Chapter 7
***
Her dad was surprised to hear from me later that morning when I called and asked him and his wife to meet me at my condo in the city. “Is everything okay, is Jen alright?”
“I’ll explain everything when you get here.”
I’d set up the meet here because I didn’t want anyone or anything breaching the sanctity of what was going to be our family home. Not until I know which way the wind blows anyway.
This was once my bachelor pad, which I wouldn’t be needing any longer. I’d never taken anyone to my other country estate where we were now hiding out, and since Ash had made her preference for the quiet of the country known it was decided that that’s where we’d set up house. I was going to surprise her with a team of decorators who would turn this place into more of a weekend getaway for the both of us, but that would come later.
“Sit down baby, it’s going to be fine. They’ll be here in a couple of hours.” I’d brushed off the office once again which was no big deal since I was just a phone call away. I’d not shirked my duties this much in my life but somehow it wasn’t the cluster fuck I’d always imagined it would be if I took time away from my empire; something else that had changed since she came into my life.
She was a bundle of nerves, pacing the room as she bit into her lip. I was surprisingly more relaxed than I had been at the prospect of facing her parents. I had nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of. And once I explained the situation to them I was hoping they’d see things my way.
I pulled her down onto my lap the next time she got close enough. She was strung tighter than a bow. “What’s the worse that can happen?” I shook her gently when she failed to answer. “They can disapprove I guess.” She bit into that lip again and I reached up to ease it from between her teeth before she hurt herself.
“Okay, they can disapprove and then what? Would that stop you from loving me?”
“Of course not, what a silly thing to say.” I preferred the feisty glare she turned on me to the whipped look she’d been wearing all morning.
“Would you still want to marry me even if your family says no?” I was asking but it was more of a rhetorical question than anything else. Even if I had to drag her to Vegas, which was a quick two-hour flight in my jet, that’s exactly what I’d do and everyone else be damned. I couldn’t fault them for having reservations if they did, the situation was fucked no doubt, but I wasn’t going to let that stand in the way of our happiness.
“I just want them to be happy for us. I don’t want them to say anything against our relationship because that would taint it somehow.” I sometimes forget how young and inexperienced she is. Hugging her just a little bit closer, I set out to soothe her nerves.
“Babe, you have to give them room for doubt. You and I both know that this thing between us happened quicker than is the norm and just because you and I know how we feel about each other others may not see it right away. We’ll have to give them time to get used to the idea.”
“I guess. I just wish it was all over.”
“It will be soon. They’ll come, we’ll talk and then we’ll know where we stand. There’s no point in driving yourself crazy over it now is there?” She played with her ring and mused, but her body was no longer so tense.
I held her close for the next hour, talking about insignificant bullshit to take her mind off her worries. Had I not been so certain I probably would’ve been as nervous as she was, but I know me and I know I’m not one to give up something I want.
I tried to get her to eat something but she wasn’t having it so we watched something on TV until it was almost time for her family to arrive. When the buzzer rang almost two hours later she nearly jumped out of her skin. “Stop it, just let me handle it okay.” She nodded but went back to biting her lip as I moved to open the door.
“Hey come in.” I stepped back to allow her parents entry and of course she was the first thing they saw. “Ashley? What in the world are you doing here? I thought you were with Kendra? What’s this? Where’s your aunt?” Her mother Janet reeled those questions off in quick succession, while Paul the dad stood just inside the entrance with a bemused look on his face.
All eyes turned to me as my girl seemed to have lost the ability to speak. “Why don’t we go in and sit down?” I could see they wanted to question me farther but good manners had them both moving forward and into the sitting room.
“Can I get either of you anything?” I was pleased that Ash took a seat next to me even though I could see the fear in her eyes. This only made her parents more confused as they refused my offer.
“No, just tell us what’s going on.” Paul finally found his voice as he looked from me to his daughter and back. “There’s no easy way to say this so I’ll just get right to it shall we?” I took her hand the one wearing my ring, into mine and from the sharp intake of breath across the room knew that half my work was already done.
“Ashley?” Her mother again addressed her. “I’ve asked your daughter to marry me.” The usual questions followed, all involving my involvement with her aunt. I did my best to answer all their questions without giving too much away. Ash remained silent throughout the inquisition only putting in her two cents when it seemed her dad wasn’t going to relent.
