Chapter 42
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
The festival was a success. That was all there was to it. By the end of it, the guests were hesitant to leave and had to be ushered out with the promise of many more festivals to come.
The staff had been thrilled with the response, Mr. Wintour had been more than pleased, and nearly everyone in attendance had raved about the changes made. And Winnie, well, of course she was on cloud nine.
After praising the staff for their hard work, and receiving a great deal of praise from Mr. Wintour himself—“I knew you could succeed with your heart involved. I hope you’re ready to help Foxwood now”—Winnie made her way back to the house floating with glee.
She’d done it. She’d pulled off a successful festival. She’d proven herself to Mr. Wintour. She would finally make her family proud.
And it was all thanks to Matthew.
She pulled out her phone and sent him a quick text, having not seen him with the rest of the staff after the event.
Winnie
Hey! Were you serious about talking later today? I’m ready when you are! I’ve got some things I want to share with you, too. *wink emoji*
In an instant, he responded.
Sir Matthew
Ah, my fair Lady Winifred.
Sir Matthew
*GIF of Mr. Bean bowing.*
Sir Matthew
I was absolutely serious. Give me an hour to get out of character and shower. We can meet by the archery targets.
Winnie
I’ll be there.
Sir Matthew
Can’t wait. xx
Winnie allowed an airy sigh to escape her lips. She was a total sucker for Matthew’s fake kisses—almost as much as she was for his real ones.
And now…now they would be able to last that much longer. She’d have months now at Foxwood, which would allow them plenty of time to spend with each other—and plenty of time to decide on a future together.
Everything was perfect. Absolutely perfect.
She reached her room, ready to shower and wind down from the busy day, but her phone buzzed.
A smile caught her lips. Was Matthew calling to tell her he couldn’t wait a minute longer to see her? To hear her voice?
She pulled up her phone, and her smile vanished. Dad. Why was he calling?
Usually, she’d ignore him until she had enough gumption to deal with him, but right now she was absolutely ready. He would be relieved to hear that she was finally placed in charge of the estate. But would he be proud of her work for the festival, too?
She swiped the phone call to accept it. “Hey, Dad!”
“Winnie, you sound chipper.”
“I am,” she said with a smile, sitting down on her bed and propping her feet up. “I’ve just had an incredible day.”
“Well, I’m about to make it even better.”
She tried to inflate her spirits again, Dad’s lack of interest in her words causing her to sink. “Oh?”
“Yep. I’ve just received word from my contacts in Chicago. You’ve finally got an out for working with the Wintours.”
Winnie froze, her heart sinking so low, she could hardly feel it beating against her chest. “What? What do you mean?”
“Well, after Arthur pulled that switch on you, forcing you to prove yourself before giving you the job he promised, I couldn’t take it,” he said. “No one treats a Knox like that. Not even a ritzy Englishman.”
Winnie’s mind swirled. He and Mr. Wintour were friends. Why was he talking about him like that?
Dad continued. “Anyway, I called in a few favors from friends and, well, long story short, Kris & Sons wants to hire you. I promised them you’d be there by Sunday.”
Winnie could hardly breathe. She sat upright in bed, her hand to her brow. “Wait…what?”
His sigh was audible. “Were you even listening to me?”
“Yes, of course I was. I just don’t get it.”
Kris & Sons was a highly reputable company that specialized in the software used for creating apps. Many of the businesses she’d worked for in New York used them, and not one of them had a bad thing to say about the company. If she worked for them, succeeded in her efforts, Dad would never have to find her work again. She would finally get that prestige he so desired for her.
But at what cost? Certainly nothing she wanted to pay.
“What don’t you get ?” Dad asked impatiently. “You were mistreated by someone I thought I could trust, so I found you another job with someone I can trust. It’s all in writing. Kris & Sons will give you a trial run before hiring you for two months to help them out of the financial dilemma they’ve gotten themselves into.”
The feeling of peace Winnie had before vanished, leaving behind a wake of fear, worry, and confusion. There was so much to say, so much to clarify, so much to defend.
“I wasn’t mistreated here, Dad,” she said, trying to respond to his accusations one at a time. “Mr. Wintour’s been super nice. He gave me another chance when I couldn’t pull off what he asked me to do the first time.”
“You mean that ridiculous faire? I hate to tell you this, Winnie, but he wasn’t doing you any favors by putting you over such an embarrassing event. If anything, it hindered your progress to actually becoming successful.”
She winced at his words. How had she not come to expect this yet? Dad stepping into her life, into her business, just to avoid his own embarrassment.
“Winnie? Are you still there?”
“Yeah,” she said.
“And? You have nothing to say about this good news? Nothing to say about all the work I put in to make it happen?”
