Chapter 33
HARRISON
Aurelia stiffened at my side, her wide eyes fixed on the horse masquerading as a dog. Hooch’s entire body quivered with the effort of restraining himself, his tail wagging so hard, I might’ve been able to fly a kite in the breeze he was generating.
One wrong move and Aurelia would be flat on her back with a hundred and fifty pounds of slobber pinning her down. She glanced at me and Jameson must’ve caught it because he suddenly drawled from behind the beast.
“Don’t worry, he only kills on command.”
Aurelia shot me a look that said this wasn’t funny, and I bit back a grin, focusing on Sadie as she ushered us in. “What a surprise to have you guys here. Can I get you something? Wine? Coffee? Something stronger?”
As always, my sister-in-law was all sunshine and warmth, brushing past her husband and her horse to wrap her arm around Aurelia’s and tug her toward the living room with her.
“You know, I’ve been meaning to give you a call.
Before these babies were inside me and all the craziness of having Brody and Claire in the family, I would’ve reached out weeks ago, but I suppose we’ve all been busy. ”
Jameson looked at me and finally let go of Hooch since Aurelia wasn’t in the doorway anymore, jerking his head toward the bar. “Do you want to go get a drink while Sadie plays twenty questions with your fiancée?”
“We’re actually not here to socialize,” I said, my tone sharper than I’d intended.
Jameson’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re not?”
“No, we’re here for business.”
Sadie blinked hard, clearly taken aback as she paused in the open arch that led into their living room, but I didn’t give her time to recover. “What the hell is wrong with our mother? Jamie said she’s been talking to you and I’d like to know what’s going on.”
She looked from me, to Aurelia, whose arm she’d let go of like it was a hot potato. Then she glanced at Jameson and finally let out a sigh. “Oh boy. Okay, well, I suppose you’d better sit down and we’ll cut to the chase.”
I nodded stiffly, instantly feeling a little guilty about how curt I was being, but my heart was hammering in my ears and my blood was still simmering. This needed to get out in the open. Now. Tonight. I needed it to be over with, and trying to beat around bush hadn’t worked before.
It was time to be direct and demanding or we would never get any answers.
I sat down on one of their leather couches, pleasantly surprised when Aurelia came to sit close to my side.
She was still wearing the jeans and sweater combo she’d had on when I’d burst into her apartment, her hair pulled back into a casual ponytail and her makeup light, but she moved with every bit of grace and confidence as she did when she was all dressed up.
To me, she was all the more beautiful like this, and I swallowed hard when she took my hand as she snuggled up next to me on the couch.
I saw my brother’s eyebrows twitching, that shit-eating, know-it-all smirk tugging at his lips, but Sadie just smiled and sat down with her hand braced behind her back.
“I don’t know as much as you seem to think I do,” she said, glancing between us with her features soft and apologetic. “It sounds like there’s some history between them all. The only thing I know for sure is that Regina and CC went to school together and they ran in the same social circles.”
“Yeah, Sterling told me as much,” I admitted. “You have to know more than that, though, Sades. You have such a knack for getting information out of people and I already know you’ve been trying to talk to her on our behalf, so thanks for that, but surely, she’s told you something else.”
Sadie grimaced. “You know how it goes with old-money pride and grudges. These vendettas tend to stretch back decades, and often, the only thing that happened is that their egos collided so spectacularly that it sits between the families like a ticking time bomb for the rest of their lives.”
Aurelia chuckled softly, but there was a certain knowing to the sound. “God, why does that have to be so true?”
Sadie sent her a quick smile before she looked back at me. “I overheard your mom talking to your dad one night when I went over to drop off some stuff at their house for Laney. Just after Claire came home from the hospital.”
My breath got stuck in my lungs. “See, I knew you knew something else.”
She shook her head. “It’s not particularly helpful. I just heard her complaining about the Van Alens. She’s definitely got it out for Regina specifically, but Richard’s not far behind.”
These were all things we’d already known, but I glanced at Aurelia anyway, noticing how tight her jaw was and the way her eyes had narrowed. She was assessing this information just the same as I was, searching for something new in the words we’d heard before.
This was exactly the kind of complication neither of us wanted, yet here we were.
I raked my free hand through my hair and squeezed Aurelia’s fingers in my other.
“Okay, so both moms oppose this and we still don’t know why, which means we’re going to have to tread carefully if we want to move forward without the risk of major family drama. ”
The fact was that I was quickly running out of solutions for how exactly to go about doing that. Jameson shrugged, looking uncomfortable in a way that told me I wasn’t going to like what he was about to suggest, but he was going to do it anyway.
