As Rebekah Miller got on the stage with Eric and her daughters, the first person her eyes fell on in the audience was Jade, who was seated in front, and the moment their gaze met, Jade waved at her with a grin, and Candace who was sitting beside Jade giggled.
If she wasn't already feeling uncomfortable by Jade's presence there, the fact that Jade was holding a box of popcorn as though she was getting ready to enjoy herself made all her earlier anxiety return.
Her feeling of unease only got worse when her gaze shifted from Jade to scan the rest of the audience, and her heart skipped several beats when she made eye contact with familiar faces.
Most of them were her lovers, both past and present.
What was going on?
"Mrs Miller?" Eric Howells called since she was the only one still standing while everyone else was seated.
Rebekah turned to Eric with confused eyes and looked back at the audience, wondering if her brain was making up things or if these people were indeed here.
"Mother? Are you alright?" Tiffany whispered when she noticed that her mother had gone pale and beads of sweat coated her forehead.
Tiffany couldn't understand why her mother was suddenly looking like a deer caught in the headlight of a car. It definitely couldn't be merely because she saw Jade.
Tiffany turned to look at Bernice, who was silent, and she noticed that Bernice had a distant look in her eyes as she stared ahead of her.
What was going on? Tiffany mused.
"Mrs Miller? It is now or never. We are going live in less than two minutes," Eric informed Rebekah impatiently before facing the audience.
10 A.M was show time, and the show was going to start whether or not she was ready to compose herself. He could guess that her reaction was because of someone in the audience. He had no idea who they were or why Thomas Hank had chosen these people.
Tiffany rose from her seat and took her mother's hand, "You are embarrassing us. Are you ill?" Tiffany asked as she pulled her onto her seat.
Rebekah shook her head, "I'm fine. What is she doing here? Did you invite her?" she asked as she sat down.
"Who?" Tiffany asked in mock confusion.
"Jade Hank," Rebekah hissed.
"No, I didn't. Maybe it's coincidence…"
"It's not! I think she is up to something…"
"Mother, you're being paranoid. The show is about to start. Please pull yourself together and don't embarrass us any further," Tiffany said impatiently, and even though Rebekah still had her concerns about the chosen audience, she decided to let it rest.
There was no way Eric could have known that most of the men present there were her lovers. That was something only she knew. So maybe this was all a coincidence.
She was going to make sure to publicly apologize to Thomas Hank and his girlfriend during the show so that she could stop feeling so anxious.
She was Rebekah Miller, and she knew she was more than capable of handling whatever came her way today.
"Benny? Are you alright?" Tiffany whispered to Bernice, and she looked at her with distant eyes as she gave her a nod.
She was alright. What she couldn't wrap her head around was the fact that Adam was still alive.
It made sense that he was alive, seeing how she was yet to see his body, and his parents weren't exactly acting like they were mourning him.
What she couldn't understand was why it was all over the news that Adam was Dead and how Jade had managed to find out that he was alive despite the news.
If he wasn't dead, where was he? And what was he doing? Did that mean their mother was innocent and had not killed Adam as they had thought?
Or was it that her mother and Adam had come up with this plan together?
Most importantly, why did Jade send another text asking her to make the announcement during the interview? What did she stand to gain?
She couldn't understand all that was going on, and the thought of it was beginning to make her head ache.
"Good morning, and welcome to your favourite television show, Live with Eric Howells! As you already know, I'm your host Eric Howells," he said with a wink, and the audience applauded as expected.
"Thank you. With me, here is my cohost, Alicia Hagin," Eric introduced, and Alicia smiled at the camera.
"Good morning, and welcome to Live with Eric Howells," Alicia said with a relaxed smile.
"As you can see, we have some very special guests with us on today's show. At first glance, you'd think they are three sisters. I'm sure you think so, right? I thought so myself, but they are not," Eric said with a grin, and Rebekah preened with pleasure at the compliment.
"With us on the show today is the ever-young and beautiful Rebekah Miller and her gorgeous daughters, Tiffany Bateman and Bernice Washington," Eric introduced, and the audience cheered.
"I'm curious about something, Mrs Miller…"
"Call me Rebekah, please," Rebekah cut in with a pleasant smile.
"Rebekah, it is then. Do you mind sharing the secret of your ageless beauty with us," Eric asked, and Rebekah flushed with pleasure.
"I was going to ask her that myself. Your beauty is so radiantly youthful," Alicia said, and Rebekah giggled, loving the attention she was receiving.
"Well, there is not much secret. I eat a healthy diet, I exercise regularly, and I don't miss my facials and spa sessions…"
"And thanks to the science of plastic surgery," Bernice added dryly, and everyone laughed while Rebekah forced a smile as she tried not to glare or look offended.
"Plastic surgery? You've gone under the knife? I never would have guessed," Alicia lied, and Rebekah smiled.
"Well, I did have a breast mastopexy, and I did a bit of body sculpting some years ago," Rebekah said, and Alicia smiled.
"Your cosmetic surgeon must be really good. You should share their details with me after the show. I'd like to look as young and beautiful as you do when I get to your age," Alicia said, bent on feeding Rebekah's ego.
"Sure, I will," Rebekah said as she slowly relaxed.
Of course, they didn't know anything. It was all coincidence. The show would go on perfectly, and she would be beautiful in it.
"Your family has been involved in a couple of dramas since we invited you on the show. Would you like to answer a couple of questions about it?" Eric asked, and Rebekah decided that was the perfect opportunity she needed to get her apology across to Thomas Hank.