Winnie swallowed. She had to play this carefully, almost like it was a business transaction. After all, that’s all she was to Dad.
“I do have a lot to say,” she began, pulling on her best consultant tactics and remaining calm. “But first, I wanted to talk to you about the festival and the success we found today. Mr. Wintour was so pleased that he’ll be starting me up at Foxwood at the beginning of next week.”
“If you can even trust what he’s promised,” Dad retorted. “Who’s to say he wouldn’t just change his mind and put you over some other menial task again?”
Dad was a lawyer for a reason. He was always so convincing, knowing just how to plant noxious seeds of doubt into her heart, even though she knew he was wrong.
She stood from the bed and wandered toward the window, eying the grounds covered in the late evening sunshine. She tried to pull that sunshine into her heart, but her dad’s words continued to darken the light around her.
“I can’t believe you’re not thanking me right now,” he said. “I’m putting my neck on the line for you— again . Will you please, for once in your life, do the sensible thing?”
She chewed her lower lip. “But, Dad, I promised to help Mr. Wintour. How can I leave and completely ignore my agreement with him?”
“How? Because there’s nothing holding you there.”
Nothing holding her there? Everything was holding her there. Matthew. The Wintours. Her word.
But what would Dad know about any of that? “Won’t that make things awkward between you and Mr. Wintour as friends?” she asked, hoping to play to his senses.
As if that could have ever worked.
Dad sighed, his voice taking on a slightly softer tone. “The only reason I reached out to him after all these years was to get you a job I had hoped would give you some prestige. Arthur is a very nice man. He always has been. And I’m glad you’ve been able to help him and his family. But working for him has done nothing for you.”
She winced. That was the furthest thing from the truth. If only he knew all they had done for her—all Matthew had done for her.
“Dad…” she began, wanting to share with him the truth, but he interrupted.
“Listen,” he said, “I’ve got to run, but we can chat about it later, okay?”
“Wait,” she said, desperate to keep him a moment longer, to get him to see reason. “What if…what if I want to stay here?”
Silence met her on the other end .
“Are you serious?” Dad finally asked.
Winnie looked up at the ceiling as she prayed for strength. “I really like the work here…and those I work with.”
More silence. Winnie shook her head, knowing Dad was already compiling all the reasons she ought to agree with him.
He sighed, his voice taking on a softer tone. “Look, I’m sorry to spring this on you all of a sudden. I know it’s a lot to wrap your mind around, but I really thought you’d be excited about it. It’s such an incredible opportunity.”
She nodded, her defenses crumbling, just as they always did around Dad. “I know.”
“I was going to wait to tell you this,” he continued, “but I guess you may as well know. I have it on good authority that if you do this job, and do it well, I’ll have an in with Kris & Sons. Your mom and I would become their go-to firm. I don’t have to tell you how much credibility their company would lend to ours. Knox Family Law would be put on the map in ways we’ve only dreamed of. And it would be all thanks to you. Right? Winnie?”
Be like Fort Knox. She winced, discomfited by the phrase returning to her mind. “I guess.”
“You’re still not convinced?”
How could she be? How could she ever be convinced to leave the life she wanted to pursue in England, with the person she wanted to pursue it with?
“I guess I just don’t get it,” she said, doing her best to speak up, though her courage had all but fled. “Why would they bring you on as their permanent lawyers only if I agree to be their consultant? I’m nothing special.”
Dad was silent for a minute. “It’s complicated.”
An inkling of indignation slid through her veins. “I’m sure I can understand it, Dad.”
Again, he sighed. “I guess I came on a little too strong with Mr. Kris when we first met in person. I told him the vision of what I had for his company, and apparently, he was scared off by all of my ideas.”
Winnie listened carefully, though she didn’t find it difficult to believe that Dad had come on too strong. That had always been her issue with him, too.
“Anyway, I got the idea that he prefers a much less direct approach,” he added.
“Which is where I come in?” she guessed.
“Exactly. You need to go in there and work your Winnie charm. Show them how wonderful we Knoxes are to work with, how they would be missing out on so many benefits if they don’t work with us. All you’d have to do is your typical consultant magic while letting them know how lucky they’d be to have your mom and I work with them. Super simple.”
Winnie reeled, and for a moment, a light beamed into her chest. Dad would never admit it, but he was essentially asking her for a favor. No, it was more than a favor. He was asking her to bail him out of something that he’d messed up. She’d never known him to ask for help before, and he’d asked her .
She had no qualms with the job at all. In fact, she knew she’d succeed with helping Kris & Sons because she’d previously excelled working with other software-based companies.
Did that mean Dad had that same faith in her?
