4. Felicity
FOUR
FELICITY
My heart races as we pull into the courthouse. A lump so thick it makes me want to barf lodges in my throat, and it takes everything within me to remain calm and not throw up all over this dress or Damien.
Maybe this is a terrible idea. Who am I to marry this man?
But the quote I got from the contractor and plumber echoes in my head, a dark reminder of what’s at stake.
There isn’t enough in my savings. It isn’t just a matter of fixing a pipe and replacing the wall.
The plumber will need to replace all the pipes in that area, and the contractor needs to tear the entire wall out, along with the floorboards.
It could be months of not having guests because of the construction.
I can’t survive that long keeping the inn operational and paying the bills.
As much as Damien and his friends have paid me for the rooms, after everything else I’ve done, it just won’t be enough.
“Your lawyer is meeting you here, isn’t he?” I ask softly, looking for anyone who stands out. I imagine the lawyer will be in one of those fancy grey suits, pressed and tailored to his exact measurements. Maybe expensive glasses sitting low on his nose, and bald.
I’m not sure why I imagine him to be bald, but I can’t picture Bradshaw any other way.
Damien rolls his shoulders back. “He flew in with his daughter, Daphne, and my brother, Brandon. And so you don’t feel blindsided, there will definitely be a prenup.”
A shaky breath falls from my lips as I nod slowly. “Okay, that makes sense. A prenup. Should I fight it a little or just take it?”
“Take it, we don’t want you looking spoiled. Although, that would be exactly what Bradshaw expects,” he says with a half-smile.
There’s something about that smile that makes my belly flutter. “Okay. Don’t fight it. What about your brother? God, I didn’t think I’d have to meet any of your family?—”
“Please, don’t stress, he’s likely just here to confirm this is real, snap a few photos, and put them in the family group chat. He’s an idiot. If Elliot came, then we would need to worry.”
“Why?” I ask, suddenly worried.
“He’s the eldest,” Damien replies, glancing at me. “Married once, divorced once, and total sceptic. I wouldn’t be surprised if somehow he got in our grandmother’s head about this stupid clause.” Damien shakes his head and looks away. “There they are. Come on, future wife. Let’s get married.”
My stomach twists into knots as he pushes out of the car, but I can’t make myself move. Locked in place, all I can do is watch Damien round the hood, but instead of stopping to greet the three people who appear, he keeps moving until he’s at my door.
I blink hard as he pulls the car door open. “You ready?”
Suddenly, my mouth goes dry, and the ability to speak completely disappears. And yet, I manage a short nod when he offers me his hand.
Heart racing, I place my own in his and step out of the car as his lawyer appears.
The man is exactly as I thought he’d be; lanky, with only a crown of hair around the base of his skull, and dark rectangular glasses that sit on the bridge of his nose.
A warm yet stiff smile forms on his lips as Damien closes the car door behind me, keeping my hand trapped in his.
“You must be Felicity, the inn keeper,” he says, looking me over. I can’t help the flush from forming on my cheeks, or the way it burns a scalding path down my neck. “You are just adorable.”
“Oh, uh?—”
“Hey now, don’t go poaching my lady. You might be looking for wife number four, but I’m happy with my one and done,” Damien says, stepping in front of me. “And in front of Daphne?”
The woman standing beside Bradshaw snorts as she offers me a polite smile. She shares her father’s dark eyes and hair, except hers flows down to her waist. “Dad’s looking at husband number one, actually. Pilot.”
Damien whistles. “You dirty dog. Pilots cheat, you know.”
Bradshaw shrugs. “We aren’t here to talk about my relationships.” Dark eyes come back to me and stay locked on mine. “Before we go in, I’ve secured a room inside where we can go over a few necessary legal proceedings.”
My heart drops into the pit of my stomach. “A prenup, right?” I ask, shoving my trembling hand into my pocket. “I don’t have legal counsel for something like that.”
“Of course, you should. If there is anyone you can call…” the lawyer trails off, finally taking his eyes off me to look at Damien.
“As long as assets we came into the marriage with leave with us if the marriage fails, then I think we’ll both be happy.
The inn is her pride and joy, and I won’t take that from her,” Damien states.
“She’s put in all the work and effort. I just want to support her through making it the best it can be. ”
Bradshaw nods, eyes narrowing. “She won’t have any part in the lodge, then?”
“That’s protected by the company, though all wives will have some cut after five years of marriage.
We came to those terms recently,” Damien explains, hand tightening around mine.
I hadn’t even realised we were still joined, but he holds me so effortlessly, it makes my heart skip a beat. “Don’t worry about the lodge.”
It hadn’t even crossed my mind. I don’t want any part of it, anyway, and my priority has always been my own business. I don’t want to get involved with another when I can barely keep mine afloat.
“Alright. Look, I don’t want to make this any harder for you, Felicity. If it helps, I’m sure Tobias could add terms for you. But if you two are hell bent on marrying today, then it needs to be signed.” Bradshaw looks between us, and I look to Damien.
