Page 61 of Miss Humbug
Riley and Shawn argued while Cara grumbled unintelligibly to Ashe.
Rafe jumped to his feet and paced by the bay window. “Let’s be logical here. I’ve played along with this competition for Grans’ sake, but it’s time to stop playing games. The path to inheritance is clear as crystal. The house should pass to me, as I’m the eldest child of the next living generation.”
The air sucked out of the room. The phraseliving generationpulsed like a beacon. By Rafe’s logic, Marlowe, Shawn, and Ashe weren’t in line for inheritance because they lacked a living generation between them and Emmaline.
The exact thing Marlowe complained people defined her for, and this came from within her own family.
“Rafe,” Brianne chided.
But it was too late. The room exploded. Marlowe bolted up at the same time as Ashe, declaring they had as much right to the Holly estate as him. Shawn picked a fight with Rafe by inviting him to step outside and solve this like men. Riley blamed Rafe for ruining the competition for all of them.
I got to my feet and stood behind Marlowe. I laid a hand at her back and she leaned into it, her emotions still flaring.
Rafe ignored Shawn and jeered our direction. “You don’t need this house, Marlowe. It’s a joke you’re even here pretending at this ‘lost high school crush’ to gain Grans’ attention.”
“Come on, look at them,” Cara called out. “They’re surgically attached at this point. That’s a lot of effort to fake.”
Our datinghadbeen a ruse, but now? Now things were different. She loved me. I loved her. We couldn’t turn back now.
Riley scowled at her brother. “They’ve had a thing for each other since high school. It was totally obvious every time I was around them.”
Oh, totally obvious, was it? Obvious to everyone but us.
“You only want the house to take it from the rest of us,” Rafe continued. “You were always dead set on leaving this town. You barely bother visiting. You created your own happy Holly-less existence two thousand miles from here. So go back to your little California utopia and leave the estate planning to the adults in the room.”
Adrenaline fueled me forward. “Marloweisan adult. Start treating her like one. She has as much right to this home as any of you. And besides, she doesn’t even have a—” I stopped myself just in time. Nope—said too much. I was no good at secret keeping. “Sorry, sorry,” I muttered to Marlowe.
“She doesn’t what?” Rafe hooked in, knowing I’d nearly spilled more precious details.
Marlowe held her chin up. “I’m no longer employed. I was laid off from my company prior to coming here.”
The room quieted.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Ashe asked with notable hurt.
“Because obviously she enjoys lying,” Rafe answered for her.
Marlowe fought against a quivering lip. “Because…” She gestured around the room. “Because of this. You still see me as the baby. You think I don’t care because I dared to leave the nest. It doesn’t mean I don’t care. I had to leave for them. Forthem.” She pointed to the portrait behind her where her parents smiled, frozen in time. “I had to show them I could do more than simplyexistwithout them. I had to be more than just another Holly.”
Rafe scoffed. “If you think that lowly of us, you don’t deserve the house at all.”
Shawn shoved a menacing pointer finger in Rafe’s face. “Don’t you insult my sister. That’smyjob.”
Finally, Emmaline stood. She raised her hands like a conductor who’d lost control of an off-tune orchestra. “Silence.”
Emmaline looked down her nose at her legacy of bickering grandchildren. “You’ve forced my hand.” She paced a small stretch of the room before speaking again. “Iwill decide who inherits this home. By Christmas Eve, I’ll have an answer.” She let her words sit as we all scrambled to catch up. “And before anyone leaves this room, you are all expected at caroling. The caroling ismandatory.”
Chapter 22
Marlowe
I couldn’t look Ethan in the eye. His face had paled when Grans declared she would determine the winner. He’d witnessed my family unravel over basic property rights. I’d promised him a fighting chance at the land, and now the likelihood of that happening had drastically reduced. All after I’d declared my love for him.
Would Ethan have ever agreed to be with me if the land hadn’t been part of the package? It was a pretty sweet package, if I had any control over delivery.
And now my family knew my failures. Fancy Marlowe with her West Coast life no longer shined like a star. The supposed career I’d thrown myself into at the cost of losing touch with my family, gone. Now returned to my rightful spot as the family baby, they’d put me in my place.
If I was honest with myself, I had no business inheriting the house. I was just the last to realize it.
