"I can't believe that I lost to that gold digging, company stealing, opportunistic, shameless…girl!" Julian spat as he ran out of insults to add to Theresa's name. "Will the shame on the Crane name ever stop?"
Katherine followed her son into his office and watched him practically break a crystal goblet before he filled it with sherry. "Some of this is your own doing Julian." she said.
"Oh don't pretend to take the moral high ground Mother! You helped me set up Mary Ann by trying to make Martin look bad, and you ended up looking worse than he did!"
Katherine had the good grace to look ashamed. "Where did I fail all of you? How could I contribute to all of this? Has Alistair corrupted us all?"
"Who cares about Grandfather or the stupid company right now? I'm the one that lost my wife and family, remember?" Fox walked in behind them and slammed the office door. "I'm in a lot of trouble here. Or did anyone forget that?"
Julian sat on the leather sofa with a perturbed sigh. "No Fox. No one has forgotten how you lost Miguel's family, how you've put a blot on our name by losing to a common fisherman."
"Julian!" Katherine was dismayed. "How can you be so cruel to your own son?"
Fox scowled. "Yes. Thank you for your undying support Father. Especially since you're the one who messed up by getting caught in the first place."
Julian finished his drink and reached for another. "Oh stop it Fox! The truth is you lost Kay all by yourself—letting your employee call the shots! A real man takes responsibility for his actions and his failings. You should try it sometime."
"Oh could show me how? You're such a fine example in that area." It was Fox's turn to mock.
"OK. Just stop it you two! Blaming each other won't fix anything!" Katherine stepped in. "We're family. We need to support each other!"
Before either father or son could respond, a quiet knock was heard at the door and Mary Ann timidly poked her head around it.
I'm sorry Mr. Crane, but I'm supposed to clean your office today. Do you want me to come back later?"
Julian's face suddenly took on a wicked, self-satisfied gleam. "No Mary Ann. I don't want you to come back later. In fact, I don't want you to come back at all."
Mary Ann looked confused. "I'm sorry, sir. I'm not sure I understand."
Julian began to really enjoy this. "I don't want you to come back to clean my office or any other part of this house. You're fired."
Her eyes growing round, she stepped just inside the threshold. "I'm fired? Why? What have I done?"
"You are the mole leaking all the Crane business to the media. I told all of you that the person found to be engaging in those behaviors would be fired immediately. So…you're fired."
Mary Ann feigned innocence even as warning bells sounded in her head. "I don't know what you mean, sir! I assure you that I never betrayed any confidence…"
Julian cut her off with a scoff. "Don't even try to deny it. I suspected it was you, so I gave you a little test with that story of Martin taking advantage of Mother here, and you obviously failed it miserably. You have 15 minutes to leave the estate."
Mr. Crane turned his back to her then, and she had no choice but to go. He is going to be so angry, she thought as she left the office and prepared to leave.
Alone again, Katherine sighed. "I hate that we were right about her, but I'm glad that this is finally over."
"Over? Not hardly Mother." Julian finished his sherry and poured a third before reaching for the phone on his desk and turning to Fox.
"You want me to teach you? Well watch closely. I'll show you how to get what you want every time."
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"Hello?"
"Mija! Such good news about the hearing today!"
Theresa frowned. "Mama, how did you know about that?"
"Your papa. He just got here and told us the news."
"I didn't tell him what happened, so how did he know?" Theresa was suspicious, and Pilar picked up it right away.
"He said that he was waiting for you outside and saw Julian and Katherine leave. He said that it was obvious that they had lost. Theresa, what's wrong?"
"Nothing." Theresa lied. "I just wondered how he knew that's all."
"Oh. Well, I decided with such good news today—what with you keeping the company and Miguel being proven innocent—I thought we should celebrate. Come over for dinner. I'm making everyone's favorites, and Paloma actually has the evening off today. Kay and Maria will probably be here too."
"Will Papa be there?" Theresa looked up at the sound of the garage door closing and knew Ethan was home.
"Of course. He's happy about all of this too."
"Then I think we'll pass."
Ethan walked into the kitchen on that note, having followed his wife's voice, and wondered what was going on.
"No Mama. I haven't forgiven him and I'm not going to pretend I have."
Theresa paused and Ethan figured that Pilar must have been trying to change her daughter's mind.
She might as well save her breath, he thought. He got a glass out of the cupboard, a pitcher of iced tea out of the fridge and poured himself a drink. All of this was done without Theresa even batting an eye in his direction.
"I don't care. I don't want to see him." Another pause. "No thanks. I think we'll just have a quiet dinner with the kids."
She still wasn't looking at him, so Ethan took his glass and positioned himself directly in front of her as she leaned against the counter. The look on his face must've gotten his point across, because she shot him a glare and turned the other way.
"Ethan can do what he wants. But the kids and I are just going to stay home tonight."
The emphasis on his name as she said that told Ethan everything he needed to know. She knew where he stood and she didn't care.
This situation with Martin was going to get ugly.
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"You stupid, stupid woman! I told you to lay low! I told you not to get them looking in your direction!"
Mary Ann didn't say anything as the tirade continued.
"What are you going to do now? Let's just hope that when you leave no one misses you!"
"I don't know what I'm going to do." Her eyes filled with tears of desperation. "I'll figure something out though. I'll just get another job and start over I guess."
"Not in Harmony you won't!"
"Well then I'll go where ever I have to go to find work. It'll be fine. I'll get another job and I'll let you know where I am so you can send me the rest of my money." Mary Ann tried to sound more confident than she felt.
"First, you don't get any money until Luis is convicted, so don't go counting your money before you actually have some! Secondly, you're extremely naïve if you think that Julian Crane fired you, let you walk out the door and that's it. You mark my words—he has something much bigger planned as punishment for you...
Mary Ann climbed into bed and tried to shrug off the memory of his words. But she knew he was right. There was nowhere in Harmony to escape the wrath of Crane. The world was a big place though, and Katherine and Martin had managed to hide from Alistair (the worst of the worst) for twenty years in it. One little maid should be able to get lost out there pretty easily.
Outside her window the wind knocked a tree branch against her the pane. Barren yet of the new leaves it usually boasted, the branch scratched like fingernails on a chalkboard across the glass. Shivering at the sound, Mary Ann pulled to covers up tightly around her chin and hoped with everything in her soul that she was right.