The Mourning Anchor

Only one problem: How do you get free of what you expect of yourself?

"My mom sees her sons as baby boys," says Gumbel. "Well, I stopped being her baby boy a long time ago."

Rhea has noticed. When Bryant is in town, he stays at a hotel and takes her out for dinner. Greg was on hand for his younger sister Renée's wedding. Bryant? He was at Fergie's wedding in London. "Renée is still hurting from that," says Rhea. And his sister Rhonda? Her birthday is the same day as June's. "You'd think he couldn't help remember that birthday," Rhea says. "But he never does."

But all that is side hurt. The real hurt is Rhea's. She reads of Bryant speaking eloquently about her husband, but never about her. She was so "heartbroken" after one article that she wrote a letter to Bryant that was almost unreadable from the tear stains.

"O.K., so I'm not a big shot," she says, reciting the letter from bitter memory. "I'm not a big person in the social life, not a cultural leader. But I brought you into this life, not him."

Bryant wrote back, "I'm not going to dignify some of your remarks. You wrote it when you were hurting."

Greg: "I think my father is probably bigger in death to Bryant than he was in life. With that constant, every-day comparison, there's no way she can measure up."

Bryant: "She probably doesn't think I'm as proud of her as I am. I just don't show it. I'm not good at showing a lot of things.... Besides, you've got to understand where most relationships are with me. If it's halfway decent, it's way up there with me. I guess she sees it as much less."

He's got that right.

Rhea: "I'm just trying to forget I have him."