This could be a test to see whether we’re too desperate for the inheritance.
I hate to think it, but the way he’s talking about the prenup has me scared.
He should be way more insistent about it not only getting signed, but probably without me having council.
Aren’t these billionaire lawyers meant to be more ruthless?
That was the vibe I always got from Tobias when I stumbled across him working at the inn.
He’d always seemed so…hard. It’s a wonder he got his assistant to fall in love with him.
It really shouldn’t be this easy. Shouldn’t this man be asking us more questions?
Damien meets my eye; nothing in his expression screams danger, beware!
Instead, there’s an ease there I wish to replicate, but can’t.
If he can tell how badly I’m freaking out, he doesn’t say anything.
Instead, he brings our joined hands to his lips and kisses the top of my hand softly.
“I’ll make sure the inn is protected. Don’t worry. ”
I release a shaky breath. “Didn’t realise you know how to read a prenup. Something you forget to tell me?”
His lips quirk into a smirk. “Daphne here can represent you temporarily. Right, Daph?”
The woman looks at me with wide eyes, but still maintains her smile. “Sure. But I don’t practice anymore, remember?”
Damien shrugs. “You still have your license, though. You would never let that go out.”
I don’t really know how to feel about Damien’s lawyer’s daughter being the one to represent me, but I’ll take what I can get. So, I just nod and pray I don’t look like a deer caught in headlights because I’m so ill prepared.
Every step towards the courthouse has my heart racing, but somehow, I manage not to puke.
“So, Damien tells me you two…came together because of the inn?” Bradshaw starts, his question innocent enough, but I know there’s a level of scrutiny in his words I think everyone can detect.
“Forgive me, but you don’t seem like the type of young woman who would grace the likes of Damien Winthrop with your time. ”
I somehow manage a shaky laugh as Damien scoffs. “You would be right,” I admit. “Damien wouldn’t usually be the kind of man I gravitated towards. But the mountains have their way.”
“I thought he was lying about that to get me to believe his story,” Bradshaw says as we make our way past the clerk’s desk towards some back rooms. I’ve honestly never gone beyond the front desk or towards the actual hall.
And the last time I’d been here, it was for the big firefighter fundraiser where a large group of locals were auctioned off to raise money for the station.
“Oh, no, you can ask anyone in town,” I tell Bradshaw as he pushes open a door.
The room is small, with a large wooden table surrounded chairs, the walls a plain beige that really age the place.
We enter slowly, and my heart threatens to leap out of my chest. “The mountains have this scary power to bring people together. I’ve watched it happen so many times throughout my life.
It’s how my grandparents met, actually. They were both new to town, and found each other on the trails. ”
“Adorable.” Bradshaw motions for us to sit on one side of the table, while he sits with his daughter and Damien’s quiet brother on the other. “Let’s get this over with for you two.”
A pit yawns in my stomach as we sit. The whole time, Damien keeps hold of my hand, and even now, he sets our joined palms on the table. “We aren’t in a huge rush, Bradshaw,” Damien drawls. “Let’s do this right, please. I want her to have peace of mind.”
“You should also want that,” I murmur, shooting him a look. “For all you know, I could be a gold digger.”
Damien snorts. “If you were, you wouldn’t have had me on my knees in the garden yesterday,” he replies, smirking. “She made me pick vegetables.”
Warmth spreads up my cheeks. “It’s my routine. Not my fault you finished your run early.”
“Well, it’s not exactly my fault since I had to get ready for this. You know how I feel about unexpected drop ins,” he replied easily.
I roll my eyes. “Oh, I know. I hear all about it.”
Bradshaw’s smile turns tight. “Do you, now?”
“Yep. The last two times ended with security. One on site at the lodge, the other at the office. But I don’t think that’s going to happen here!” I cover my mouth before dropping my head into my hand. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, darling. You’re right. He and his friends are so frigid about people stopping by.
” Bradshaw pulls something from a briefcase and slides it to us, before adding two pens.
“The prenup. Look, it’s incredibly standard, and just as Damien wants, it says whatever you came into the marriage with stays yours.
Assets accumulated during the marriage fall under equitable division, so not community property.
Also, it will be a dissolution of marriage here if you file, and you will fall under spousal maintenance which we have determined to be twenty thousand a month after three years of marriage.
Children will be a separate issue, which we will include in a post-nup, as Damien has made it clear he will not be fathering children at this time. ”
I stiffen; another thing I hadn’t even thought to ask, but now lodges in the back of my mind.
Children? I’d love to be able to pass the inn down to my child, to make it a home for them.
But it’s one of those things I pushed aside because I had so much more to do.
I’ve been in no state to actually consider it, let alone plan for it.
“All the terms look good to me, Felicity,” Daphne says, drawing me out of my thoughts. “I’m confident you are protected.”
My heart races as I look to Damien. “I won’t let anything happen to the inn,” he promises quietly. “You can trust me.”
I swallow hard and pick up a pen. “Where do I sign?”