Chapter 17
Dalton
I get up, following Corvus’s lead, to spot his mother heading our way like a rocket about to explode. She’s dressed in an off-white coat with fur trims, and strands of blonde hair dance around her uncannily young face where they’d escaped from underneath a woolen hat.
Her gaze scrapes over me, but her attention is instantly back on her son.
“What am I doing here? I wouldn’t be here if you had the decency to answer my calls!
Mrs. Patton told me there was a fire in your house!
I’ve just come back from Aspen, and you didn’t even tell me any of this?
Why am I getting this wall of silence? I don’t deserve that.
You think you can evade me? Your mother?
I know you jog here, and my instincts led me straight to you,” she claims, pointing her nose toward the sky.
Corvus’s hands are clasped behind him, and I see them twist as he chews on her words.
“I wanted to give you the attention you need. I couldn’t do that while I was running errands,” he finally tells her, even though the errands consisted of spending time with me.
“It’s nice to meet you under better circumstances Mrs. Van der Horn,” I say and hold my hand out to shake hers. “It’s all probably my fault. I ended up in the hospital yesterday, so Corvus was a bit frantic.”
I want to be ahead of the game and show myself to her from a good side.
She’ll be my mother-in-law after all, as strange as that is.
I’ve barely had time to adjust to the idea that I’m getting married soon, so these are uncharted waters.
I’ve never had a boyfriend who’d want to introduce me to his parents.
I’m relieved when she does squeeze my hand. “It’s about time I get to meet you as well. I couldn’t believe Corvus kept such a big part of his life secret from me.”
Corvus shakes his head. “I wasn’t ready—”
“Excuses!” she says in a dramatic voice and looks away as she holds her arms under her bust. “Your cousin married a man last year, and I cheered for him! Wasn’t that the perfect time to tell me the truth in confidence? I will have you know I am excellent at keeping secrets.”
I smile and stroke Corvus’s shoulder. “Guess it runs in the family?”
She squints at me and prods my chest with her finger. Uh-oh. “And you are another matter altogether. A gambler, Corvus? Really? He doesn’t even have his own money to lose.”
A painful reminder of the wealth gap between us that’s more like a canyon.
I’m the one who was pushed into this relationship, gagged and bound, yet here I am, worried if I’m good enough for Corvus.
And pretty sure I’m not. I might be a good time, but when push comes to shove, will I be good enough to marry?
My mouth is so dry I can’t defend myself with confidence, but Corvus steps forward, stretching his arm to the side, as if he fears his mother might bite off my face if I say the wrong thing. “That is for me to worry about.”
She scoffs, releasing a puff of vapor, and stomps her high-heeled boot deeper into the snow. “Just typical! You never want any of my advice. Even when you were younger, only your father’s opinion mattered, but I’ve got years of experience, so why leave me in the dark? I’m your mother!”
“Because this is how you act when you disagree,” Corvus responds, calm as if he’d faced this blonde storm many times before.
“I will repay the debt, Mrs. Van der Horn,” I say quickly, but Corvus cuts in, his hand drifting to my shoulder.
“You are now free of debt. I will make sure you learn to manage your finances better from now on.”
I smile and nod, finding it hard to believe a million bucks can be wiped away just like that.
I’m not worth that kind of money. Corvus would have never dated me if he wasn’t forced by the circumstances.
After all, what he intended was to smuggle me out of the hunting grounds and then keep me as his dirty secret.
Knowing this, however, doesn’t make my chest flutter any less.
His mother looks between us, but I can’t read her blue eyes, which are so much like Corvus’s own. “So… just like that? After telling me nothing for years, you will marry a bouncer you met at a club—or where did you even meet?”
Oh, God. We’ve not talked about any of that or how we will handle his family. Hell, until yesterday, he kept me in a cage in the basement, so I’m desperate to show him I’m not completely useless.
“Oh, no. We met at… the florist’s.”
She cocks her head at Corvus. “At the florist’s? Since when are you interested in flowers?”
Fuck. Corvus is gonna kill me. Literally skin me or poison me, whichever he fancies at the moment. It sounded reasonable in my head. Like somewhere a classy guy could be, but apparently not.
