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Rachelle knew where Diana was staying because Diana had let it slip a few days ago. She was in the beautiful Victorian five minutes from The Jessabelle House. Rachelle had passed it hundreds of times.
Rachelle pulled into the driveway and drove up to the garage door. Valentina’s eyes widened.
“It doesn’t look anything like our actual house,” Valentina said.
“Really? What does your house look like?”
Valentina shrugged again and opened the car door. “Thanks for the ride.”
“Wait.” Rachelle hurried out with her and up the walkway. There was something very strange and sinister about all of this. Now that she cared about Diana and felt close to her, Rachelle felt an overwhelming desire to help.
When they reached the front door, Valentina tried to open it without knocking. It was locked. Valentina’s eyes glinted with tears. Maybe she was unaccustomed to having so many boundaries between herself and her mother. This was the final straw.
“It’s okay,” Rachelle breathed, ringing the bell.
“I know that!” Valentina said, crossing her arms.
After a very long time, they heard footsteps on the other side of the door. Rachelle’s heart fluttered.
The door opened just a crack, and Diana peered out. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, and her eyes were like big, dark holes.
“Valentina?” The door opened wider, and Diana gaped at her daughter. “Valentina, what are you doing here?” Diana rushed across the boundary and drew her arms around her daughter. Valentina shivered with relief.
“Mom, it’s not a big deal,” Valentina said, although it very clearly was.
Diana drew Valentina into the foyer of her rental home. After a pause, she turned to look at Rachelle curiously.
“Thank you for bringing her over, Rachelle.”
“Of course.” Rachelle stirred with more questions. “I wanted to make sure you were…”
Diana gave her a cold, hard look that served as a warning. Rachelle wasn’t to worry Valentina about Diana’s state of health or state of mind. She wasn’t to refer to Diana’s strange behavior.
“I just wanted to confirm the menu for tonight. It’s what we already discussed, correct?” Rachelle said hurriedly.
“Absolutely,” Diana said. “Thank you for covering for me on such short notice. I’ll make it up to you.”
“That’s what I’m there for.”
Diana raised her hand in a wave and closed the door between them. Rachelle gaped at the door for a long moment before turning on her heel and walking down the steps. When she reached her car, she placed her forehead on the steering wheel and tried to imagine what had gone wrong. She came up blank.
All day long, Rachelle kept her eyes on her phone, waiting for some sign from Diana. But Diana and Valentina were locked together in that gorgeous Victorian home, dealing with family matters that had nothing to do with Rachelle or cooking or the Cooking Channel. Rachelle was grateful that Diana had Valentina’s love to support her. She only hoped Diana knew she was there for her, too. She was no longer alone in her fight against the men who’d used and wronged her. Soon, she could be free.
Chapter Twenty
Autumn 2009
The apartment the Cooking Channel had rented for Ryan, Diana, and Valentina was in downtown Berlin, just a five-minute walk from the restaurant they were focusing on during this iteration of their newest show. From the window, Diana could see the Berliner Dom swelling toward a gray sky, thick with clouds. Rains swelled and splattered across the ancient cemetery beside their apartment, lined with stone walls.
It had been months since the three of them had been back in the United States. This show had brought them all over Europe, from Athens to Lisbon to Paris to Brussels, before they’d arrived in Berlin, a city that had once been divided and was now building itself again.
Diana was achingly homesick. She often got on the internet and googled information about home and about the top restaurants in New York and Los Angeles. She’d recently gotten a Facebook account and ‘friended’ people from high school, hungry to learn about their lives. Many of them had children, too. None of them were famous. Diana was jealous of the normality of their lives.
Valentina struggled with such swift changes. She was barely two years old, which meant she liked schedule order. She liked sleeping in the same crib every night in the same home. The nanny that traveled with them everywhere was wonderful and loving toward Valentina, sometimes staying up all night with her as Ryan and Diana slept a few rooms away.
This often made Diana feel terribly guilty. What kind of mother was she if she was allowed to sleep while her daughter panicked?
It was a Friday, and Diana and Ryan had a difficult day of filming ahead. Diana decided to play the part of “good mother” for a few hours, feeding Valentina and playing with her, trying to memorize the subtle changes in her face and her gorgeous toddler smile. Valentina was growing so quickly. Diana already felt if she blinked too long, Valentina would turn sixteen just like that.
