In the morning she found him in his office at last. His face was expressionless, he knew he had made a mistake, but not how to fix it. In any case, he had to show his face.
- Daniel, I need to talk to you -
- Yes, Beverly, sit down -
- About what happened to us the other day -
- I'm so sorry, it was a lapse in judgment. I hope you can forget about it and we can continue to work together -
Forget about it?
- I absolutely will not -
- Beverly...
- No, I won't forget it Daniel. You must know like everyone else that I've been interested in you for a very long time, I'm not going to let it go after waiting all this time -
- I'm married now and I don't want to be rude, but... -
- Then don't be. You forgot you were married that night... Did you tell her what happened?
- No, I didn't...
- Don't worry, I'm not going to either. It's not how I win my battles, but I want to make it clear to you that I'm not going to give up... Your marriage won't work and I'll be there, again, to welcome you back when she leaves you -
- I won't let her leave again, Beverly -
- She will, believe me... She'll get tired of putting up with everything... You'll get tired of spending your time chasing after her... No one's going to accept her, Daniel, ever. She'll have to face everyone, the gossip, the looks judging her, Camila, everyone... You won't be able to contain it and she'll go -
- You're getting into some tricky territory, Beverly. You'd better stop -
He planned to apologize, to explain to her what was going through his mind at that moment; that he never meant for anything to happen between them, that he didn't mean to humiliate or embarrass her. But Beverly had sharpened her claws, fed up with being a spectator.
He planned to apologize, to explain to her what was going through his mind at that moment; that it was never his intention for anything between them to happen, that he didn't mean to humiliate or embarrass her. But Beverly had sharpened her claws, fed up with being a bystander.
-You know all that just as well as I do, you just refuse to see it .... But don't worry, I won't go through with this... We'll go back to where we were, however, don't pretend I'll forget anything because I won't-
She stood up and walked out.
It was obvious he was going to ask her to forget it, if Deanna was back. For the first time she felt like she was in a competition and her opponent was a young girl who had come out of nowhere.
With Emily she didn't even try for as much as she felt she was stealing something from her that was rightfully hers. His late wife was a lady, without a single spot. But this one, this one was not. She showed up one day and took it out of her hands just by smiling at him and swinging her hips.
She tried to remain on the sidelines, let the others make their moves in her favor and then take the prize. It didn't work. She needed to create more chaos in their lives if she wanted to achieve her goals. Put pressure on Reed, on Laura, on Camila, on anyone who could put a rock in their way.
She felt stupid thinking like that, since when was Daniel so important that she was getting into so much trouble? Since she passed the 30 threshold and he was still ignoring her, Emily died and he was still ignoring her and now Deanna shows up and he's ignoring her again. Even her political aspirations had been put on the background.
-Hi Mom.
- Hi dear, so good of you to come, did you hear about Harry? -
- No. What happened? -
- Camila called me in frantic despair... Apparently Harry started drinking again, he got so bad that Charles had to go and pick him up from some bar and poor Laura can't take it anymore... It's terrible... -
- It's all her fault...
- What are you talking about? -
She hesitated. If she told Arlene, Camilla would find out in a second, was it good for her? He gambled hard again.
- It's Deanna, the woman Harry's in love with.
- It's not possible! Daniel's wife? -
- Yes, Mum, it's her. Harry can't stand to see her with his brother and that's how he reacts.
- Holy Christ! But how do you know? -
- It's obvious to anyone who looks at him when she's in the same room. Laura knows it too, she just doesn't want to say anything so as not to cause more problems... -
- But, that's terrible... She should do something to get her away from Harry -
- What can she do? She has no choice but to hope that he will get over it or forget her. If she intervenes with Daniel it will be a disaster for sure. She just wants to build her family and live in peace. Harry will go crazy if Laura says anything. Mom, you can't tell Camilla that Laura knows, do you understand? She has to put up with too much already -
- But Camila could help her... -
- Camila would expose her as a woman who endures a husband who's in love with someone else, she'll become a joke to everyone. She doesn't deserve it and neither does her daughter -
- It's true... Finally, that woman, Deanna, turned out to be a huge problem for the Crushers -
- I don't think she'll be around too long -
- What do you mean, Beverly? -
- It stands to reason, Mom, sooner or later that thing Daniel says he "feels" will go away. The rumors don't stop, now it's with Leonard Reed, tomorrow go figure. It will always be in the other people's mouths -
- I hear Alice is getting more and more enraged with Leonard because he's going to sneak into the theater where she rehearses -
- Who wouldn't be? Leonard's a bastard, but he's never gone to all that trouble to take someone to bed. There's something else back there - She told her as if she didn't know.
- Don't tell me that Reed is "in love" with that young lady... -
- No, of course not. He's obsessed with her, when he has her he'll get bored... I'm just worried about how all this will affect Daniel, he's losing his image for refusing to leave her –
Beverly watched the expression on her mother's face, trying to analyze it, as she did with everyone. Camilla would find out as soon as she left, she knew. Dropping little awkwardness here and there would eventually fill the jar. Like she had done with Harry when she told him about Leonard.
The poor boy ended up drunk in a bar, making Camila desperate.
-Camilla, how are you?
- Arlene, I'm so glad you called, I need to talk to someone -
- What happened? -
- Nothing, the usual... Harry, no matter how many times I think about it, I don't understand. Charles said that maybe it would be a good thing if he divorced Laura, but I won't accept that... -
- Camilla, dear... I don't know how to tell you this... But you must know, I'm very sorry -
- Sorry for what? -
- It's Deanna, my friend. It's Deanna who's giving you all these problems with Harry... It seems that not only Daniel is in love with her... -
- But... what are you saying, Arlene?! -
- I know, I'm really sorry... It's terrible, horrible... Your sons are in love with the same woman, Camilla... Harry is like that because she married Daniel... Think about it, it was all right after the wedding, it even seemed that Daniel and his wife didn't get along, remember? -
- They were arguing all the time... -
- Yes, but then they made up and that's when your son started with all this drinking... I've been thinking about it, Camila and it makes a lot of sense... Just think about how good he was those days Deanna disappeared... -
- You're right... Oh, my God, Arlene! And he gets so angry when she's linked to Leonard! -
- It's a disgrace, my dear... Your two boys, for heaven's sake -
- That's why they started to have such an awful way with each other... That woman is going to destroy my family... -
Camila was desperate, going over in her mind all those details she hadn't given importance to; Harry's behaviors and reactions, Daniel's words, how her sons looked at each other coldly. Daniel knew it too and had put that treacherous woman before his own brother! Anger gave way to determination, now she knew well enough what she should do.