Chapter 6

Every time the Warren siblings came to Hawaii at the same time, they hiked Diamond Head, a feat that began when Eva was only eleven and Henry was already in college. It's one of my first nice memories with him. When Eva was a small child, there wasn't much for her and her much older brother to bond over. Not until she was old enough to have an opinion beyond what she wanted to wear and what to watch on TV. Not to mention, he was a teenager for most of my early memories. He wanted nothing to do with me. Henry had been cordial to his younger sibling, but they had nothing in common besides their parents and where they lived.

Yet that family vacation to the Honolulu condo forced them to hang out more often than they usually did. Eva had been in fifth grade. That year was when Henry realized that his sister was capable of more than whining about the hairstyles their mother foisted upon her. He was the one who told me to go ahead and cut my hair. Little had Eva known that her brother was being a troll: he knew exactly how Isabella Warren would react, and he loved every second of it.

That was water under the bridge, though. Henry was now in his 40s, with a wife and child, and Eva had matured enough that they finally felt like they were on the same page. So when they came to Hawaii together, they hiked Diamond Head, remembering what it was like to be the age-disparate children of Isabella and Gerald Warren.

Of course, they invited their wives to come along, and they agreed that it would be a great day when Abigail was old enough to join them (although Eva liked to tease Henry that he would be too old to survive the hike by then.) Neither Monica nor Nadia, however, were interested in that level of exertion. Monica was taking Abigail to the zoo and then shopping for some summery clothing before winter ended in New England, and Nadia? She wanted some time to herself in the condo, which was fine with Eva.

Although Nadia was definitely on Eva's mind as she ascended yet another staircase in the humid Hawaiian sun.

"…I'm really worried about her self-image, you know." Eva's hands braced against her T-shirt, elbows out wide to balance herself. Her lungs regulated her breaths well enough, but the sweat on her brow threatened to drown her. "Like, I've gained weight too, but she's taking the whole ‘getting older' thing a lot harder." They stopped to catch another breath, Henry two steps ahead of his sister. "I don't get it. You've seen her in a bikini. She's freakin' hot."

"I plead the Fifth." Henry resumed marching up toward the crater. "But yes, she's beautiful. You think I don't know that Ethan hires beautiful women to work in his office?"

Eva laughed. "Bless that man for having good tastes in receptionists."

"You know…" Henry shielded his eyes against the sun. Like his fair-skinned and fair-haired sister, he wore a baseball cap on his head and was covered face to ankle in sunscreen. Yet he had forgotten his sunglasses, and Eva had to withhold a laugh every time he was blinded by the bright tropical sunlight. "I may not be a woman, but I'm not ignorant of what happens when you get older. Nadia's always been an insecure person compared to Monica." He cleared his throat. "Sorry. You know what I mean."

"No, no, you're right. I think I know why, too." She didn't say it out loud, but Monica was a straight woman who always had at least one man flirting with her. She had locked herself away in her chateau up in the mountains by the time Henry met her, thanks to still recovering from an abusive relationship, but it wasn't long before Monica was visiting Warren Manor for the first time. The rest is history. Sometimes, Eva was jealous of how easily Monica fell in love with Henry and agreed to be with him, for better or worse. Nadia had taken much longer to come around to the idea of being a "Warren," but then again… well, Monica may have been lower class while growing up, but she was always destined to be part of this rich and diabolical world of the upper class. Not Nadia, who was quite adamant that she had no interest in someone wealthy and privileged like Eva. "It's too much damn work," she had said several years ago.

Since then, not only had Nadia and Eva finally married, but they now seriously considered what the next ten years of their marriage might look like. Before they could talk about new careers and the possibility of a child, though, Eva wanted them over this hump first.

Because she would be damned if her wife was so down on herself!

"I tell her she's gorgeous all the time," Eva vented. Henry held up his phone camera to the dramatic view to their right, but Eva assumed he was listening. "Because she is. Even Mom finally admitted that Nadia is beautiful, and you know Mom has some weird thing about redheads. She assumes they're all Irish Catholics."

Henry lowered his phone. "I thought she kept thinking your wife was Jewish?"

"You know Mom. She's nuts."

Once Henry was satisfied with his picture, they continued along the trail. "I can't believe I'm having to give you of all people advice about how to make a woman swoon, but if she's convinced herself that she's lacking some worth, then nothing you say will make her feel better. Because she's convinced herself that she's overweight, unattractive, whatever. You have to make her feel wanted." Henry cleared his throat. "I mean, it works on my wife… I don't talk about this, but Monica has her bouts of insecurity as well. She's in her late thirties and has had a kid. There are times when she's mortified if I see her without makeup on. Me. Her damn husband, who has seen her without makeup plenty of times."

