13. Trace
TRACE
T he ride to the hotel is one accomplished in almost silence. I’m not sure about her, but my thoughts are deep and all-encompassing. Although we only got married a couple of days ago, I’d gone into this with the assumption we would be two ships in the night, who never cross unless we absolutely have to. But the way she responded to me tonight? The understanding with which she gave me? It’s more than I ever imagined.
When I heard she’d agreed to marry someone basically for money, I had assumptions about her. I guess she could have had assumptions about me too. What I’m finding out is either she’s really good at what she was supposed to do, or there’s a lot more hiding behind her pretty eyes.
We turn onto Main Street, and she makes a noise. There’s an actual red carpet set up.
“Never seen this before?” I chuckle.
“No,” she shakes her head. “I think you know better than anyone I was admittedly sheltered. There were certain things I was allowed to do, others not at all. My brothers came to this from the time they turned eighteen.”
“It really chaps my ass how you were treated so much differently than your brothers,” I admit to her. “If we have girls, they won’t be.”
“When I was younger it didn’t bother me,” she shrugs. “The way they framed it was they were looking out for me. Keeping me from being harmed by people who were out to teach me a lesson because of who my family is. I was scared for a long time.”
“So they preyed on what you didn’t understand?” I pull the SUV up into the line of traffic.
“I think in a way I let them. I wasn’t interested in going out and finding what was out there for me. I was the perennial good girl who did everything she was told. It didn’t do me any favors, and I don’t ever think that it will,” she confirms. “Which is why I have a few things to ask you.”
Now? Right before we’re about to make our official debut, she wants to ask me a few questions.
“You have until we get to where we have to get out of this SUV,” I indicate the line.
She inhales deeply. “I want you to treat me as an equal. I don’t want to be the wife who doesn’t know what’s going on. That’s what’s happened my entire life. I’ve never particularly had a say in my future. I want one now. Promise me we’ll be partners. If we’re partners and we’re honest with each other, they’ll never be able to break us, Trace. I want more than what we’ve been given. A happy marriage, a good life.”
My throat tightens. I don’t know if I can give her any of these things she’s asked for. What we’re attempting to do isn’t going to be easy and the track record set before us with our parents isn’t one that appears to have been happy either. What I can do is tell her about the type of man I am.
“You’re honest with me? I’ll be honest with you. We can be a team as long as you want, but we have to be willing to go to bat for one another. My mom—she’ll do her best to break us apart. She’s never appreciated when her boys don’t follow her example, or her rules. Ward and I got through it because we had each other.”
“Well, now you have me,” she reaches over, grabbing my hand with hers. “We’ll get through this together, and I won’t let her come between us.”
The only thing is, she doesn’t know my mom. Doesn’t realize how manipulative this woman can be.
“That’s a nice sentiment, but you don’t know her.”
“Then why don’t you tell me?” Katie asks. “I can’t be on the lookout for what she might be able to do if I don’t know her method, now can I?”
As we pull up to the red carpet, I look over at her, raising an eyebrow. “We can’t get into this right now, but I promise you after we go in there and kill this appearance, I’ll tell you all about her. We’ll raid the kitchen when we get home, and we’ll talk. Really talk,” I promise her.
Her light eyes meet mine. “I’d appreciate that more than you know.”
As she finishes those words, the passenger side door opens, and a friend of mine from high school is standing there.
“Trace, is this your new bride?"
“Sure is, Cody. Let me come over there and get her so we can make our debut. If I don’t, you know I’ll never hear the end of it.”
Cody laughs. “We’ll valet for you.” He comes around the driver's side as I get out. He claps me on the shoulder.
“We were all really sorry to hear about Ward.”
“Thanks,” I acknowledge the sentiment and head over to the passenger side.
When I help Katie down, I speak softly to her. “We’re going to impress all of these people, get the money we need for the breeding program, and put forth a strong front.”
“I hope so,” she sighs.
Carefully, I help her down and together we head toward the red carpet. As I see the reactions of everyone in the crowd, I know we’ve possibly bit off a lot more than we can chew.