"Well, it would depend on what drama you're talking about," Rebekah said, not wanting to be too direct.
She would let him set the pace and mention the names himself, and then she would take that as her cue to apologize.
"Well, maybe for a start, we can talk about the video your youngest daughter released some days ago," Eric said and signaled to his media team to play the video of Anita on the screen for everyone.
Rebekah folded her hands together as she watched the video, and she tried to keep her smile in place as she watched it alongside others.
"This video. Did you know about it?" Eric asked, pausing the video after Anita had mentioned her mother.
"About her making the video or her claims in the video?" Rebekah asked with a fixed smile.
"Claims? Are you saying she wasn't being honest?" Alicia asked curiously.
"Although she made me sound like a horrible mother and a villain, it was not all a lie," Rebekah said as she sat up.
"Does that mean some of the things she said were a lie?" Alicia asked as she also leaned forward in her seat.
"What I mean is, things did not exactly happen as she painted them," Rebekah said, and Eric raised a brow.
"Do you care to elaborate on that? I'm sure the viewers are dying to know. We received a lot of questions on our social media page after we made the announcement that you were the guest on today's show," Eric said, and Rebekah nodded.
"I would love to. I'd probably never get this sort of opportunity to clear the air again, so I should seize it," Rebekah said, all the while avoiding looking at the audience.
"Please do," Alicia urged her with a polite smile.
"First of all, I'd love to apologize to Thomas Hank and his lovely girlfriend, Lucinda Perry. I'm very sorry for all of this misunderstanding. The truth is, I had no idea about Anita being behind that scandal. I had absolutely no idea. And about making Lucinda Perry the face of my foundation, it wasn't my idea. I am not directly involved in running the foundation. I have employed people to do that. When the idea came up to make her the face of the foundation, I couldn't object to it simply because my daughter had a problem with her," Rebekah said, and both Tiffany and Bernice exchanged a look.
"So, you are saying you were not in support of what your daughter did? And you have no ill intentions towards Lucinda Perry, as your daughter claimed in her video?" Alicia asked, wanting to leave no room for misinterpretation of facts.
"That's right. There is no reason for me to do any of that. I can't blame my own daughter for misunderstanding and judging me so unfairly or throwing me under the bus just so she wouldn't face the consequence of her actions," Rebekah said with a rueful smile.
"I see," Alicia said before turning to look at Tiffany and Bernice.
"How about the both of you? Were you aware of your sister's actions?" She asked, and they both shook their heads.
"Not at first. We had no idea she was behind the scandal. But she did tell us about it afterwards. And I'm ashamed to admit that I encouraged and supported her," Tiffany confessed shamefacedly.
"We all encouraged her, including our mother. As a matter of fact, contrary to what our mother just said, she pushed Anita the most. She even threatened to cut her off if she failed to win Thomas Hank's heart." Bernice, who had been boiling with anger over the way their mother was talking about Anita, decided that she had had enough.
Rebekah's mouth dropped open in shock at what Bernice had just said. She had not expected that her own daughter would do something like that to her on a live show.
"What?" Alicia and Eric asked in unison, pretending to be just as surprised as Rebekah was.
"You heard me. The only person who was against it all from the beginning was our third sister, Lisa Steel. She discouraged Anita at every given opportunity. She is the only reason Anita was able to break free from the yoke of this spiteful bitch we call our mother," Bernice said, stunning everyone, including Tiffany, who hadn't expected such an outburst from her.
"Are you out of your mind?" Rebekah asked in a controlled voice, trying hard not to lose her cool in front of the camera.
Eric and Alicia exchanged a look and decided to sit it out and let the mother and daughter entertain both them and the guests.
"This is going to be more interesting than I thought," Jade murmured to Candace with a grin as she chewed her popcorn.
She had been hoping for some drama, and here it was. She couldn't believe they had only asked the first question on Sonia's list, and the show was this hot already.
"Don't you think this is going to ruin things? What if she storms off the stage before the police get here?" Candace asked without taking her gaze off the stage.
"They won't let her leave so easily. Her daughters will keep her on the stage even if it means tying her to it," Jade said with a confident smile as she returned her gaze to the stage.
"You are the one who is out of your mind, coming here on a live show to spit out lies about your own daughter. What for? Cheap fame? Is it not enough that you almost ruined her life, and she had to pack up and leave? Even Anita is more mature than you are. She was smart enough to come out publicly to confess and apologize but look at you. Why can't you own up to your shit for once?" Bernice asked angrily.
"Are you going to sit there and listen to your sister lie against me in front of the camera?" Rebekah asked, hoping that Tiffany would come to her aid.
"The only person who has told lies in front of the camera is you, Mother. Not Bernice, and definitely not Anita," Tiffany said, shocking Rebekah even more.
What was going on? What was happening here? She mused as she looked at the audience, and Jade raised her can of soda in a silent toast to her.
Unable to stand the embarrassment or whatever was to come next, Rebekah turned to Eric, "I guess the show is over..."
"No, it's not. Can we move to the next question, please?" Tiffany asked Alicia with a polite smile, not wanting to give her mother any excuse to leave.
No. There was no way she was going to let her leave the stage without the cuffs on her wrist or the police escorting her out.
She had promised Lisa and Jade that she would see to it, and by God, after seeing how their mother so easily turned against Anita, she was more than ready to see the woman locked away for life.
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