Page 75 of Resist

“Now you tell me this, and you better be freaking honest. Why are you pushing him away? This is the guy you’remarrying, for god’s sake.” She paused, her next words coming out softer. “Why won’t you allow yourself to love him, Mara? What’s going on?”

I froze. Here I was, thinking I was doing a great job of keeping my schemes under wraps. But I was wrong. Somehow, I was leaving hints of my plans, and Edith was sniffing them out like a damn bloodhound. And I wanted to tell her. I wanted to tell her I was never going to marry Wes. That I was going to hightail it out of the North the second I had my brother back. But I couldn’t. I didn’t know what the aftermath of my leaving was going to be. The less she knew, the better…for her sake.

I took in a deep breath, slipped on my best poker face, and looked Edith square in the eyes. “There is nothing going on. Wes and I are friends. I know what you think you saw, but you’re wrong.”

Edith’s brows furrowed as she frowned. “Fine. Be that way.” She shuffled on the bed, getting under her covers. “I’m not stupid, Mara. You’re lying to me. But whatever. Don’t come whining to me when you realize you fucked everything up. You want to make your bed by yourself? Fine. But don’t expect me to help you clean up your mess when it all blows up in your face.” She leaned over, turned off the light, and we were thrown into darkness.

I sat there for a moment, shocked and hurt. Because I didn’t want to lie to Edith. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. But whatchoice did I have? Quietly, I slipped under my own covers and leaned back onto my pillow, staring up into the darkness.

Was I doing the right thing?

Everything was getting messed up and becoming more complicated than I had initially planned. As if that wasn’t enough, I was losing sight of why I was doing what I was doing. It was as if my reasons were slipping from my fingers, leaving me confused and lost. I blew out a breath as I turned on my side and closed my eyes. But no matter how hard I tried, the thoughts just kept coming. And all I thought about was Wes.

40: Say Yes to the Dress

Islept in late the next morning, and when I woke, I found myself alone. Edith was gone, and all she left was a simple note that read:Change in plans.See you at the gala.Apparently, our plans to shop together went out the window. She was definitely still pissed at me.

I showered, and a quick look in the mirror afterwards showed that the medication had worked wonders. My swelling was gone, and all that was left of my sparring match were some faded bruises and one tiny cut in the corner of my mouth that you could barely see. Not too shabby. After getting dressed, I sent a message for a car to pick me up, gathered my things, and checked out of the hotel.

Once we pulled up at the estate, I was bombarded by maids and a really pissed off First Lady. “Do you realize what time it is?” she snapped.

“Um,” I glanced at my tab as I climbed out of the car. “Just past one in the afternoon?”

“You’re late,” she admonished, eyes ablaze.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. I really didn’t want to deal with Marissa already. It was bad enough that I had a fight with Edith. “The party isn’t for several hours.”

Marissa’s eyes were like daggers. “You have to rehearse.”

“Rehearse?” What the hell was she talking about?

“Good heavens, what happened to your face?” she snapped, eyes wide.

I snorted. “You should have seen it last night.”

Marissa scoffed, grabbing my wrist firmly and dragging me up the steps. “I can’t believe this. First, you’re late, and now I’ll need to cover up those bruises. What will people think if they see your face like this?”

“That I’mtraining?” This was stupid. Why was some bruising such a big deal?

“Have you learned nothing? It’s always about the optics, Mara.Optics. How things appear. If people see any part of you as broken, they’ll think you’re weak. That you’re less than them. And they will destroy you. And Calvernon women aren’t weak. Whatever may happen behind closed doors, we are anything but fragile lambs.”

“Wait a minute,” I halted, causing her to stop. “Are we talking about me? Or are we talking about you?”

Marissa whirled on me, eyes ablaze. “Howdareyou? Insinuating that—”

“Charles hits you?” I challenged. Marissa’s jaw dropped. “Well,” I pushed, “doesn’t he?”

Her eyes lost all their flames, dropping into a blank expression before she squared her shoulders. “Now you listen here. Whatever it is you think you know, that’s none of your concern. There’s a reputation we carry, and whether I like it or not, you are part of that equation. Our family secrets live and diein this house. And you willnotshame me or my son. Do you understand?”

“I didn’t mean to—”

“It doesn’t matter what you meant,” she interjected. “Understand this concept well, for it will be your undoing if you can’t learn to master it. Power is all about appearances, Mara. I would expect a Telvian to understand that better than most. And there is always somebody dying to take your place. Remember that.”

“But I don’t—”

“Hush,” she snapped before grabbing my wrist again and pulling me the rest of the way up the stairs. “Charles is waiting for you in the parlor to rehearse your proposal, and then we need to try your dress on and make sure it fits.”

“We’re going torehearseourproposal?” This was insane. Who does that? It was bad enough that it was scripted, butfor real?

---