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“Yes. It was hard being there after he passed, but I think I’ll be okay now.” She pursed her lips. “I think I need to get rid of my place in Chelsea.”
“You shouldn’t have gotten that place. I told you to stay at my place on—” Colette began but stopped when Jasmine waved her hands.
“I didn’t want to stay on the Upper East Side.”
“Why not?”
She glared at her sister. “I don’t want to see all my classmates and have to answer questions about why I’m not married or have kids when I walk to the coffee shop.”
“Do you want us to handle your apartment in Chelsea?” Ariana asked.
She sighed. “Yes. I don’t think I want to go back with the paparazzi there. I’ll probably head out of the city tonight. I have a lot of work to do anyway.”
“Let us know if you decide to travel,” Colette said slowly, eyelids fluttering as she struggled to stay awake. “It’s just us now. And we’re gonna do the same with keeping you informed about our whereabouts, especially if you want to be there for the birth.”
“Yes, I want to be there,” she said immediately.
“So it’s settled,” Colette said as she finally gave in and closed her eyes. “No going off without security. You have to take precautions now.”
“I will. I’m going to head out now,” she said and got to her feet. She went to Colette who instantly tried to sit up. She pressed her back down and kissed her cheek. “Get some rest.”
Colette clasped her face between both hands. “I’m really sorry, Minnie.”
She swallowed hard. “I know.”
“I haven’t been a good sister to you,” she said quietly. “No wonder you went to Colorado. We’ve never been there for you, have we?”
“Stop.”
Colette let out a shaky sigh. “This is why I never wanted to be pregnant. I’m starting to care about people.”
Jasmine grinned. “The snow queen’s melting.”
“I am who I have to be,” Colette said sternly as she kissed her cheek. “But I want to do better for Polara than my mom did for me. You never had a mom, but you’re better with kids than me. Why?”
“You think you have to do something. You don’t. All you have to do is listen. They’ll do the rest.”
Colette searched her eyes. “I worked with Dad every day, but I didn’t know anything about him. I didn’t ask questions; I just followed orders. You had a different relationship with him. He changed once he got sick, and I didn’t have time to see him once I took over the company. You got the best of him. I was envious of that.”
She didn’t know how to respond to her sister’s blunt honesty.
“I would have done anything for him, but he entrusted his life to you. I didn’t handle that well either, but I know why he did it,” she whispered.
“Why?”
Colette’s eyes watered. “Because I wouldn’t have held his hand when he crossed over.”
A tear slid down her cheek.
“I wouldn’t have known what suit he wanted to wear in his casket.”
As Colette’s face crumpled, Jasmine hugged her. Colette didn’t make a sound, but Jasmine felt her body shudder as she cried. Ariana watched with a hand over her mouth and rubbed Colette’s back.
“Now I feel sick,” Colette announced as she dabbed at her face with her sleeve. “How do people handle emotions all day long?”
“Practice,” Jasmine said dryly as she helped her up. “Let’s get you to bed.”
It was a measure of how exhausted she was that Colette let them tuck her in like a little child.
