Zoë and Darcy battled all night to get the pictures stopped, but the paper had been printed and shipped to outlets. People having the “right to know” won out, and Kate couldn’t do a thing to help. She just had to watch on as everyone else tried different avenues. None of it worked. They’d called Marge to tell her, she’d called John, and he’d promptly cancelled any remaining contract with them. He did agree to air the reveal, but that was it.
All the while, Darcy sat at the dining table, sketching something. Zoë hurled abuse into her phone. Blanche made hot drinks. Susannah and Mikey were thankfully unaware and asleep, and Kate… She felt like an intruder again.
Zoë rubbed at her weary eyes and took another cup from Blanche. Her smile was an exhausted one, but with what Kate knew of her, she was not going to give up yet. “Thanks, honey. Why don’t you try and rest?”
Blanche frowned. “I can’t rest while you’re stressed out. Besides, I’m on the right time schedule for once.”
Ah, California time, then. Zoë squeezed her hand, then picked up her phone again. “I’ll try the editor.”
Darcy held up her hand. “Leave it.” She met Zoë’s eyes. “It means a lot you tried, but the papers are on the stands, and the public are getting up for work. I’d rather you two get out of the crosshairs.” She got up from her seat and flexed her calves. “Please take Susannah, Kate, and Mikey with you.”
Zoë nodded. “You want us to pull Susannah from the country for a while?”
Darcy smiled, a tired smile. “If she’d go, I’d say yes.” She met Kate’s eyes. “I’m very sorry you’ve been drawn into this. If you want to take your family to my home on Lake Garda and stay there for a while, I will arrange everything.”
And she was being talked to like a TV-show contestant. “We don’t need to run anywhere. Didn’t you say yourself that bullies suck? That we should embrace being unique?”
Darcy smiled. “These bullies are harder to ignore.”
“Then let me say something. I’ll tell them that you didn’t do anything wrong.” She stood up, irritation starting to bubble over. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Then why do I feel like I’ve committed a crime?” Darcy met her eyes, cold, detached. “Why have I just lost everything I worked for?”
“Because…” She growled. “Because you are letting him win.” She slammed her chair in and went to her, holding her by the shoulders. “Marshall is an idiot.”
“And I damaged his career.” Darcy smiled at her, but it was a polished one, a fake one. “So he’s just flattened mine.”
“I’m gonna knock his teeth out,” Zoë snapped and slammed back her cup. “I swear I’ll knock his teeth clean out of his big mouth.” She strode off down the corridor, Blanche following on.
“Then I’ll say I came onto you or something…” Sounded pathetic. The pictures showed it was mutual. There was no doubt it was mutual.
“Kate, you are very sweet, but you need to get Mikey away from the glare.” Darcy stroked her cheek and leaned in, kissing her, soft and fleeting. “You have to protect him now. Being anywhere near me for a good while is not safe.” She studied her, then sighed. “Kate, if you think those insults and jostling for pictures was bad, now every camera will want a snapshot of me, will want to get an answer from me.”
“Then you need a security guard.” She kissed Darcy’s lips, desperate to rouse her irritation, or anything other than the defeated tone. “Let me back you up.”
“No.” Darcy sighed. “I don’t like being gay, and you’re about to see why. Protect Mikey.” She turned and strolled down the hall. “The best thing you can do for me is go home.”
“That’s it?” Kate winced as her voice bounced off the space. Mikey and Susannah were mumbling. Zoë and Blanche must be waking them. “That’s all I’m worth?”
At the door to her bedroom, Darcy turned and smiled. “It’s the measure of how much you’re worth. I’m protecting you.” She went into her room and shut the door.
Mikey charged out of his room with a grin. “We fly early, Kate-oh!”
“Yep.” She hoisted him up and cuddled him, hoping she was holding the tears back, but by the soaking her cheeks were getting, she doubted it.
“What about Mum?” Susannah muttered as Zoë led her out of her room. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
Zoë and Blanche exchanged a glance.
Kate growled. “Marshall,” she spat. She was sick of everyone tiptoeing around. “They’ve posted pictures. He outed her.”
Susannah shook her head. “Then I’ll stay with her.”
Zoë glared at Kate, then ushered Susannah along the hall. “This is where I gotta step up the mom thing. I agree with Darcy; you gotta split. We’re heading to the house in Hampshire. Not far.” She held Susannah’s gaze. “Just trust that we know what we’re doing, yeah?”
Susannah held her gaze. She backed up and hurried into Darcy’s room.
Zoë rolled her eyes. “This is why we zipped it.” She hurried in after her.
“I feel as out of this as you do,” Blanche said, dragging suitcases to the door. “They’ve lived with this for longer, though.”
Kate cuddled Mikey, who snuggled in, already snoring in between murmurs. “Yeah, but the difference is she cares about you enough to let you help.”
Blanche laughed. “You think so?” She glared back down the hall. “My dad is one of the best lawyers in the United States, he has close friendships with a lot of people over here, including judges.” She turned and pulled the coats from the hook. “He’d have stopped it with one phone call from me.”
Kate stared at her. “So why didn’t they ask you?”
“Because Zoë felt that would be underhanded, and it would backfire on him. It’s happened before. Even if they block the story here, it’ll be published in another country and filter back in. Dad would get a lot of shit from it.” She shrugged with a helpless sigh. “If I wasn’t married to her right now, she’d send me away too.”
Zoë headed out of the bedroom with a sobbing Susannah and furrowed her brow. “I heard that.”
“Good,” Blanche muttered. “Because I’m done playing second fiddle.” She smiled at Kate, walked over, and kissed her on the cheek. “Give me your phone.”
Kate handed it over, around Mikey. “Why?”
“They will cut you out.” She tapped in a number and saved it. “I’m not going to. I will keep you as updated as I can.”
“Honey,” Zoë warned.
“If you want me to keep the ring on, you quit playing me like I’m a child.” She kissed Kate on the cheek again and picked up the suitcases. “I called the driver.”
Zoë blinked a few times. Hmm, wasn’t expecting the backchat from her wife, huh? “I don’t treat you like a child,” she muttered, opening the door and shoving everyone out. Kate tried to turn, but Zoë pulled her harder. “Kate, just move.”
Kate stomped out and pulled her case. “We’ll call a cab and hire a car to go home.”
Zoë frowned at her as she shoved everyone down the stairs. “Don’t be dumb.”
“Dumb?” She pivoted at the bottom. “I just got dumped and told to run back to where I came from, and I didn’t miss the ‘try and shut up’ either.” She grabbed her and Mikey’s cases. “I think I’ve had enough of being talked to like I’m a child.”
Blanche nodded. “What she said.”
“And, unlike Blanche, who must love you a shitload to put up with this crap, I’m not going to.” She took the cases and went to Susannah, squeezing her. “If you ever want to come see Mikey, you just call, okay? We love you.”
Susannah hugged her back, confusion, tears, worry in her eyes. “Thank you.”
Kate hugged Blanche, then glared back at Zoë. “Thanks for nothing.” She pulled her phone and headed out into the still morning air. It was cool but not cold. Must mean spring was easing in. She pulled out her phone and dialled the cab number, then found a bench along the Thames to wait at. She hugged a snoring Mikey close, and her tears broke free. Yeah, she’d always been an intruder, and the intruder had just got ejected.