The Sins of the Mother

Chapter 18


Phillip walked into his mother’s office the next morning and waited until she got off the phone. She seemed busy, but he only needed a few minutes of her time. And she was relieved that he looked better than when she’d last seen him. He didn’t have the wild, distracted look he’d had for the last month.

“I just wanted to tell you,” he said quietly, “I left Amanda last night.” For a long moment, Olivia didn’t comment.

“Are you all right with it?” That was all that concerned her. She wanted him to be happy. And he never had been with Amanda, or not in a long time. He had been emotionally starved and didn’t know it.

“Yes, I am. I should have done it years ago,” he said, in answer to his mother’s question.

“What happened?” She assumed it had something, or everything, to do with the girl she had seen him with at the bookstore.

“She wanted you to make me CEO.” He laughed when he said it.

“Now?” Olivia looked surprised.

“Now. As befitting her status, as a federal judge. She feels she needs to be married to a CEO.”

“Well, you will be one day,” Olivia said calmly.

“Not for a long time, I hope,” he said, and meant it. “It was either that or a divorce. So I picked Door Number Two. A divorce. It works for me. But it’s liable to get costly.”

“As I recall, you have a good pre-nup.” Olivia was pensive.

“She’ll probably try to break it. She’s an attorney.”

“That won’t get her far,” Olivia said, looking annoyed, and then she couldn’t resist asking him what she already knew and he hadn’t admitted. She wondered if he would. “Was there any other reason?”

“Several. Our marriage was dead. She never loved me. I’m not in love with her anymore.” He took a breath. “And I met someone else. A month ago. It happened very fast.” Olivia was impressed that he’d been honest with her. She didn’t think he would be.

“Who is she?” Olivia asked with obvious concern.

“A girl I met in a café a month ago. She’s a fourth-grade teacher in Harlem. She just moved here from Milwaukee. She’s wonderful and I love her, and she loves me. She’s twenty-eight years old. And she has no idea who you are.” Olivia smiled.

“It sounds like a good start. She’s very young.”

“She makes me feel young,” he said with a peaceful look. She had never seen him look that way before. “I want to have children with her.” Olivia looked at him, stunned.

“She must be something. I never thought I’d hear you say that.”

“Neither did I.”

“Well, don’t rush into anything. And you’ll have to wait for the divorce. That’s a good thing. It’ll give you time to get to know each other. Am I going to meet her? Before you start having babies with her?” He laughed and his mother smiled.

“Yes, when things settle down. I don’t want to overwhelm her.”

“It sounds like you already have.” Olivia smiled at her son. “Where are you staying?”

“At the Plaza, until I figure this out.”

“You can stay with me in Bedford if you want,” she offered.

“Thank you. I think I’d rather be in the city.” He hated the commute, but appreciated the kind offer. “But I’ll keep it in mind. And Mother.” He hesitated as he looked at her. “I’m really sorry about what I said about you and Peter. I was out of line. I think life got even with me immediately. I no sooner said all that to you about Peter being married than I fell madly in love, and I was a married man having an affair. It’s funny how sometimes you wind up doing everything you said you never would. The ironies of life. And even more so, if it’s something your parents did and you thought you disapproved of. Then it happens even faster.” He smiled and Olivia chuckled.

“Life has a way of doing that to all of us.” She had disapproved of her mother’s affair with Ansel Morris, and forty-five years later she was doing the same thing with Peter. And now Phillip with the young girl he was in love with. “It never pays to be too righteous. We end up eating our own words.”

“And a lot of humble pie. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s all right.” She stood up and came around to hug him. “I’m sorry about Amanda and the divorce, but I’m happy for you. You deserve a lot better than you were getting.”

“I think I’ve found it.”

“Let’s hope so. Just give it time. Don’t do anything too hasty.” But at least legally, he couldn’t. It had been hasty enough as it was. In the space of a month he had fallen in love, had an affair, and left Amanda. He had definitely been in the express lane. “I look forward to meeting her. What’s her name by the way?” She didn’t tell him she’d already seen her, and she didn’t intend to.

“Taylor.”

“Nice name.”

He left her office then and went back to his own, and Olivia went back to work, and when she did, she was smiling. It was funny how things worked out. She had thought he would never leave Amanda. Two months ago they’d been on the boat together, and now she was history. You just never knew in life what would happen.