Making her way to the door, Delphine only stopped long enough to look over her shoulder and speak to the room’s occupants who were watching her every move. “Oh, there’s more, much more. Follow me.”
It was obvious to MacKenzie that Delphine knew her way around the Kingdom’s house as she headed directly for the family room. Once there, she switched on the TV, found the channel she was looking for, and stepped back to allow everyone to see what was on the screen.
Sitting on a sofa in their living room, Carlos and his mother were giving an interview on a popular music channel. As she listened, it seemed to MacKenzie that Carlos was having difficulty maintaining his story. The more probing the question, the more agitated he became. That was when his mother stepped in. Lorna Ernesto had no such problem, as she filled in details at each and every lull in the interview.
To accompany the interview, there were images of four different men leaving her apartment, one of which was her brother. One of the men even gave an interview stating that she had slept with him on the night of their first date. Whilst it was true, she had dated him. They had only been in each other’s company twice. He had turned out to be a bum who had asked her to lend him money on their second date. She had never spoken to him again after that.
The other was an old friend. They liked each other, and in the past, if he was in town and they were both single, they would spend the night together. The last time he had visited, she had been pregnant and he had spent the night at her home because they had ended up chatting way into the night.
There was also an image of Jake leaving her place in the early hours of the morning, jacket in hand and looking more than a little pleased with himself.
When the interview came to an end, everyone’s stillness was palpable.
Delphine switched off the TV, and with raised eyebrows that all but disappeared under her bush of hair, directed her question to MacKenzie. “So, freckles, what the hell did you do to piss off that woman?”
Without a pause, MacKenzie flung back a fighting statement. “Nothing yet, but I’m about to show them pissed!”
Chapter 16
The first thing MacKenzie did after seeing the footage was call her family. It was important to her that her elderly parents heard the news from her rather than from anyone else. Although they were disappointed in what she had to tell them, to their credit they never once asked her if there was any truth to the story.
Returning to the family room, she noticed that Jackson and his youngest son were no longer present. Although there couldn’t be a less judgmental family, having two less Kingdoms privy to her every reaction brought a form of relief.
“So how do I go about getting my baby back?”
“Those are some pretty damning allegations, and from the messages I’m receiving from my team, they're gaining weight,” Delphine answered with a serious air.
“I don’t care about the allegations; they can wait. I want my baby back, today!”
“You may not care about the allegations, young lady, but they matter. Tell me, is this Carlos character’s name on your daughter’s birth certificate?”
Immediately catching on to what Delphine was saying, MacKenzie brightened up. “No he’s not.”
“I was hoping you’d say that. Hold tight, I’ll make a few calls and get back to you.”
When Delphine left the room, MacKenzie walked over to the window and looked out. The patio and the grounds beyond were of no interest to her. In fact, she wasn’t even consciously thinking as she stared sightlessly at the expanse of garden that was almost in full bloom.
“Everything’s going to be fine, Kenzie.”
Finally pulling her gaze away from the window, MacKenzie looked at her friend and attempted to pull up a confident smile. Knowing she failed miserably, she hoped her words would accomplish what her smile had not. “I know it will, Vee.”
“Why is he doing this to you?”
Looking across the room, MacKenzie could see that the brothers were deep in conversation, and so decided to be completely candid with her long-time friend.
“Delphine’s kinda right, only it’s his mother who hates me. The way she behaves around Carlos borders on the ridiculous. It’s almost as though she wants to run his life, and he lets her. I think she suffers from a Jocasta Complex.” At Aviva’s blank look, MacKenzie explained. “I looked it up; it’s a medical term for a mother who has latent sexual desire for an intelligent son when the father isn’t on the scene.
The first time that woman set eyes on me was the day I knew there was little to no chance that Carlos and I were going to end up together. When we were introduced, Lorna smiled and made all the right noises, but her eyes told the truth. The moment he was out of earshot, she told me exactly what she thought of me and it wasn’t complimentary. What you just heard in that interview was a diluted version of what I went through.