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replacements. Younger, lovelier, smarter, sexier.
    But because she knew her mother would not, Pilar set the child on the floor and walked over to greet them. Her smile was warm and easy and graced a face much more compelling than she thought. Her simple slacks and sweater were more elegant, more feminine than Rene's slick power suit.
    And her manner carried an innate class that held more true sparkle than diamonds.
    "Tony, how good you could make it. Hello, Rene."
    "Pilar." Rene smiled slowly and trailed a hand down Tony's arm. The diamond on her finger caught the light.
    She waited a beat, to be certain Pilar saw it, registered the meaning. "You look… rested."
    "Thank you." The backs of her knees dissolved. She could feel the support going out from under her as completely as if Rene had rammed the toe of her hot red pump into them. "Please, come in, sit. What can I get you to drink?"
    "Don't fuss, Pilar." Tony waved her off, even as he leaned down to give her an absent peck on the cheek. "We'll just go say hello to Tereza."
    "Go to your mom," Ty said under his breath.
    "What?"
    "Go, make an excuse and get your mom out of here."
    She saw it then, the diamond glint on Rene's finger, the blank shock in her mother's eyes. She shoved the plate at Ty and strode across the room. "Mama, can you help me with something for a minute?"
    "Yes… just let me…"
    "It'll only take a second," Sophia continued, quickly pulling Pilar from the room. She just kept moving until they were well down the hall and into the two-level library. There, she pulled the pocket doors closed behind her, leaned back against them.
    "Mama. I'm so sorry."
    "Oh." Trying to laugh, Pilar ran an unsteady hand over her face. "So much for thinking I pulled that off."
    "You did beautifully." Sophia hurried over as Pilar lowered to the arm of a chair. "But I know that face." She cupped her mother's in her hands. "Apparently so does Tyler. The ring's ostentatious and obvious, just like she is."
    "Oh, baby." Her laugh was strained, but she tried. "It's stunning, gorgeous—just like she is. It's all right." But already she was turning the gold band she continued to wear round and round her finger. "Really, it's all right"
    "The hell it is. I hate her. I hate both of them, and I'm going back in there and telling them right now."
    "You're not." Pilar got up, gripped Sophia's arms. Did the pain she could see in her daughter's eyes show as clearly in her own? And was that her fault? Had this endless limbo she'd lived in dragged her daughter into the void? "It solves nothing, changes nothing. There's no point in hate, Sophie. It'll only damage you."
    No, Sophia thought. No. It could forge you.
    "Be angry!" she demanded. "Be furious and bitter and crazed." Be anything, she thought. Anything but hurt and defeated. I can't bear it.
    "You do it, baby." She ran her hands soothingly up and down Sophia's arms. "So much better than I could."
    "To walk in here this way. To just walk in and shove it in our faces. He had no right to do that to you, Mama, or to me."
    "He has a right to do what he wants. But it was poorly done." Excuses, she admitted. She'd spent nearly thirty years making excuses for Anthony Avano. A hard habit to break.
    "Don't let it hurt you. He's still your father. Whatever happens, he always will be."
    "He was never a father to me."
    Pilar paled. "Oh, Sophia."
    "No. No." Furious with herself, Sophia held up a hand. "I am obnoxious. This isn't about me, but I just can't help making it about me. It's not even about him," she said, winding down. "He's oblivious. But she's not. She knew what she was doing. How she wanted to do it. And I hate her coming into our home and lording that over you—no, damn it, over us. All of us."
    "You're ignoring one factor, baby. Rene may love him."
    "Oh, please."
    "So cynical. I loved him, why shouldn't she?"
    Sophia whirled away. She wanted to kick something, to break something. And to take the jagged shards of it and swipe them over