Eva patted her brother on the arm. "That's it. Let it out."

"I discovered that, for a few months, she was getting up an hour early before me every morning to ‘put on her face,' because she suddenly had it in her head that I would see she had aged and wouldn't be attracted to her anymore. Can you believe it? Monica. The woman who is always so put together that she wakes up and never needs to brush her hair."

"I think you might be wrong about that. Even I have to comb my hair, Hen."

"The point is that there's no rhyme nor reason to it sometimes. In Monica's case, she's always hearing disparaging comments from those in our world. Far fewer since she had the future heir of Warren Manor, but I think dealing with the other mothers at the kindergarten is turning her on her head."

"So how did you make her feel better? Tell me without grossing me out." I know you guys are freakier than I am. One wouldn't tell from meeting Monica and Henry in a "normal" situation, but they were BDSM lifestylers who kept that aspect of their marriage behind closed doors and to clubs like The Dark Hour. The last thing Eva wanted to hear was how Henry used the magic power of bondage and sadism to make his wife feel pretty again. Barf. Baaaaarf. Eva wasn't a hypocrite, either. This was a woman who pretended her brother was a virgin, and the feeling was probably mutual.

They pulled off to the side of the trail once there was room. Eva stretched her muscles while Henry took the opportunity to drink from his water bottle and wipe a handkerchief across his face. "When words aren't working anymore," Henry said between sips, "you have to turn to your actions."

"I don't think I can make it any plainer how badly I want her. You know what I mean." Eva looked away when she said that. "I can barely keep my hands off her to this day." She didn't mention that part of that was the desperation to make love to a woman whose libido worked on a different wavelength from her wife's. The first step was not taking it personally. The second step? Doing whatever she could to make Nadia feel sexy and open to the idea of making love. Like yesterday in the cabana… How could Eva make more of those moments happen?

Preferably later that night?

"I'm not talking about flirting and whatnot." Henry sounded like he couldn't believe he had to tell his sister, one of the most infamous lesbian womanizers of her generation, how this worked. "Come on. You've spent as much time in the club as I have. How does one make their wife feel like the biggest superstar in the room?"

"You know she's not into that." As far as Henry was concerned, neither was Eva, although they both knew that… well, he knew. "Not like Monica is."

"So you find a way to make her feel amazing."

"You sound so exasperated with me right now."

"I am, a little, yeah."

Eva chuckled. "Come on. Before they whine at us for taking too long."

She mulled over his advice as they made the final ascent to the top of Diamond Head, where one of the most glorious views on all of Oahu awaited them. Eva's phone was ready to snap a few photos and, if she were feeling frisky, a panoramic view to share on her private social media later. Yet she knew that the one thing missing was Nadia, who wasn't into hiking. Doesn't mean I don't wish she were here to share this. The photos weren't enough for Nadia to fully appreciate how gorgeous the native nature of this world was. As the sea smoothly rumbled on one side and the foliage became greener on the other, Eva only had eyes for the Honolulu cityscape off to her right. Somewhere, in one of those high-rises, was the woman she wished was there with her.

"Selfie?" Henry gestured to his phone. "I keep thinking we should have more photos together for Abigail when she gets older."

"I never want to hear you say the word ‘selfie' again. It's so beneath you, Henry."

He nudged her. "Come on." As he leaned against the railing, he held his phone high above their heads. "You never know who might appreciate this picture in the future."

The unspoken answer was what intrigued Eva the most and stayed with her well into their descent only ten minutes later. Our future survivors. Like my wife… or my kids. Eva hated how sentimental this family was making her. Gone were the days when she and Henry led separate lives and, although they lived in the same manor, only saw each other for the weekly dinner. Since Eva's wedding, however, she and Nadia had moved into the manor and now saw both Henry and Monica with familiar regularity. It's like we're an actual family or something now.

Eva had spent so much time making sure Nadia felt like a part of the family that she almost forgot how to make her wife feel like a part of her. Which was a feat in and of itself, since Eva liked to joke that she was obsessed with Nadia.

"Wish you were here," she texted alongside one of the photos she took from Diamond Head Crater. "There's so much beauty in the world, isn't there?"

Any other day and Eva would have said, "It's as beautiful as you," or something equally analogous. Except she was taking her brother's advice to heart. Perhaps Nadia was tired of hearing how pretty, sexy, and interesting she was. Maybe she couldn't feel that reality in her bones any longer. Words were not enough. If Eva wanted to help get her wife out of this funk, she had to up her game.