I’m surprised when he doesn’t show any of the frustration he must surely feel and speaks. “I needed an ingredient.”
“An ingredient?” she asks, snorting.
“An ingredient,” my fiancé says, stressing the word more.
His mother flinches, her eyes wide open. “Oh... of course—”
“I was trying an old recipe from Father’s cookbook,” Corvus tells her before briefly glancing my way. The weight of his stare has me shrinking, but at least it’s gone a moment later. “So yes, a florist. A club isn’t the right place to meet one’s future spouse.”
I guess a cell isn’t either, but here we are.
“And I was…” Quick. What would make me look good, but not be an easily verifiable lie?
“I’ve got this elderly neighbor, and she was recovering from surgery, so I was getting her some flowers.
” There. Dalton Cross. An upstanding citizen. “We just got talking from there…”
She steals a longer glance at me from shoes to hat. Is she still assessing if I’m trash? I hope my face and size work in my favor. Despite me swinging the other way, women do tend to like me.
“About shared hobbies? Like art, literature, and classical music?”
“I don’t remember lack of shared hobbies interfering when you and Father were married,” Corvus interjects somberly and places his hand on my back in a way that feels weirdly… protective?
What… of me?
No one’s ever been protective of me.
She scoffs again. “That’s no way to talk to one’s mother!”
“It’s true though,” Corvus tells her firmly. “I don’t need my spouse to enjoy all the same things, but to complement my life.”
I don’t want to seem smug, so I fight the smile trying to rip my face in half. My heart is beating faster, and I just want to kiss him so bad. And then tackle him into the snow and make out in a little basin tailored to our entwined bodies.
“Mrs. Van der Horn, I’m sorry the way you met me wasn’t ideal, but I promise you this thing between us is real, and I cherish your son more than life itself.
” I swallow and my eyes drift to Corvus.
So maybe my words are embellished with glitter posing as gold, but if I only said that to keep up the illusion of us being a real couple, why did I feel all that imagined love for the fraction of a second?
Her eyes soften, the way Corvus’s do sometimes. “Okay, let’s exchange numbers, so I can reach you when Corvus is ‘too busy’.” She adds making air quotes.
“Oh, okay,” I say, a bit stunned, but my man speaks up.
“That won’t be necessary, Mother. So… what is it you needed to tell me so urgently?” he asks.
She throws her hands in the air, and it’s funny to see how expressive she is when Corvus is such an ice sculpture.
I wonder if that’s what his father was like.
“Well, the wedding of course! I started making arrangements and there’s so much we need to discuss.
I also obviously need to talk to you about this whole…
gay thing, but the wedding takes precedence. ”
Now it’s gotten real, and even my marble statue of a future husband crumbles.
“What? What are you talking about? Since when are you in charge of my wedding?”
She straightens and puts her hands on her hips with a combative frown. “Since you’re my son and I’ve dreamed of this for years. Can I not have this one thing after you kept me in the dark for so long? I didn’t even push you towards marriage. I’m just facilitating what you already said you intend!”
I see this as an opportunity to get in her good graces, so I slide my arm to Corvus’s waist. “I mean… you’re busy, I don’t know the first thing about weddings, so why not let your mother help?”
It seems like the perfect reaction until Corvus’s eyes flash in alarm, and he goes rigid at my touch. But before he can protest, his mother claps her gloved hands.
“I’m happy at least one of you is reasonable. Here, this is my number,” she says, handing me a little card.
I quickly make use of my new phone and text her so she can have mine. As her smile widens, so grows the relief in my heart. Corvus might be worried, but I’m sure it will be for the better to appease her.
“Put me in as Daphne. Do we have a date set yet?” she asks, looking giddy, as if she didn’t glare at me with disgust only minutes prior.
“No,” Corvus says without missing a beat.
“Okay, okay, I’ll look at booking things that aren’t as time sensitive first.” She claps her hands then hugs Corvus and it’s like watching an innocent child handle a snake as if it’s a toy. “I can’t believe my son’s getting married. I’m so happy!”
So am I. Until I notice the tight set to Corvus’s shoulders, and his wide eyes. The man is looking shellshocked.
Guess I’ll just have to give him a relaxing massage at home. One with a happy end.