“I don’t envy you this, but the only way to figure it out might just be to get all four of them in a room together and let them hash it out. So, uh, yeah, good luck with that.”
Aurelia winced beside me before she shook her head. “You might be right, but I’m not sure that won’t just make the problem worse. There has to be another way.”
Sadie rubbed her massive baby bump, shifting uncomfortably as if there was a foot somewhere she didn’t want it. She pressed her thumb under her ribs, waving Jameson off when he made to help her up. “I’m fine. I’m fine.”
She turned her attention back to us, her kind blue eyes soft as they moved between both of our faces.
“If there’s anything I can do to help, please just call?
We’ve been where you are. Sort, of anyway.
I agree that getting all four of them together could make things worse, but maybe just start with two? Or even one?”
Her words hung in the silence between us for a long moment. My mind was already running through strategies and contingency plans. My gut was telling me there had to be a way to work around this, but the clock was ticking.
Christmas Eve was coming up fast. If we weren’t careful, Aurelia and I could end up paying for two generations of old grudges, and honestly, most of all, I just didn’t like feeling powerless.
“Would you like that drink yet?” Jameson asked, but I shook my head.
One more look at Aurelia told me she was ready to get to the bottom of this too, and Sadie clearly didn’t have any more answers. I pulled Aurelia up with me when I stood. “We’d better get going. I’m not sure where yet, but I’ve had enough of this.”
Sadie nodded, moving with more difficulty than I might’ve thought as she scooted to the edge of the chair to get up. Aurelia let go of me, smiling softly as she shook her head at my sister-in-law. “Don’t come out with us. We’ll be fine. Thank you for letting us barge in.”
“You’re family.” Sadie beamed at her, opening her arms for a hug. “Come by any time. Especially after the twins have been born. We’re going to need all the hands we can get.”
Jameson widened his eyes at me, mouthing, “Run.” I chuckled and took Aurelia’s hand when she came back across the room. “We’ll see you guys around. Keep us in your prayers. This is going to suck.”
“That’s for sure,” Jameson agreed as he walked us to the door.
Moments later, we slid into the car and sank into the leather seats. Aurelia exhaled, running a hand through her hair before she turned to me, her beautiful features bathed in the cool blue lights from the dash.
“So, we actually have to deal with this now, don’t we?”
“Yep,” I said. “The only way I can think of to do it is to go face to face with CC.”
Discomfort wedged like a hot knife in the center of my chest, and judging by the way Aurelia winced, she felt the same way, but she still nodded slowly. “It’s a good idea, but do you want to go over there right now and just, like, confront her?”
I wasn’t sure until Aurelia reached over and took my hand, pulling it away from where my fingers had been drumming on the steering wheel. As I turned to her, feeling her soft, warm palm against mine, I nodded.
“Yeah, let’s do it. I’m done tiptoeing around them. All of them. It’s like you said earlier. We’re getting married in less than a week, and if they don’t want to give us their blessing, then that’s fine, but they need to know we’re not going to let them stop us either.”
She tilted her head at me, skeptical but not opposed to the idea. “Do you think this is the best way to go about it, though? Just marching into her house and confronting her?”
“Not confront. Discuss,” I corrected gently, suddenly feeling a small grin tugging at my lips. “Think about it more like a board meeting than a family fight.”
The stakes were definitely higher. This was my family, my marriage, but I’d never thought I would be planning a wedding without my mother involved. If I was going to do it though, there was no one I would rather be doing it with than Aurelia.
Her lips twitched, amusement flickering in her eyes in the low light. “A business meeting, huh? With my future mother-in-law. Somehow, I don’t see CC taking minutes or obliging with the decision of the majority.”
“I don’t care if she does,” I said, and I was completely serious. “We’re going into this as a team. Fierce and united, just like we will be for every acquisition and every boardroom battle in the future. Only this time, it’s personal and I don’t plan to lose.”
“I never plan to lose.” Aurelia’s hand squeezed mine tight. “Okay. Yeah, okay. You’re right. We can do this. As long as we stick together, yes?”
“Yes.” Her touch lit something in me, stirring to life an unshakable certainty that we could handle anything if we were aligned. I squeezed back.
“We’re not going to let them derail this,” I said, just to be perfectly clear about where my head was at as I put my car into gear. “At this point, I don’t really give a shit about what happened anymore. I just need to know that they’re not going to try to get in our way.”
She leaned back, nodding as a determined smirk appeared on her lips. “Bring it on.”
Just like that, the tension between our families didn’t feel like such an unscalable wall anymore. It felt like fuel. We were doing this—with or without their approval—and as much as I would love for my mom to get onboard, the train was leaving the station even if she refused to get on it.