Paige #2
“He had offers from law firms all over Georgia but chose to come back to Savannah to be close to family. We are so glad to have him back.” Mr. Daniels is just as insistent as his wife about his son being God’s gift to everyone.
“You’re going to change the world,” Mrs. Daniels says directly to Garrison, and he turns the full charm of his smile on her.
“Why, thank you, Mama. That is very kind of you to say.”
I take a bite of my lettuce and mock them in my brain.
“What kind of law will you practice, Garrison?” Daddy asks, trying very hard to be a part of the conversation.
“Dupree, Athena, and Fisk mainly practice contract law, but we also have some mergers and acquisitions work for local companies. I’d say that puts me in quite the position to know what’s happening and have a say in it.”
You have got to be kidding me. Garrison practices contract law? There’s not much he’s changing other than legal jargon in business documents, let alone the world.
“Paige, what are your plans now that the season is over?” Mrs. Daniels asks.
“I—“
“She’ll be preparing for her future,” Mama chimes in.
I give her a discreet look of annoyance, wondering why she won’t let me answer for myself. She ignores me.
“We’re very proud of her for finishing college and making the deb circuit. It’s time she took her rightful place working at The Mansion and standing beside the lucky man who’ll be her husband.”
My fork falls from my hand and clatters against the china plate. “Excuse me?” My voice just hit an octave I didn’t know I was capable of, the sound bouncing off the high ceiling of the formal dining room. The entire table turns to look at me, probably seeing the shock on my face.
Husband? Who on earth could she imagine I’m dating to assume I’ll be getting married anytime soon?
“Please use your indoor voice, Paige,” Mama chastises, and I feel like a child bride she’s grooming to be a subservient wife rather than a future business mogul.
“What’s this talk about a husband?” I ask at a much more reasonable volume.
“You and me, sugar, we’re gonna make some beautiful babies.”
My head whips around to stare at Garrison, my jaw going unhinged as I feel positively gobsmacked at his insinuation.
“Don’t you worry about the babies’ names. Of course, they’ll take the hyphenated Fairchild-Daniels name so the Fairchild legacy lives on.” He leans back and crosses his arms over his chest with a self-satisfied look on his face.
Oh, no. No, no, no. I can’t process his words. It sounds like he’s making jokes at my expense, but no one is laughing or countering his lies. I look around the table as blood rushes in my ears. The expressions that look back at me are sanguine. Unconcerned. Decided.
My future has been decided for me.
How long have I been the only one in the dark? Is this why he came back to Savannah?
“Daddy?” I implore him as he dabs his mouth with a linen napkin. “Do you have any idea what he’s talking about?”
“Your mama and I have given this plenty of thought and discussion. We wanted to introduce the idea to you tonight, though I had hoped to do it a little differently than Garrison chose to.” He casts a sidelong glance at the buffoon sending me a smug look from across the table.
Garrison must be loving this turn of events that puts me at a disadvantage once again.
He thrives on making others feel small. Helpless. Powerless.
“Sweet Paige, we figured out a way to combine assets from our companies without needing a formal merger,” Mr. Daniels says slowly as if I’m learning impaired.
“The Xenios Group will invest in the Daniels manufacturing plants, and the raw crops from the Thackery Agriculture farms will move to a processed stage for more income streams. It’s a win-win for both our families. ”
“Yes, I know how integration works. But why does it have to involve marriage?” I bite my lip to stop the flow of words about his son’s past actions.
This is ridiculous. They’re insane if they think I will ever get on board with this.
“You can combine assets all you want in business without me marrying Garrison. This isn’t how business mergers should happen,” I insist.
“For our family, it is. Marriages make stronger alliances than any business deal ever could,” Mama says, stopping me from protesting further.
“The Daniels’s manufacturing endeavors will allow us to process our raw cotton into textiles, a more valuable commodity.
You were just talking about vertical integration this afternoon, so you understand.
Your father and I had the same choice when we were married.
We chose to create a partnership through marriage that benefited our respective ventures.