“You do know who you’re talking to, right?” she asked.
“Of course I do,” he said, clearly impatient. “Win-Win-Winnie.”
She grimaced, reality setting her firmly back on the ground. “You and I both know I never win at anything, Dad.”
“That may be true,” he readily agreed. “But you’re a fine consultant. I have full confidence in your ability to charm the Kris family. Once they meet with you, there is no way they won’t hire you.”
Winnie pressed a hand to her pulsing brow. She knew how Dad worked—build someone up to get his way. It was his oldest trick.
So why was she falling for it? Why was she falling for his overdue compliments and his supposed faith in her ?
Fortunately, there was one continual thought still grounding her.
What about Matthew?
She wanted to help her dad. Really, she did. But to give up so much of what was almost within her grasp—a potential future with a man she could see herself spending forever with, finding joy she’d sought for so many years? She couldn’t agree to that.
“I don’t know about this, Dad,” she said softly. “I just…don’t know.”
Again, silence met her.
“Winnie,” he began after a moment, his tone losing its softness from before. “How many times have I helped you find consultant jobs?”
The weight of the past few years settled on her chest, her bones pressing uncomfortably against her heart. “I?—”
“How often did I support you in your endeavors?” he interrupted.
Winnie didn’t bother responding now. He wouldn’t hear her words.
“How frequently did I pull you under my wing,” he continued, “urging you to keep going when you failed time and time again?”
The weight pushed down harder, her breath coming in labored bursts. Of course Dad would see his actions as supportive instead as oppressive. After all, he never did anything wrong.
“I don’t wish to pressure you,” he said, “but after everything your mother and I have done for you, after all the sacrifices we’ve made, if you can’t do this one, simple thing to help us, your parents who love you more than anything…do you even wish to be a part of this family at all?”
She bit the inside of her cheek and closed her eyes. He didn’t want to pressure her? That was exactly what he wanted to do because he knew pressure worked. It cracked even the hardest of metals and the strongest of desires .
It cracked even the happiest of spirits. And Winnie’s had already suffered an irreparable fracture.
“So can I rely on you to help us, Winnie?” Dad asked.
Winnie pushed aside her feelings. She didn’t have the right to them anyway. Just like she didn’t have the right to her own dreams or her own life.
“Ah,” Dad said, not even allowing her to answer. “Listen, honey, I’ve got another client calling. I really need to take this.”
She barely heard his words, her heart numb. “Sunday,” she murmured. “I wouldn’t have time to go home first?”
Home. Home wasn’t in New York. It certainly wasn’t with her parents. In truth, she would be leaving the only place she’d ever really felt like she was home. She would be leaving the only person she’d ever felt at home with .
“No,” Dad replied. “the deal is for you to arrive in Chicago by Sunday.”
She nodded in silence.
“Winnie?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I tell them to expect you on Sunday?”
Sunday. That meant she had to leave tomorrow morning.
Leave? So that was it? She was just giving in?
A single tear rolled down her cheek, but she didn’t bother to wipe it away. What was the point? She would just shed more anyway. That much was inevitable with her leaving Foxwood.
She didn’t have any other choice. She’d stood up to Dad once before, and he’d sold Goldilocks to retaliate. She’d only tried to tell him now that she wanted to stay at Foxwood, and what had he done? Manipulated her until she’d agreed to leave.
She knew his actions were controlling. She knew they were wrong. But he needed her help. Maybe if she did this one thing for him, he would be satisfied. Grateful. Maybe even proud. Then she could create some distance between them, live out her life the way she wanted to .
“Winnie,” Dad said, his tone strained. “I need an answer now.”
“Yes,” she said softly. “I’ll be there on Sunday.”
“Ah, that’s my Winnie,” Dad responded in a distracted tone. “I’ll let them know. Thanks a bunch, honey. Your mom and I have to fly out to Florida tomorrow, but we’ll stop by Chicago on our way back to Utah next weekend when we’re done. That way we can catch up and see all your progress.”
Winnie didn’t bother saying anything back. He was done listening.
“Anyway,” he continued. “Got to run. Love you, honey. See you soon. Bye.”
Slowly, Winnie lowered the phone, staring out the window at the landscape of Foxwood that she’d grown so accustomed to. The green fields. The wild, tangled trees. The flags from the festival.
How could things change so suddenly? A few minutes ago, she was planning a future at Foxwood. And now? Now she was replacing those dreams with images of a life in Chicago, tethered to Kris & Sons. Tethered to consultant work for companies she didn’t care about. Tethered to Dad with no hope of escape.
No hope and no joy, that’s what awaited her outside of England.
That’s what awaited her without Matthew in her future.