“Dad I love him. I’m sorry if that hurts you but…”
“But he was sleeping with your aunt only a week ago.”
“That’s not true, I’ve never taken Jen to my bed. Yes it’s true that I was moving in the direction of marriage, but only because I thought she was something she isn’t and because I’d convinced myself that it was time I settled down.”
I saw the look that passed between them then and knew that they knew what I was saying. I didn’t take them to task for not sharing with me, they were Jen’s family after all and owed me nothing. But I won’t let them hold it against me that I found out and was making changes .
“But Ashley you’re so young. What about school?”
“She’ll still go to school, nothing about that has to change. But she’ll be doing it as my wife. Do we have your blessing?” The room was dead silent for what felt like forever. Then Paul cleared his throat and took his wife’s hand in his.
“We need time to think about this. Our family might not have much, but we do have morals and this, this is going to stir up a hornet’s nest.”
“I appreciate that, but know that the only thing your blessing or lack thereof changes is whether your daughter has the wedding of her dreams with her family beside her, or me taking her away somewhere and getting the deed done. Either way we’re getting married.”
I squeezed Ashley’s hand for support when it trembled in mine because I knew this was the part she feared most. Paul got to his feet ready to argue, but I sat back in my chair and relaxed. I’d said all I was going to. I would’ve asked them to keep our conversation from Jen but realized that would be highly unfair. However they chose to deal with her was on them, I couldn’t ask them to let this come between them and whatever relationship they had with her.
“Ashley let’s go.”
I sat up at that. “I’m sorry but she’s not going anywhere. I made her a promise and I aim to keep it. School starts back in a few days. She’ll be by to pick up her stuff later and if that doesn’t work for you we’ll just get her what she needs, but she’s never coming back to your home again, other than to visit.”
Now she was the one squeezing my hand. I guess I had said what she was afraid to. “Hold your head up, you haven’t done anything wrong.” Not even for her parents would I allow her to hang her head as if she had something to be ashamed of.
She picked her head up and looked at them, took a deep breath, and decided to be brave. “Mom, dad, I’m sorry I hurt you, but my place is with him now. Mom I’ll call you later and we’ll talk if you’d like.” I held my breath until her mom nodded her head. At least they weren’t shutting the door on their daughter over this .
“I don’t know about this Ashley are you sure of what you’re doing? You’re old enough to make your own decisions but we’re still your parents and this thing is going to take getting used to.”
“Sir, I understand your position and you’re absolutely right, it will take getting use to, but what’s done is done and there’s no turning back for either of us. Just remember I’m marrying your daughter not asking her to shack up with me.” Only technically for the next few months that’s exactly what she’d be doing, but I didn’t see the harm in that.
It took a little more persuading but they left not long after and I felt like the world had been taken off my shoulders. Fuck, that was harder than I imagined. I haven’t had to ask anyone for anything in so long it was almost painful. I’d done it for her though, and was glad of it.
“See, that wasn’t so bad now was it?”
“They didn’t look too happy Simon. What if they don’t come around? Mom was never really close with aunt Jen but she’s still her sister and once they find out that I was the one who told you all that stuff about her they’ll see it as a betrayal. And you know how well that’ll go over in these parts.”
She had a point. Southerners are big on family loyalty, but I couldn’t imagine that they would sacrifice their daughter’s happiness for someone as undeserving as Jen. Either way it wasn’t going to make much difference in the scheme of things.
“I guess we’re just gonna have to prove them wrong aren’t we? At least we’ve got the hard part out of the way. Now you can concentrate on our wedding hmm.” She brightened at that and jumped and ran to her bag to grab her computer, the resilience of youth.
She prattled on about dresses and flowers while I scrounged around in the kitchen for something for lunch. I smiled at her antics as she tried to drag me into her frenzied planning “I thought you’d hire someone to do all that.” She gave me one of her sassy looks and shook her head.
“Nope, I want to do everything myself. I have a scrapbook, I’ve been keeping it since I was twelve.” She clapped her hands together and went back to what she was doing.
“You do realize that we’ll have to invite about two hundred people right?”
“Who the hell knows two hundred people?”
“Business associates and acquaintances love.”
“I was thinking just the family and us in the garden.” She looked a little freaked.