She had to return to the roots of their relationship.

In true Eva Warren fashion, she immediately thought of her ex, Belle Cherise.

She wondered if she still had Belle's number.

image-placeholder

"No way," Nadia's friend Jasmine said over the phone. "In the cabana? You got fingered in the cabana? I mean, it's not that I disbelieve people do that when they can get away with it, but that's sooo not you. That's some weird shit Ethan and I would pull."

Nadia pulled her hand off the railing separating the condo balcony from a drop straight into the sea. "Tell me you haven't."

"We haven't! I swear! Now, in the Lamborghini with the top down and on the patio of his private Italian villa…"

Nadia rolled her eyes. "If you have a husband like my boss, then you know I've got a wife like Eva. The only reason she's not having sex with me in the middle of Times Square is because I would absolutely die of mortification."

"Still, you're such a bad girl, screwing around in a cabana!"

Nadia could have said, "Stop bringing it up like that!" but she knew she had no one but herself to blame. There's a reason I called her to gab. Eva was hiking Diamond Head with Henry, and Jasmine was six hours ahead enjoying a night-in with her husband, who also happened to be Nadia's boss at work. I had to tell someone. Rebecca was the other obvious choice, but she was so jaded about the freaky shit women like their partners got into that it was more satisfying to make Jasmine squeal in excitement. I can always count on Jaz to hype up my relationship. She had been one of the driving forces behind Nadia giving Eva a chance and had been maid of honor at the wedding. The two of them had been friends since Jasmine was hired to be Ethan's assistant. Although I still can't believe it. She thought I was sleeping with Mr. Cole! Not in a million years. The only thing worse than a woman with more money than sense was a man with too much in his bank account and not enough in his head!

"Was it great? I bet it was great."

Nadia plopped down into the lounge chair nearest the railing. Beside her was a half-drunk glass of iced tea she picked up at the Starbucks only a few blocks away. That solo excursion beyond the condo's doors had been enough that day. Nadia relished having the whole place to herself for a while.

"Honestly, the hottest part was how naughty it was."

"Oooh, yeah, I bet! Public sex is the best when the moment hits right!"

"Are you a master at this, Jaz? I don't need details."

"Because you're pruding out on me?"

"Because your husband is my boss." Nadia could handle the details better than Eva could stand to hear about her brother's love life, but Nadia did not relish it. Not one bit. I put up with the talk because Jasmine's my best friend. Didn't mean she enjoyed the images that popped into her head when Jasmine talked about open-top Lambos and Italian villa patios – and Nadia had once dated enough men to know she didn't want to do that anymore. Instead, I ended up with Eva, who is like five-hundred average men in a trench coat.

"Do you have any other hot plans for your trip? You're coming back to New England soon, right? By the way, it's cold and snowing here again. Stay there as long as you can."

"I don't know about ‘hot' plans, but there's some kind of private party happening through an acquaintance of Rebecca's. Or her girlfriends' acquaintance. It's hard for me to keep up."

"Is it a kinky thing?"

"No idea."

"Would you go if it was?"

Nadia shrugged. "If Eva wants to go badly enough, she knows the rules."

"Which is to say… you'll complain the whole time."

"Hey!" Nadia almost resented that remark. "I only complain when people are pressuring me to participate in weird kink games. You'd be surprised how often that happens even after I've said I'm not interested. It's like boundaries go out the window for a lot of people."

Jasmine grunted in affirmation. "I'm not into the lifestyle stuff, and I know what you're talking about. Some people can't believe I don't live and breathe that shit. Honestly, I only got into it because of Ethan…"

"All right, you also know the rules." If Eva didn't want to hear about Henry's love life, then Nadia had no interest in Ethan and Jasmine's. Some things had to remain sacred between friends. And between boss and employee. Then again, they were talking about the man who suddenly forgot how to talk every time Nadia's marriage to Eva Warren came up. Probably because her brother married Ethan's ex-girlfriend he shared with his ex-business partner…

Yes, it was confusing to Nadia, too, and only further proved how incestuous their whole dating world was.

"For what it's worth…" Jasmine's voice was crisp through the phone. "I think you should go to any parties on my behalf. Because I'm dying that I'm not in Hawaii with you guys right now. Seriously. It's killing me. Ethan wanted to stay home this holiday season and while I love a cozy winter manor in the hills… I live here all year, you know? I'll even take Italy over this right now."

"Do you realize how spoiled you sound saying that?" Nadia chuckled. "Oh, no, not Italy. Not your manor in the hills."

