that she had decided to keep her opinion to herself, things with Daniel had become tense since her return. But she wouldn’t leave him alone with Deanna for two seconds. She was sure she was doing it on purpose, showing up at his house like this just to get his attention and get him involved in her machinations again.

She would wait for her, and when she took the children, she would go and see what it was that Leonard wanted so badly. Since Daniel and Deanna had divorced and he had managed to get his hands on the young girl, they had never communicated again. It was likely that returning to the city caused him the same anxiety as it did her, and he wanted to do something to prevent them from seeing each other again.

Leonard, however, had other things on his mind.