Page 47 of Now & Forever
“Riiiight.” Gwen leaned forward, hands gripping the arms of the chair and hair unceremoniously shrouding her reddening face. “You put up with me as long as James was in his twenties and not knocking me up. Now that he’s a littleolderthough…”
“And a father,” Sarah dutifully reminded her.
Gwen shot her the hottest look to blaze a trail from her eyeballs. “Thank you, Sarah!”
Lady Welsh sniffed in admonishment.
“So because James is now in his thirties and afather…” Gwen finally sent her wildfire in Albert’s direction, “it’s time for him to grow up, buckle down, and marry the mother of the child he never helped create. Did I get that right?”
Nobody said anything.
“Don’t suppose you’ve run this brilliant plan passed him first, huh? Because I don’t think James will be amused to know you’re once more writing the script to his life.”
“James doesn’t think ahead,” Albert brusquely said. “He’s never been good at choosing the next path in his life. That’s what his parents are for.”
“Right. From what boarding school he went to, to what college and area of study he pursued… even your precious frat. In fact,” Gwen regaled in this, “the first time he completely turned his back on your life plan for him was when he moved in with me instead of Cassandra. He’s been very open about how much you two tried to push them together.”
“It’s the perfect match!” Sarah insisted. “Our families deserve to be united. It was decided the moment my daughter was born!”
“Why? Becauseyou twocouldn’t get married without pissing offyourfamilies?” Albert leaped up from his desk. Gwen continued. “That’s what this has always been about, hasn’t it? You two didn’t have the balls to tell your own parents to piss off with their arranged marriages, so here you are, making your own children’s lives hell.”
“Ms. Mitchell!” Albert slammed his hand against his desk. Gwen hated that the sound made her jump in her seat. “The one thing you fail to understand during your tenure as my son’s girlfriend? There areexpectationsthis high up on the food chain!”
“So you admit you think you’re top of the food chain?”
He lowered his pointy nose to hers. “Don’t test me, Gwenyth.” Jesus, would he make up his mind about what he wanted to call her? “You will never understand what it takes to maintain one’s social standing. Let alone one’sbusiness.Merging with the Welshes is what’s best for my family. We are not at the whim of our hearts and loins.”
Gwen guffawed. They weren’t? Then what wasthisongoing relationship from hell between Albert and Sarah? The whole reason their families were miserable was because they wouldn’t fucking elope when they had the chance!Forty years of hell. It’s not my fault – or James’s fault – that you two subjected yourself to this.While dragging down their unwitting spouses. What year was this again?
“You are the only reason my daughter isn’t with James,” Sarah insisted. “If you leave him, Cassandra will be there to mend his broken heart.”
“Wow. I bet.” Gwen figured that the moment she followed her gut and left James, Cassandra would swoop in as the concerned and good-hearted woman ready to assuage the pain in his heart.With her cunt. Yup.James claimed to have never even kissed Cassandra, let alone slept with her before.“She’s like a sister to me, Gwenny. It would be so… wrong. I can’t see her sexually at all.”That’s what he had told Gwen more than once. She believed him, too. Not once in the years she had seen them interacting, had Gwen ever witnessed anything less than friendly between James and Cassandra. The Meranges and Welshes played themselves. They forced those two kids together so much that they became siblings, not potential lovers.
How ironic. Especially now that Gwen had decided tonotleave James, after all.
Even so, she was not in the mood to deal with these asinine people. “At least you’re honest about what you’re doing,” she said. “Can’t fault you for that.”
“We’re also prepared to make it worth your while to leave, if that’s what it takes.”
Gwen raised her eyebrows. “Both of you, huh?”
“We figured we both had some resources to spare if we pooled them together,” Sarah said. “Simply name your price, and we’ll go from there.”
“You want to pay me off.”
“Clearly, you’re attracted to the money this lifestyle affords you,” Sarah continued with a haughty sigh. “I suggested to Albert that we make this as mutually beneficial as possible. We get you out of our hair, and you get half of the equation you seem to love so much.”
“The money, yes?” These people were utterly ridiculous. Did being born into so much wealth and privilege stagnate the human brain? These people wouldn’t even stand up for themselves as young adults. Did they think they simply paid it forward to their own children? Monsters. Both of them. “What’s the other half the equation?”
“The man himself, of course.” Sarah shrugged. “James is quite the specimen, even among his peer group. I don’t doubt you were physically attracted to him before the money came into play. Unfortunately, you’ll have to give that up, but we’re optimistic that we’ll find a decent price to soothe that ache.”
Gwen shook her head. “You’re both mad. Even if you gang up on me, I won’t deny how hard I’ve worked to make a life with James. Besides…” she sucked in a deep breath that could mean the end of her life, “it’s not as simple as walking away from him.”
“Why’s that?”
Before Gwen could open her mouth and spout the truth she and James had kept close to their hearts for the past two years, the maid threw open the door and shouted, “Mr. Merange! It’s…”
It was James, tearing through the foyer on the hunt for whatever his father concoctedthistime.
