28. The Dance #2
“So, how bad is it going to be?” Jake whispered to Robbie.
“I don’t know,” Robbie said. “We didn’t exactly part on bad terms, but they’re not happy with me, I can tell you that much. They may do their best to keep up appearances here at the dance.”
“Are you going to try to keep the peace?”
“Fuck no.”
Jake couldn’t help but smile.
The Eatons had moved quickly from their car to a table, where they sat picking at the cheese and fruit platters laid out as if they were poisoned. Madeleine sniffed a cube of cheese, raising one eyebrow before depositing it in her mouth.
“It’s that prepackaged slop from Sandway,” she told her husband after she had finished chewing and swallowing.
Robert Jr. was not listening to her, however. He had his attention trained on someone else.
“Hello, Father, Mother,” Robbie said calmly. He stood on the opposite side of the narrow table, looking down at them. Finally, for the first time in his life, the power imbalance wasn’t nearly as lopsided.
“Robert,” said his father, “how delightful to see you. I take it you’ve changed your mind since we last spoke?”
Robbie’s face paled. Jake felt his heart racing, picking up pace by the second, as he stood behind Robbie, half-obscured so as not to disrupt the family reunion just yet.
Come on, Robbie, he thought. Don’t back down now. Stay your ground.
“No,” Robbie said. “Of course I haven’t.”
“But you’re standing here right now,” Madeleine said, feigning surprise.
Never in his life had Jake wanted to smack someone more. He would never, of course, but that hint of a smirk, the one that looked frighteningly similar to Robbie’s, was enough to send waves of silent rage coursing through him like venom.
“Surely you would be planning to leave now if you really weren’t staying.”
“I’m not leaving Eventide,” Robbie said.
“Was that not the plan before?” Robert asked.
“It was, but I realized that’s not what’s best for me.
I was reacting to some unsettling developments in my life, and I understand now that retaliating in spite is not the best way to manage something.
” How Robbie was able to keep his voice so calm, Jake had no idea.
It was an enviable quality, especially with parents like these. “I want to stay in Eventide.”
“You’re not living in the Eaton Manor,” Madeleine said. She made it sound like a threat, but Robbie merely shrugged.
“Oh, I know. I bought a house.”
“Excuse me?” Robert looked at Madeleine, then back at Robbie, then his gaze flickered toward Jake for a brief second, and Jake stepped out from behind Robbie.
“I bought Isabel Haver’s house,” Robbie explained.
“You were the one who bought it out from under us?” Madeleine raised her eyebrows in sheer surprise. Robbie had really, truly managed to catch her off guard this time.
“Isabel wasn’t going to accept your offer anyway,” Jake told her. “You had no chance.”
“You do understand that you’re giving up your inheritance if you do this, yes?” Madeleine asked.
“Yes, Mother. We already talked about this.”
“And your future children will be cut off, too.”
“I’m not having any children.”
Madeleine’s jaw twitched. This was clearly a sore subject for the family; even more so than Robbie and Safiya had made it out to be in their brief mentions of it.
“Do you really want to do this, Robbie?”
Jake’s blood turned to ice. He’d never heard Robbie’s parents call him by his nickname before, and he hated how it sounded from them more than he could have ever imagined.
“I do, Mother.”
“Such a miserable life.” Madeleine shook her head, her withering gaze still trained on her son.
“I agree,” Robbie said. “It is a miserable life the two of you lead.”
Somewhere behind them, or around them, the party was still going. The more danceable pop and hip-hop had since morphed into classical pieces, prompting lovers and friends alike to slow dance with each other.
“Robbie, please be sensible,” Madeleine said.
“We already know you don’t care about all the money, but the inheritance…
think of all the things you could use it for.
You could even give it all away if you really wished to.
We’ll be dead and gone, so it’s not as if you’ll have anyone looking over your shoulder to make sure you use it in a way we would approve. ”
Robbie swallowed hard. Jake had no idea exactly how much in cash assets Robbie would receive when his parents kicked the bucket, but it had to be more than enough for multiple people to live comfortably on for the rest of their lives.
The ways in which a man like Robbie might use it could change a lot for a lot of people.
The Eatons were good.
“Tempting,” Robbie said, “but I don’t want your tainted money. Throw it into the ocean, for all I care. You know as well as I do that it’s worth nothing to you if you’re not alive, and no one else wants to be associated with the Eaton name even when you’re long gone.”
Jake fought back a brief smirk. Three could play this game, apparently.
“I’ll make better use of this shameful family legacy than you ever could, with or without the inheritance. And I’m tired of waiting for you to give me permission. I’m staying, and I want nothing to do with your family again. Do you understand?”
“Robert,” the other Robert said, his voice rising enough to make people around them stop and look, “don’t act like such a child. You’ve always had a penchant for whining when you don’t get your way, but this is on another level. Please, act your age.”
Fire rose in Jake’s chest again, burning his throat and pressing against his lungs. “Do you even love your son?” he asked, taking a pointed step forward. It was too late to take anything back now. He might as well go all the way.
“Pardon me?” Madeleine looked at Jake with an expression that told him he was being given one last chance. Perhaps he hadn’t said what she knew she’d heard.
“Do you have even an ounce of love for your son?” Jake asked again, more slowly, more clearly, this time.
“How dare you speak to my wife in that manner,” Robert snapped, rising from behind the long fold-up table.
“Then you don’t,” Jake said, shaking his head. “I didn’t think so.”
He reached out, grabbed Robbie’s hand, and gave it a squeeze. It was warm and familiar, soft and gentle. Never had he missed such a simple touch more.
Everyone was watching now. When Madeleine stood up, pushing her chair back so hard that it teetered and fell into the sand, the music stopped. The cocktail shaker stilled, the breeze died down, and even the sea itself flattened into a sheet of unbroken water.
“You should mind your own business,” she said coldly, “instead of inserting yourself into family matters.”
“Unlike you,” Jake continued on entirely unfazed, a sudden wave of confidence washing over him and making him squeeze Robbie’s hand even tighter in reassurance, “I do love Robbie. I care about him; I want the best for him. I want—” he paused, looking to the man beside him to make sure he was all right with this.
Robbie didn’t have any sort of readable expression on his face, but when he met Jake’s eyes, his own eyes softened, his slightly furrowed brow relaxing.
“I want to spend the rest of my life with him right here in Eventide, where we belong. And I swear to you, Mr. and Mrs. Eaton, you won’t get in our way.
Nothing you do or say can pull Robbie back in now—not your obscene inheritance, not your big, ugly house, and certainly not the fact that you’re family.
That doesn’t mean anything anymore—not with the way you abuse it. ”
Madeleine’s merlot lips pursed into the tightest line possible. They creased, her chin dimpling, and her forehead miraculously formed lines. Jake had never seen someone so angry before, and for just a moment, he feared he’d gone too far.