Page 54 of After-Hours Heir

“Yes, Sylvie.”

“Then, why didn’t you stay married to him?”

She looked down. “Because I realized that as much as I loved him, for me a certain lifestyle was more important. I loved it more. And he could never be what I wanted him to be, and it didn’t seem fair to keep on living with the man, to keep on being disappointed with him when it wasn’t actually his fault.”

Sylvie didn’t know what to say to that. It was bizarrely one of the more rational responses her mother could’ve ever given. And Sylvie hadn’t expected rational. Sylvie didn’t know what she had expected at all.

“So you loved him, but not more than…”

“Not more than this. Than traveling, having lunches.”

“That seems shallow,” Sylvie said.

Her mother looked down. “I understand that you think that, Sylvie. But I guess I’ve never understood why people insisted on struggling. Why keep toiling at that wretched publishing company when you could simply… You could have money. You could enjoy living. Life doesn’t need to be an uphill battle.”

“So you married richer men than my father, divorced them when they didn’t make you happy—”

“And now I’m happy. With myself. And if you play your cards right, you can do the same with Christos Onassis. That’s what I want for you.”

“That’s not what you want for me. You want me to be you. Maybe because you want to feel like the choices that you made were… That’s it, isn’t it? You want to feel like you mattered in raising me. You want me to look more like you. You want me to want to be like you. But I don’t. I want to be like Dad. He made something out of that publishing company. He was there for me. He raised me. He influenced me. That’s what I’m doing this for. And I’m going to have something to give to my child. It won’t just be my husband’s money. And I get it. Christos is rich enough that our child will always have a place to stay, a place to eat. But I… I’m going to give them something to care about. Something other than themselves. I think everyone needs that. Otherwise, I think you’re just destined to never actually be all that happy.”

Sylvie stood up. Maybe that wasn’t fair. Her mom had been honest with her. What had she expected to hear? That she loved Sylvie more than anything? Her actions proved that she didn’t.

There was no point being upset.

It was just hard not to be. Especially now that she was having her own baby.

Especially now that she had proven she would do anything for them.

Did you? Or did you do it for you? Are you really that different than your mother? It’s just that you want the publishing house. And you want your baby to care about the publishing house.

She stopped then. “No,” she said. “I’m not going to make my child care about the publishing house. They’re going to bewhoever they want to be. And I’m going to be proud of them. Whoever that is.”

She didn’t know if her mother really heard that. She didn’t know if she really cared. But as Sylvie left the café, she felt something take root inside of her.

She was going to be better than her mother.

In a meaningful way. Not just by being the opposite. Not just by trying to show her child her work ethic and passion for her job. Because it was possible her child wouldn’t feel those things. No. She was going to be different than her mother by loving the child she had. Not wishing for a different one altogether.

Right as she got back home her cell phone rang.

“Hi, this is Noelle, the nurse who was at your ultrasound.”

“Oh, hi,” Sylvie said. “I promise you I’m fine.”

“I believe you. And I hope you’re doing well.”

“I am,” she said, looking around the empty penthouse, and all the changes she’d made. She still felt a hollow place inside of her when she thought of Christos. “I am.”

“The doctor was wondering if you wanted a follow-up ultrasound to determine the baby’s gender.”

“Oh. I… Yes. That would be great.”

“We can come by tomorrow.”

“Yes. That would be perfect.”

After establishing a time she got off the phone with Noelle. And she stared at her phone. She hadn’t heard from Christos at all. Not in nearly two months.