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The girls are both wide-eyed looking between my mother and myself. There’s no reason for them to hear this; to even know the situation happened. I’m so pissed that she has not only continued to speak down to me in front of my children, but now she’s talking nonsense about Nathan. She’s throwing this stupid rag in my face like it has all the freakin’ answers in it. She’s acting like it’s the Holy Bible. It’s just a gossip paper, and I'm not going to allow her to damage the security those girls feel in Nathan’s presence. “Get out!” I growl as I shove the paper into her chest.

Her eyes grow wide with shock. “Excuse me?”

“I said get out, Mother! Now! Get out of my daughters’ room! Now!” I point and walk towards her placing my hand on her shoulder ushering her out of the room. I turn to the girls. “Grandma and I are going to have a little talk. When Daddy gets here, let him know I’ll be right back.”

I continue to push her out of the room and down the hall. “Get your hands off me, Laney. What has gotten into you?”

“Nothing. But I’m not going to have you belittle me, my husband, or my decisions, when it comes to my daughters. You have no say and no right to do so. Your opinions and thoughts on my life are not wanted. You can stop wasting your breath on how you think I should live it.” I hit the button on the elevator to head down to the staff lounge where Brad and I spoke the night before.

“Where do you think we’re going?” I push her onto the elevator, then stand beside her. “The front entrance is surrounded by reporters and paparazzi. I almost lost an arm having to walk through that crowd this morning.”

I laugh at her. “Oh, I’m sure you’re so surprised that the media has been camped out since the news broke last night that Nathan and I were married.” The elevator doors close. “I know it was you, Mother. I know you were the one to leak the story to the press.”

“I would never—” She even sounded shocked.

“For the love of God, didn’t you think about what this would do to your granddaughters? Or were you just too thrilled with the opportunity to have the Jacobs name in the headlines again. You forgot that last name is no longer yours. You're married. Vivian and Jacobs no longer go together. You’re so damn ridiculous. You say I don’t put their best interest in front of my own, but you are so full of it. You’re the queen of selfishness. I’m actually shocked that I didn’t turn out to be a bitch since I had such a prime example of what selfish looks like. I’m done, Mother!”

“Laney, you have no right disrespecting me.” I put my hand up telling her to stop.

“We can finish this conversation once we go somewhere private.” I walked to the desk in front of the staff lounge where I came with Brad the night before. “Hi, I’m Laney Whitmore, I was wondering if it would be all right to use the staff lounge for a while.”

“Of course, Mrs.Whitmore. Mr. Whitmore wanted to make sure you had everything you needed while your daughters are here. Go on in, I’ll make sure you have some privacy.”

“Well, isn’t this the pot calling the kettle black. You have always despised me so much for using the power of your father’s name, yet you certainly how to do the exact same thing.”

“I’m nothing like you, Mother. I would never use his or Nathan’s name for my own personal gain.” I sit down at the table and gesture for her to sit as well. She looks over the seat like it’s going to bite her. “Just sit and listen to me for once."

“I don’t even know why we’re here. This is a waste of my time and yours. You should be up in the room taking care of your girls.”

“Yes. Exactly, but you feel that it’s alright to voice your opinions whenever and wherever you feel like it, and I feel that I need to make certain your opinions are no longer verbalized in front of the girls. Those days of bullying me are over.”

“You think I bully you, Laney? You’re very comical. You’re my daughter. I have every right to tell you what you’re doing wrong when it comes to mothering. I have been a mother for a lot longer than you have, dear. You should be so lucky to still have me around to lend a hand when you obviously lack in the maternal instinct.” Did I just hear her right? Boy, she sure has some nerve.

“You have nerve to talk to me about maternal instincts. Have you finally cracked? Have you finally fallen off your rocker? Let me ask you, what color is the sky in the world in which you live in, because where I live it’s blue. Where I live, I grew up with a mother who was more concerned with getting her name out there in the city. She had no concern with whether or not her daughter was properly cared for. It’s you who was born without an ounce of maternal instinct. It’s you who has no right to tell me what I’m doing wrong when it comes to my kids.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about, Laney.”

“I have no idea? Where were you when I was sick? Was it you who took care of me? Was it you who rushed me to the hospital when my fever peaked? Was it you who slept with me to make sure that I was alright while my fever broke? I don’t think so. Not once do I remember you caring for me. It was always my father who did those things for me. You never had the time.”

“The view of how your childhood was is outrageous. You have no idea what you’re talking about. You seriously need to stop living in the past and figure out what you are doing with your life in the present. I’m sure thinking about the future is far too much for you. Why don't you stop thinking about yourself and the things you want and start thinking about the girls? Why don’t you think about them and how your life is affecting them now?"

“I am thinking. I’m well aware of what I’m doing. I have no qualms on what I’m deciding when it comes to them. Neither does Brad.”

“The first qualm you should have had was leaving their father in the first place. That was your first mistake of many. Well, I shouldn’t say the first. The first was getting yourself knocked up.”

“And it’s those comments right there that should have me keeping my girls as far away from you as possible. How the hell can you tell me you’re concerned about the girls and then turn around and tell me they were mistakes?”

“Those girls would have been better off being born to a couple who didn’t just give up, Laney. You should have put their needs first instead of your own.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You should have decided right then and there when you found out that you were pregnant to put what you wanted on hold. You've never put those girls or your family in front of your own selfish needs. You didn't have to work, to continue to go to school and get an education. Your father and I made sure of that.”

“My father made sure of that. There was no ‘you’ in that factor.”

“Think what you must, Laney, continue to live in a dream world where your father hung the moon while I created all the brimstone in hell.”

“I don’t live in a dream world. If I did, then it would have been you that I buried all those years ago and not my father.”