Page 81 of Menage a Passions
The grin faltered on Rebecca’s face. “Is that a jab at me?”
“No, love.” Jane squeezed her hand. “It’s an exultation of Caitlyn.”
She did think about that, though. Two years ago, when Rebecca had cold feet at the city hall altar, Caitlyn was the one who stepped in and remarried Jane to help her secure her credentials to stay in the country she now called home.Foreverstuck here, because of my love for these two.Ah, there were worse places to die if it meant being surrounded by some of the loveliest women in the world. Her family may tease Jane for her adoration of American women, but had anyone looked at them lately? The sweet and compliant Rebecca, whose fingers rubbed the length of Jane’s knuckles as they watched the pageant from the live audience?
And the cheerfully sultry Caitlyn, who strutted across that stage looking like an old Hollywood starlet?
If there is one thing the United States can do…Jane sighed, so focused on Caitlyn’s distant outline that she didn’t realize her niece was talking on the other side of her.It’s made the finest women I’ve ever known.
“What, love?” she finally asked Cecelia, who had been attempting to get her aunt’s attention. “Enjoying the show?”
Cecelia passed Jane her phone, which contained an animated text from Lilian written in Cantonese.“Waaa! Such a beautiful woman! Be sure to congratulate her later, sweetie! She works so hard to get where she is!”
“Your mother has a way with words,” Jane said.
“I don’t get it.” Cecelia was back to texting someone else. “Sometimes I think she has a crush on Caitlyn.”
“Because she does.”
Cecelia wrinkled her nose. “What?”
“Oh, please. Your mom and I have more in common than the same parents.”
“What?”
She’s kidding me, right?Cecelia was almost sixteen. Was she somehownotaware that her mother was having a long-term affair with her BFF Olivia? The woman Caitlyn and Jane used to live with when they were in Hong Kong?
“Do you think your mother loves your father? Come on. He has already been old enough to beourfather. Actually, he isthe same age as your grandfather.” Jane wistfully grinned at the lights shining above her. “Your mother has forged her own path since your brother was born.”
“What?”
“You know your auntie Olivia? Your mother’s best friend?”
“Um… yeah. She used to be like…” Cecelia pointed a shaky finger at her aunt. “Your…”
“Like I said, your mother has the same taste in women that I do. She’d steal Rebecca from me too if she could.”
“What?” Rebecca asked, distracted from her animated conversation with Christine, who told everyone else around her that Caitlyn was her daughter.
“Nothing, love. Just explaining to Cece that her mother is bisexual.”
“Oh, uh… good luck with that.”
Cecelia dropped her phone into her lap. “You are fucking with me.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” Jane pointed her chin forward. “Consider this my ‘mic drop’ moment of the night. Oh, shh! They are coming back from commercial!”
She let Cecelia stew in that while the host explained the next portion of the program. He would briefly introduce the ten finalists in the order they were announced and ask them a question about a current topic. Their answer would be scored accordingly.
Jane leaned over to whisper into Rebecca’s ear. “How much do you want to bet that the one in the fat pink dress trips before the end of her interview?”
“What are we betting?” Rebecca hissed back.
“The winner gets to decide supper for a week.”
Rebecca giggled. “I will take that bet. I think she’s got herself sorted out by now. By the way, you know what she’s dressed as, right?”
“I may not know everything Hollywood’s produced in the past century, but I am quite aware of one of the biggest movies of all time and its relation to the forgettable state of Kansas.”