Page 45 of Now & Forever
“Such a strong, Welsh name,” Sarah said with a crack of her knuckles. “You’d fit right in with my family. Not that I suggest you try.”
Anger bristled down Gwen’s spine.Don’t rise to their bait.That’s what they wanted. These two salivated to have Gwen explode in the Merange home. Even better if Albert had to call his security to escort her out. That was exactly what he wanted to report to his son should James swing by and demand to know what he had done to Gwen.
“What can I do for the two of you?” Gwen asked with a smile she only used when working at bars or dealing with someone of the last name Merange – well, someone who didn’t have the first name James, anyway. “Surely, it must be important if you called me at the last minute to come meet with you, Albert.” She glanced around the room, as if she expected to see someone else there. “Where is Ophelia?”
“She is indisposed.”
“Who? Your wife?”
The woman next to Gwen shifted in her seat.Good. Seethe, you old cow.Whatever Gwen could do to remind Sarah Welsh she was not Albert’s wife? Gwen would do it. But she would have to be careful to not go too far – she didn’t want to spoil the fun for herself. “Yes,” Albert said through clenched teeth. “My wife is indisposed.”
“I do hope she gets better soon. We’re supposed to have tea at the country club again next week.” Gwen would make sure to invite Ophelia to tea.I bet she’d love to know about the contents of this conversation.If it could even be called one.
Albert leaned back in his seat, one leg slung over the other and his demeanor softening as he considered the woman before him.Go ahead, Albert, try to figure me out.He’d be sorely disappointed to discover that Ms. Mitchell wasn’t easily intimidated.
“Let’s get one thing straight,Gwenyth,” he said with the spitfire of a man about to rid his family of the cog breaking the entire machine. “You and I are not on friendly terms. We never have been. You know why.”
She shrugged. His words stung, but would she let him see that? Would she let them fester in her blood? No. Gwen had better ways to use the last of her energy reserves around these people.
“You don’t like me. Of course, I have always been aware of that.”
“I’ve tolerated you. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t find you absolutely distasteful, Gwenyth, but…”
“I’m not who you imagined for your first and only child.”
Albert released the smallest smile he could muster. “You know James. He needs a certain someone to keep him in line.”
“Oh, I’ve always thought I did a good enough job at that.” As much as Gwen loved her partner, James could occasionally be a handful. When he had the gumption to prank his friends or parade her in front of them in nothing but a negligee and collar, Gwen plotted how she would get “even” with him.Don’t assume I didn’t enjoy his pranks and kinks. But I’ll be damned if James doesn’t get tastes of his own medicine.
“Have you? Is that why I hear such scandalous rumors about my son’s sex life?”
“As long as it’s all consensual, I’m not sure why it matters to you.”
“You don’t even deny it.”
Gwen glanced at Sarah, who remained silent in her seat – yet she always had one keen eye on Gwen, as if she waited for the younger woman to take a misstep and fall flat on her face. “Why would I deny anything that’s true? Part of the reason your son and I get along so well after all this time is because we trust one another. And have the same tastes.”
“Yes. After all thistime.”
“Cut to the chase, Albert.” Gwen dug her elbows into the arm of her chair and kicked one leg over the other. The tips of her high heels touched the bottom of Albert’s desk. “You didn’t summon me here in front of your mistress so you could ask me questions about my sex life.”
Sarah choked on her own spit. Albert furrowed his brows. He only had angry eyes for Gwen – not a drop of concern for Sarah, who snatched a bottle of water out of her bag and glugged it down until she finally stopped coughing.
“You’d do kindly to not refer to Lady Welsh with such candor.” The bastard on the other side of the desk said. “I invited her here to make my offer to you much sweeter.”
“An offer?”
“You want to cut to the chase? Fine.” Albert placed his palms face-down on his desk. His fingertips brushed against a family portrait taken five years ago. Christmas. It was no accident that the six people in the photo represented the Meranges and their dearest friends, the Welshes. Gwen was nowhere to be seen.I stood off to the side when they took the picture. The reason James looks so constipated is because he tried to get me in the photo, but everyone refused. Yes, even you, Cassandra.Gwen had brushed it off because she didn’t expect these people to take her seriously even after knowing James for three years and moving in with him. After five years, however, she knew better.
They hated her. Save for James, everyone wanted her gone. Perhaps… even Ophelia. Or, at least, Ophelia wouldn’t miss her. That would require a spine and thinking for herself. Maybe expressing a real opinion to her husband here and there.How did James turn out so relatively well-adjusted?Their counselor had suggested that James’s affinity for the absurd and making people laugh was because he came from a laughless household. But Gwen had heard stories from staff that young Mr. Merange was giggling from the moment he was born.“I also quickly learned that spanking did not work on that child,”the former nanny had slyly told Gwen at one birthday party.“He would go out of his way to get spanked. I think he liked it.”
Well, yeah, James Merange did like the occasional spank to his toned bottom. But that was one of those details Albert probably dreaded to hear.
“We’ll cut to the chase, as you have requested,” that man finally continued. “I am asking you – no, telling you – to leave this family as soon as you can conveniently make arrangements.”
Gwen popped open her purse and pulled out a tin of mints. She took her time selecting the most appetizing before tossing it into her mouth. Wintergreen exploded between her cheeks.
How refreshing!
