18. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
M ICAH
The call from my grandfather comes sooner than I expect.
I’m on my way back to the hotel from dropping Carly off when my phone starts ringing again. I glance down at the caller ID flashing on the dashboard screen as I drive, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
I answer with the click of a button. “Yes, my dear old man?”
“I’m told that you’re seeing someone.” My grandfather of course gets straight to the point without bothering with formalities. “A European princess?”
Damn, Ally. You move fast. Not even a day?
“Who told you that?” I ask.
“Is it true?”
“No. At least for the purposes of this conversation, it’s not true.”
“You’re lying.”
“Why would I lie about that? Her family is wealthy, yes, but they’re not royalty.”
“And who is this family of hers?”
“That I can’t tell you.”
He huffs his disdain. “Then you leave me no choice but to find out for myself.”
“Grandfather, please.” I try to strike the right balance of annoyance and pleading in my tone. “This is the first woman that I’ve found in a long time that I actually like. We’re taking it slow for now and I don’t want to scare her off by having my grandfather investigate her. Please don’t ruin this for me.”
He grows quiet as he considers my request. I hope the act was enough to sell it.
“Why is she so secretive about her upbringing?” he asks next. “That makes me suspicious of her intentions.”
I hesitate for a few seconds before I answer. “It’s because she’s an illegitimate child. She’s not really royalty, in the sense that she’s distant enough to never have to worry about taking the throne or attending any royal events. But according to what I heard, her father is a noble. So is her mother. They were both married to different people and had an affair with each other. They gave her away pretty quickly to hide the affair but they kept in touch with her and her adoptive parents from when she was quite young. They’ve also given her proper etiquette and training from when she was young and plan to eventually introduce her to their respective families, after all their children are adults.”
I wait for my grandfather to digest that while feeling the first tendril of nerves in my stomach. Was that a good story? Is he going to buy it?
To be very honest, the story itself is kind of a risk. I know my grandfather specifically wanted me to marry a high-class woman from a stable family unit, but there’s no way he was going to accept me keeping Carly’s ancestry a secret without a really good excuse for it. At this point, I’m just hoping that he’ll settle for Carly being blueblooded and well-trained.
“I’ve met her parents,” I continue. “Kind of by coincidence actually. So I know the story is legit. And I really, really like her. She’s smart, cultured, funny. She… calms me. I don’t know what it is, but I think this might be the one.”
Okay, dial it back a little . I don’t think the great Mark Landing will believe I’m in love at this point, not when he saw me partying it up in Turks and Caicos only months ago.
Still, I have to convince him that I’m somewhat serious. So I add, “What you said to me at our last meeting... I was thinking about it and I think she might be the one I marry.”
My grandfather scoffs and murmurs something unintelligible. My nerves multiply. Did he catch on? Did I say too much? Not enough?
What’s he going to say next?
“I need to meet her,” he orders. “Invite her over for brunch next weekend at The Vineyard.”
“Um…” Relief mixes with a different type of dread. On one hand, I’m happy that he seems to accept my story at face value. On the other hand, Carly’s nowhere near prepared enough to meet with my grandfather. She needs at least another three weeks of training. I never expected him to want to meet with her this early.
“I don’t know about that,” I say. “She’s still a bit skittish and I don’t want to rush her into something–”
“If she’s not even willing to meet your family, then she’s not ready to marry you.” He cuts me off. “And you’re too old to play around.”
Oh, come on, again? I’m only thirty-five!
“I have to meet this woman, Micah. I’ve grown to have little faith in your taste in women. If you like this girl so much, there’s a chance she might be a complete disaster. I can’t let your relationship continue until I know she’s not.”
“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence,” I say wryly. I quickly scroll through a bunch of excuses in my head, but I know that none of them will be enough to get me out of this mess. And they may raise more alarm bells for gramps.
“Fine,” I answer as I turn into my hotel. “Sunday brunch, it is.”
After I get back to my hotel room, I take a quick shower, make some business calls, and then call Carly to warn her about the recent development.
“Wow,” she says after I explain it to her. “That was fast.”
“Yup. I’m as shocked as you are. I thought I’d have to drag you to at least a few more events before he took notice. But he wants to meet you now and there’s nothing I can do about it.” I pinch the bridge of my nose, sensing her nervous silence at the other end of the line. “Listen, it will be fine. He’s not that bad, truly, it’s just that you need to get some more practice in before we go see him.”
I hear her inhale a nervous breath, but her voice is steady when she says, “Alright. I’m ready. What do I need to do?”
Atta girl. “What days do you have work and school?”
