Latham just couldn't figure Octavia out.
"So, you want to give this house to Cindy?"
Honestly, if it was for Cindy, he really didn't have a problem with it. She was his daughter. Giving her a house as a wedding present, before she even got married, would definitely make her feel secure. How many eighteen or nineteen-year-olds could say they owned a villa? He was a good dad to her, wasn't he?
"I mean, if you've got the money, you could always buy Cindy her own place."
"Latham, if you'd rather spend your money on someone else, on those women outside, and make me and our kids scrape by, that would really break my heart."
"I've looked the other way all these years, that doesn't mean I don't care, you know? A woman compromises only for her kids most of the time. If we didn't have a son and a daughter, I would've raised hell a long time ago."
"You don't actually think the only reason I never left you was because I wanted your money, do you?"
Octavia kept saying this was all for the kids, and Latham almost believed her. Almost. The truth was, if he ever went broke, even if they had four kids together, Octavia wouldn't stay and tough it out for his sake.
She was just too used to being pampered. She'd never survive a hard life. He was glad his mother didn't get involved when they got married, or Octavia wouldn't have even become part of the James family. Honestly, if things went sideways, she'd probably have found someone new already.
After so many years together, they knew each other's tricks.
"Octavia, I get where you're coming from. I believe you, I do. When it comes to Cindy, I'll make it up to her. I'll buy her a house."
“We talked about this before, remember? Once the West Side gets developed, we'll save a good unit for Cindy."
"And if you want a villa in Mabel's
family's new development now, it's yours. If you want to give it to Cindy,
I won't stop you. But right now I just
don't have enough mone
to buy
two places at once."
Octavia was torn. If the house was given to her, it would count as e marital property. If she and Latham got divorced she'd have to split it with him, but if they gave it straight to Cindy...
She didn't want to admit it, but she wasn't sure she was okay with that either. What
if Cindy ended up resenting her, blamed her for the divorce, refused to talk to her?
The dilemma gnawed at her.
"Why can't you get one for each of us? Unless... do you still not think of Cindy as your real daughter? Do you still prefer Claire, just because she's smarter?"
"I know Claire's bright, maybe even smarter than Cindy, but Cindy is our real daughter. If you can't treat her right, maybe you shouldn't have taken her back at all."
Instead of answering Latham's question, Octavia tossed it back at him.
Latham's brow furrowed. "Why are you bringing Claire into this again?"
“Look, it's just a fact, Claire is more accomplished than Cindy. But I never said would only see her as my daughter because of that. We spent years raising Claire, and all that time, thought she was my own blood. I treated her like a little princess."
"You want me to forget everything in a second and just love Cindy, only and forever? Isn't that asking too much?"
"You raised Claire for eighteen years. How can you have zero feelings for her?"
“Octavia, sometimes I have to wonder, did you always know Claire wasn't our daughter? When she was young and you ignored her, even let her nearly die from a high fever, was that why?"
"And now, the moment you learned she's not your biological child, you kicked her out without hesitating. Is she really that hard for you to look at?”