Page 117 of The Interview

“You two know each other, right?” Georgia asks Daniel.

“Of course,” he replies. “We’re practically family.”

“Oh, really?” Georgia says, her smile now lighting up her face because she knows she’s about to deliver Daniel the exclusive of his career. “Us, too. Jake’s my nephew.”

Marley and Jake take a seat next to each other, opposite Daniel, who takes his own seat. His smile is now joined by a frown.

“What?” he asks. His accompanying laugh is either one of nerves or confusion, I’m not sure. “Your nephew? How is he…?”

“He’s my son,” Marley says.

Turning to my wife, I take in the smile on her face as we sit and watch the final scenes from the interview she gave from the sofa in our studio, plus the two weeks after, when Daniel and his crew followed her life.

“You loved dropping that on him.”

“Yep,” she replies. “Me and Marley have spent almost our entire lives having people spill the tea, being paid vast amounts of money for their blatant lies and innuendos about our lives. This time, it’s us doing the spilling. By going public ourselves, we took away the power those trolls usually have with their made-up stories. This time, Marley, Jake, and I spilt the tea, and by Marley and Jake agreeing to an exclusive interview with Daniel to be aired along with what he filmed with all of us, we’ll hopefully have viewers tuning in in their millions.”

“You look very pleased with yourself,” I tell her.

“I am.” She shrugs. “Not often you get one over on the press, earn money for charity, and gain a nephew in the space of a few weeks. I mean, I don’t think it’ll be a shock to anyone that Marleyfathered a child back in the day. What will be the shocker is that the kid is Jake Wright, who happens to be in a band with his biological half-brother, who are signed to his biological father’s label.”

“Are you not worried you’re going to get a whole new set of claims about Sean fathering kids?” I ask, watching her as she sips on the tea she’s been holding.

“Can I tell you something honestly?”

“Go for it.”

“I would love for there to be a kid of Sean’s out there somewhere. I’d love it if there was a part of him left. I hate that there’s nothing.”

I nod slowly, amazed that she’s so at peace with this when, in the past, just an accusation like that would’ve broken her.

“You’ve come a long way. I’m so fucking proud of you.”

She responds by giving me a small smile.

“All thanks to you and my lunatic family getting me this far.”

“Yeah, we’ve supported you, but you’ve done the work. Before the interview and recording the show, I was worried this might be too much. You’ve been… not you for a little while.”

“Menopause will do that to ya. Well, not you, because you’re a bloke, but to any woman—most women. Some survive unscathed, most of us don’t.” She chews on her bottom lip for a second, and I can practically hear her brain ticking over.

“You know what, I’ve never really thought of it like this before, but menopause is a bit like grief. We might survive it, but we come out the other side changed—different.”

“You think you’re out the other side?” I ask.

“I do. And I actually think doing the interview and the show has helped. As traumatic as some of it was, it was also cathartic.”

“I know this sounds mad, but I think it may’ve been like that for all of us,” I tell her.

“Even you?”

“Meandthe kids. We’ve always felt… segregated? I’m not sure if that’s too strong a word, and I know it’s never been intentional, but it’s like you’ve had these two lives, and we’ve only ever been a part of one half, while Marley, Jimmie, Len, and Ash got all of it. But now, listening to everything, hearing first-hand what everyone went through, we feel like we get it. Like we know you better. That we’re part of all of you now, not just a part of you.”

It wasn’t my intention to make her cry, but her eyes are now shining with tears.

“Fuck me, I love you,” she says.

“Don’t swear. I love the fuck out of you, too, Kitten. You never cease to blow my fucking mind.”

“Play your cards right, Tiger, and later on, I might just blow something…”

My amazing wife’s words are cut short when our gate alarm sounds. I pick up my phone to check the camera footage and see Marley’s car pulling onto our drive. I know that within minutes, our peace will be destroyed by the noise and chaos that’ll no doubt arrive with my wife’s lunatic family, her people who’ve become my people.

I may be getting soft and sentimental in my old age, but these times, the times we’re all together, are the best times.

The End