“Cute, but no. The garden might be doable but we’ll have to have someone come in and organize it. Sorry babe but there’s no way I can get away with not inviting at least that many. ”
She went back to the screen and tapped away on the keys while muttering under her breath. She tried drawing me into her madness but I let her know in no uncertain terms that I wasn’t getting anywhere near that shit. “Hire a planner.”
She flounced back in her seat with a pout. “Look, you have school right. How do you plan to tackle the two without one suffering? I’ll tell you what? We can avoid all this shit with a weekend in Vegas.” I knew she wouldn’t go for that not if she’d been planning this shit for six years.
“I know; mom can help.” I’d thought of that, but I didn’t want her getting her hopes up just in case things didn’t go the way she wanted. I just nodded and added the finishing touches to lunch before joining her at the island.
“Eat baby.” In between bites of our sandwiches she excitedly showed me all her ideas for her dream wedding. As she spoke I watched her expressive face, marveling once again at how much she owned my heart. Brushing the hair back behind her ear I kissed her cheek.
“You’re gorgeous you know that? And all mine.” It was becoming easier and easier to say such things to her, things I would never in a million years have imagined myself uttering without sounding like an utter ass.
Her smile made it all worthwhile though, that, and the way she fell into my arms and turned her mouth up for mine. “You’ll have your perfect wedding baby I’ll make sure of it.”
***
The next few days were tense and hectic, except for the hours we spent in bed wrapped around each other. We’d gone to her home to collect her things but her parents hadn’t been ready to talk, which only added to her anxiety.
She was back in school, which worried the shit out of me, because it was the first time she was out of my sight since I’d fallen in love with her and made her, my own. My worry stemmed from the fact that her aunt had disappeared. I hadn’t given up my quest to get to the bottom of whatever scheme she was up to with her lover so I was keeping tabs on her, that’s how I knew she had left the city not long after our meeting. I had someone trying to locate her though, and was hoping to hear something soon.
I didn’t share this with Ashley, but there was no way I could give up my vendetta against her aunt. She wouldn’t understand I was sure. But for a man like me, I couldn’t just let Jen get away with what she’d tried to do. Call it pride, or wounded ego. It is what it is.
The phone rang as I was going over the numbers for the upcoming end of quarter and I answered absentmindedly. “Yes.”
“It’s me boss, I think I found them.” I put aside my work for now and paid attention to the voice on the other end. “Speak.”
“She didn’t go too far. They’re in Alabama. It doesn’t look like she plans to stay very long though cause they’re holed up in a hotel. What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing for now, just keep an eye on both of them.”
I’d made a few inquiries after she’d come up missing and knew that she’d taken leave from her job but hadn’t resigned. Either she didn’t fear me finding out anything too damaging or there was nothing more than the swindling of unsuspecting men to lay at her feet, but I tended to lean more towards the former.
I’d done a search on the man and found that he was nothing more than a shiftless gigolo. From what little I’d found so far, he’d never held a job of any distinction, never paid taxes as far as I could find, and yet was able to jet around at will.
It burned my ass that she’d planned on taking my money to support this asshole. What kind of man pimped out his woman to support his lifestyle? Then again she hadn’t slept with me so maybe he didn’t mind too much.
I’d already put in a call to her two ex-husbands without giving anything away. Those meetings were to take place in a few days, one after the other. Maybe the two men had learned something more after the debacle of their marriages to the pariah. Whatever the case, I was about to open Pandora’s box. They may have seen fit to let her get away with that shit but I wasn’t so inclined.
I gave my guy a few orders and hung up before going back to work. Ashley had no idea of the lengths I was going to on this and I aim to keep it that way for now. If anything came of it I may have to share, but until then this would be my little pet project. I’d already ensured that Jen hadn’t stolen any information about my business. I couldn’t forget that she’d been in and out of my place the last few months and though I never kept sensitive information lying around, there was no telling what someone like her could achieve in five minutes without supervision.
The anger wasn’t as hot as it had been a week ago. After all, I’d come out on top as far as I was concerned. Had I not met Jen I never would’ve found my Ash, never would’ve known the love and completeness I now feel. Instead of numbers and contracts, I saw family and joy when I opened my eyes in the morning. She’d brought light back into my life and that’s something I couldn’t scoff at, funny how life works.