” Mama sips her wine like we’re having a friendly chat about the weather.
She’s so unbothered by the idea of turning her daughter into a business opportunity, I wonder if this has been her plan all along. It really shouldn’t surprise me; she’s always had one idea or another for what was best for me.
“Of course, we’ll allow you and Garrison plenty of time to court before the engagement. You can fall in love the way any young woman would want to. You’ll be just the tempering hand he needs in his life. It’s so perfect.”
I look over at Mrs. Daniels as she finishes speaking. The idyllic smile on her face says she’s only seeing the fairytale side of the story she’s created in her head. Does she not know her son is a monster, and I would rather drink hot lava than marry him?
“I plan to make you fall head over heels for me. You’ll see. I can make your dreams come true,” Garrison says, extending his hand, palm up, for me to place mine in it.
I pull back like he’s a venomous snake. I want nothing to do with him in reptilian or human form. “That sounds more like a nightmare. I can assure you my dreams don’t include you in any way, shape, or form.”
I push my chair back from the table and stand on wobbly legs.
“You’re all crazy if you thought I would go along with this.” I turn my back on the madness that just occurred and walk out of the dining room.
“Paige, get back here!” Mama commands at my retreating back. I hear her own chair pushed back, but I don’t turn around.
My steps don’t falter as I pass through the house, grabbing my purse and coat from the hall closet before continuing out the front door.
My pace quickens as I get closer to the freedom of open air and I run down the last few stone steps and along the path that leads to the carriage house, which serves as the garage.
I’m too stunned to have a rational thought other than to get out while I can.
Unfortunately, Mama picked me up earlier so my car is at my apartment and I’m left with only one option to get my butt out of here now.
“Everyone in this house has gone cuckoo and I want nothing to do with it,” I say to the silent cars in the garage.
I pull the keys to the AC Cobra out of the drawer of the workbench along the wall and walk to the small, dark blue convertible with white racing stripes, my twenty-first birthday present that I received last August. I hop in, buckle up, and hit the garage door opener as I turn the key in the ignition.
The roar of the V8 engine coming to life matches the furious thoughts swirling through my head.
“There is no way I’m marrying Garrison Daniels, would-be rapist, and all-around garbage human being,” I hiss angrily, my hands strangling the polished wood steering wheel as I floor the gas and shoot out of the garage.
A spray of gravel flies from the tires when I hit the long driveway and point toward the road that’ll take me away from this house and the strangers inside who took the place of people I thought I knew and trusted. Mama and Daddy have lost their minds.
I drive aimlessly in an angry haze with the mild early December air whipping my hair around my head in a frenzy.
It’s just cold enough to be invigorating and remove my thoughts from the haze within blocks.
Instead of dazed, I’m just furious. Halfway to my apartment, I slow my fuel fest and start to think about what will happen next.
It’s likely my parents, or at least Mama, will chase me down and hope to convince me that they know best when it comes to my future.
She’s been that way my whole life. Because I said so was repeated so often, I stopped asking her why years ago.
I shudder in disgust. How can either of them insist on this pairing with at least Mama knowing our history? I should have told Daddy all those years ago. Maybe he would be on my side or have stopped this from ever happening and blindsiding me.
Maybe I really am just a way to strengthen the businesses for them.
It’s an antiquated notion, but the only time the Fairchilds have differentiated their business holdings is indeed through convenient and profitable marriages.
Mama and Daddy are the most recent example, but it goes back generations.
Could they think this is their only option now that they want to expand the agricultural legacy that comes through Mama?
Mr. Daniels seems to expect a piece of the Fairchild empire in exchange for helping the agriculture legacy with the little bit he added in about an investment.
How will this affect the Xenios Group? There are more questions than answers spinning in my brain, but I know there are plenty of ways they could go about this that won’t require my participation in a sham marriage.
They may have to pay a pretty penny to acquire an existing manufacturing plant or come up with a plan from scratch, but it’s feasible.
Even my rational thoughts get swept away in the rushing air around me as I focus on the insanity that is my life, and the dinner I just fled.