She rattles off her schedule and I note it in my phone. Apart from a few virtual business meetings, I’m not really doing much in town so I have a bunch of free time to work around her schedule.
And that’s what we do.
We meet up mostly in the evenings between school and her restaurant shifts, and I tutor her on etiquette, European royal lore, and everything there is to know about my grandfather. We work on a few of her quirks, and enhance her diction and articulation, and I try to coach her on everything that I think my grandfather will be on the lookout for. It’s a lot of information to take in, but she does a good job of remembering the important stuff.
The dresses we bought in LA arrive later that week after their adjustments have been made. Carly tries them in my hotel room as we attempt to figure out which would be best for brunch.
That’s when it gets real hard not to get distracted.
And I do mean extremely hard.
“How does this look?” She comes out in an A-line lacy white dress that covers up any cleavage and looks like something my grandma would wear to the chapel. Except on Carly, it gives a different vibe. It glides over her curves, unable to not show them off. She just has a body that would look good in anything, the kind that makes any outfit she dons instantly seductive.
And now I’m hard as a rock, fighting the urge to drag her into my lap and fuck her six ways to Sunday.
No time, I struggle to remind myself. We have no time for that right now.
But God, I really wish we did.
I tell myself we’ll have time after brunch. After the meeting with my grandfather, we have the rest of the day in New York to spend together. I’ll have her all to myself with no one to stop me from totally devouring her.
Heck, I’ll ask her to take a few days off work just so we can fool around. And I’m going to take my time with it too, and make sure that I get to taste every single piece of her without rushing to the finish like last time.
The memory of that premature ending is still embarrassing to this day.
But I’m ready to potentially embarrass myself again, because my addiction to her has me by the throat and it’s not ready to let go.
Finally, after days of planning, it’s the day of the brunch.
We fly to New York early in the morning, and Carly sleeps for most of the plane ride. Upon landing, we lodge at a hotel in Long Island where she gets dressed. And then we take a drive down to Old Westbury.
Brunch is at The Vineyard, a sprawling garden restaurant that oozes class. It has an outdoor seating area, attached to a romantic French villa, and its terrace is decorated with lush shrubbery, colorful flowers, and strong trees.
I find my grandfather sitting in the corner reading a magazine, face unsmiling as usual. I approach, with an arm around Carly’s waist.
Here goes nothing.
“If it isn’t the handsome, polished Mark Landing in the flesh,” I greet with a smile as his gaze flicks up from his business journal.
“You’re late,” is all he says in return.
He eyes Carly, who to her benefit holds his gaze pretty steadily.
She also holds her hand out to shake his. “I’m Carlette Stonewall. It’s nice to meet you, sir.”
He nods as though it’s a given and takes her hand. “Any relation to the Stonewalls of Massachusetts?”
“I don’t think so. My parents grew up in Virginia.”
My grandfather nods, but his face shows little of his emotions. “I hope you had a good flight.”
I pull out Carly’s seat for her and she takes it elegantly before she answers. “Yes. The view driving down here was unbelievable.”
“Is it your first time?”
“In Long Island? Yes. Usually, when I’m in New York I stick to Manhattan.”
Mark sighs. “Yes, well, the city used to be lovely too, until the damn politicians started flooding our streets with the homeless junkies and riffraff.”
Carly visibly stiffens.
Ah, shit. I forgot to warn her that my grandfather was also staunchly anti-homeless.
She meets my eyes, and I send her a silent plea. Come on, Carly, just this once ignore it. Be cool.
She takes a deep breath and smiles, but it’s tight. “Yes, well. I suppose there’s nothing we can do about that now.”
Mark harrumphs in response. “So what do you do Carly?”
“I’m in college. Currently studying accounting.”
“That’s a good career. Do you plan on working after you get married?”
Aha. This was a question I coached her extensively on. And she answers it perfectly.
“It would depend. I do like to stay busy, but in my experience, kids are best raised by stay-at-home mothers. Of course, I could always help my husband’s business, but raising a family is what comes first.”
My grandfather offers her a smile and I nearly crow in victory. Nailed it.
“You seem to understand the importance of the family unit. Many young women don’t.”
“Yes,” Carly says with a forlorn look that plays up her background. “In my opinion, family is everything.”
Oh, that was gold, Carly. Way to go.
My grandfather seems to buy it nodding, sagely. “I’m glad you think so. Which is why you should know something about Micah’s family before you decide to continue. You should know that he has tainted blood.”
I freeze. I throw my grandfather a horrified look.
He wouldn’t.
Oh, God, please tell me he wouldn’t.
But Mark seems to be testing both of us, and Carly throws me a surprised look as he drops a bomb on us. “Did Micah not tell you that he was adopted?”