Years pass quickly now. Before I know it, Will is driving. Leelee is in high school. Stella is in middle school. They're beautiful. They play football and ride horses and make me laugh every day. I didn't birth them, but they are mine. It didn't take them long to start calling me mom. The first time I heard it from Stella I fell apart. I have been completely in love with these sweet babies since the minute I saw them.
Lindsey and I toured again. Twice. We released a new album. I toured alone. Lindsey toured alone. We've been more productive in the past five years than we had been in the 20 years prior. This is the way life should have gone.
The kids are cleaning up after dinner, and Lindsey and I are in the living room working, preparing for the next tour. Everything is about to ramp up again, and I'm excited. I scribble some notes, stopping when I feel his eyes on me.
"What?"
"I can't look at you?"
"Don't be weird."
"You're pretty." I smile and give him a quick kiss before returning to my notes.
"Stop distracting me."
"It could be fun."
"We'll have plenty of time for that later," I assure him. He starts playing his guitar again, fiddling with a new song. I watch him for a while, suddenly okay with being distracted. The doorbell rings, and the girls race to the door to answer it.
"Who is it?" Lindsey calls, and Stella appears in the door with the visitor. Will enters the room, looking past Lindsey and I at his sisters.
"Mom," he says flatly. Kristen looks hopeful for a minute, but her face falls when he turns and walks back through the kitchen and out the back door.
Stella looks confused. "She said she wanted to talk to you, dad."
Lindsey's jaw is set and he looks like he might explode. I look at my sweet girls beside the woman that abandoned them and my heart breaks. Both of us stand and I take Lindsey's arm, letting him lead.
"Thank you, girls. Why don't you go finish your homework?"
"Can't they stay for a little bit?"
"Girls, go," he insists. Leelee grabs Stella's hand and they dash up the stairs.
"They're so big."
"It's been ten years," he says. "You've got no business showing up here, Kristen."
"They're my kids," she says, and a switch flips. I can't keep my mouth shut anymore.
"No. No, they're not. They're our kids." She looks surprised. "You abandoned them. They have no idea who you are. You don't get to show up ten years later and pretend you have any rights at all."
"I tried before. And I'll keep trying."
"What do you mean you tried? No one has hear from you since you left, Kristen." She shoots a look at Lindsey and I fall silent for a minute.
"You didn't tell her about our pre-wedding chat?"
Lindsey looks uncomfortable. "There was nothing to tell her," he says, his teeth clenched.
"I suppose letting her know about the kiss would have been inconvenient..." she says, eyeing me as she smiles wickedly. My heart starts to pound.
"Kiss?" Lindsey meets my eyes, his face pleading. I want to be united with him, but I've got to know what she's talking about.
"You're no more welcome now than you were then," he says, crossing the room and opening the front door. "Goodbye."
"I'm not going anywhere until we talk."
"There is nothing to talk about. Leave."
"Kristen, I swear to God, if you ever show up here again you will regret it. I waited 40 years for this and you will not come back and destroy everything we have built. Get out of here." My voice is low and threatening. I have zero patience left for this woman, and I'm furious with Lindsey for not telling me about whatever kiss she's talking about.
"You were too busy whoring around to start your own family. Now that you're old and dried up you had to steal mine. I'd be pissed, too," she says, and before I even realize it I've slapped her across the face. She stares at me in shock.
"Get the fuck away from my family. Now." She finally leaves, and Lindsey slams the door behind her. I watch him lock up and set the alarms before he faces me.
"Stevie..."
"What didn't you tell me?"
"She showed up while you were in Maui before the wedding. I made her leave. I didn't see the point in upsetting you."
"You kissed her?"
"She kissed me. I pushed her away."
"You should have told me." I turn and walk away. He says my name and I ignore him, needing to be alone. He follows me upstairs and I slam the bedroom door in his face.
"Let me in, baby."
"Leave me alone."
He says my name a few more times but I refuse to acknowledge him. When I'm finally ready to leave the room, I open the door and he's sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall.
I shake my head at him and turn around and retreat to the room again. Apparently I'm still upset. Angry isn't the right word. Why didn't he trust me enough to tell me? Why would he not think I deserve to know his ex-wife is trying to reclaim my family days before my wedding? Does he think I can't handle it?
"Honey, it's not like she made it sound."
"I know that, Lindsey."
"I don't understand why you're so upset."
"Why would you not tell me? Did you think I couldn't handle it?"
"I just... Things were so good. I didn't want to make anything more complicated than it needed to be. I figured she was gone and that was good enough."
"You've got to have more faith in me. I feel like you don't trust me. Like you think this is so fragile that it's going to crumble if we hit a bump in the road."
"I know we're stronger than that."
"Your actions say otherwise."
"Baby, come on."
"Don't 'baby' me," I say, my tone sharp. Everything swirls through my head and I don't know how to respond anymore. "Just go, okay?"
He storms out of the room and leaves me alone to try and sort through this.