Jasmine blew air through her lips. "Tell me about it! You might remember how I was living when I started that job there. In a moldy-ass apartment with my poor cat. Didn't have two dollars to my name. Now look at me! Whining about how I'm not in Italy for New Year's. Ethan did that to me, you know."

"You have been with him for nearly ten years now."

"Don't remind me! Girl, I'm in my thirties! The man has started dropping the b-word more often than not. Oh, God, I realized he's gonna be forty soon. Where does the time go?"

"The b-word?"

"You know. Babies." Jasmine cleared her throat. "We've been talking about it for a while. We were seriously thinking about starting to try before the whole pandemic thing happened and it felt like really the wrong time."

"Yeah. Tell me about it. Eva and I were supposed to be honeymooning like crazy in 2020. Instead, we spent the whole year in our wing of Warren Manor trying to not either kill or be killed by her mother."

"Now listen to you and how spoiled you sound! Weathering the pandemic in a freakin' wing of a giant urban mansion… you sound like one of those out-of-touch celebrities who sang songs over Zoom."

"Says the woman out in the countryside. In a manor house."

"With a bomb flower garden. Don't forget it. My husband loves his pretty flowers."

"And his mushrooms."

"God, the mushrooms! That's how I knew he was going crazy during lockdown. He was out in the woods every day looking for every shroomie he could find. Made me go on hikes with him to look for mushrooms. Who is having a baby with that? Not me."

"At least your husband grew up a normal low-class person and has normal people hobbies. Eva and her brother took up gemstone collecting during the pandemic."

"Are we having a contest here? Because yes, you win." Jasmine changed the subject. "Weren't you supposed to be having kids with Eva sometime soon?"

She makes it sound like we order them up and have them delivered via an Uber Eats driver. Then again, Eva had the kind of money where they could do something crazy like that, albeit in the form of surrogacy or adoption. Maybe at once! That's something a few old friends of hers are doing now. They made it look so trendy, chic, and boutique to have a baby cooking in a surrogate's womb while working with an adoption agency "just in case." Just in case! Who talks like that? Eva's circle. That was who.

"It's in that stupid prenup or contract or whatever her mom made me sign." Nadia would rather be taking pictures of the afternoon sky than having this conversation, but she only had herself to blame for Jasmine's curiosity. "Eva always made it clear that in the end, we'll do whatever we want. Her mom has no power over us, especially now that we're married. If we don't want to have kids, then we won't. Or, you know if it doesn't happen, it's not exactly grounds for divorce."

"Do you want them, though?"

For some reason, Nadia wasn't expecting that question. "There hasn't been much chance to discuss it since we got married. Things have been… well, you know what happened. Plus, Eva and her brother ended up dissolving the mining arm of their family's business, so there went her place in the family. It's not like she has to work, but I know she'd like to keep putting her grad school degree to use. Just, you know, nothing's come up yet. We're also still working out some personal stuff. We're in a really weird in-between state right now."

"You guys are quite the couple of opposites. I'm sure you'll figure it out, though."

"I appreciate your optimism."

"You know that's what I'm here for. If I'm not hyping up my friends, what am I doing?"

"Foraging for mushrooms in the woods."

Nadia had to hang up on Jasmine a few minutes later, but it wasn't with regret over what they had talked about. What's the point of having a best friend if you can't have the hard conversations over the phone? Jasmine often called out Nadia's hypocrisies, and Nadia knew a thing or two about talking Jasmine down from the proverbial ledge. It helps I've been there through all the weird shit. Likewise, Jasmine had seen some of the craziest crap Nadia had been through those past nine years.

Had it really been nine years?

I still remember the day she started working at Thomas-Cole. No, back then, it had been called Jackson-Cole. Jasmine was hired to be Ethan's assistant, but women like Nadia knew exactly what that meant. His girlfriends were always his assistants. Because men with money can do things like that. Yet while Jasmine always assumed that Nadia was also sleeping with Ethan, Nadia assumed the relationship would crash and burn. That was before the Jackson left the building and Adrienne Thomas, Ethan's ex-fiancée, stepped in to fill the void. Turned out, Adrienne could be as gay as Nadia – and had a thing for Ethan's assistants.

All of that before Eva was really in the picture!

Nadia was content to float away on nostalgia, but the world always had other plans.

"Baaabe!" Eva, sweaty and sporting a fresh tan, bounded into the condo with her brother close behind her. "Guess what! We're going to a luau tonight!"

So much for a quiet evening at their Hawaiian home.