Chapter 26
When Lauren and Aubrey showed up at the cabin, I burst into a whole new wave of tears. I got my crying under control before Sawyer headed out, but seeing my two new, real friends, I lost it all over again.
Lauren didn’t give me a chance to explain. Somehow, they both knew. Why wouldn’t they, anyway? Dalton saw the whole thing happen, and he wouldn’t keep it a secret from Aubrey or their closest friends.
Like angels, they swept up to the cabin and corralled me into Lauren’s car. Between the tears from what my mother did, the shame and worry for Lauren’s reaction over her dress, and the confusion over what was going on, I followed what they said like a numb, lost sheep.
A chalet? In Vail? Just for me?
I was stunned.
As I sit here in the cozy space with them, an hour after they came to spring me from my misery at the cabin, sipping spiked hot beverages before a roaring fire under the mantle, I try to wrap my head around it all again.
They hadn’t been heading out here and thought to ask me along. No, they did this all for me. To hear me out, to listen without interruption. These two sweethearts give me the freedom to let out all my anger and tears, and I know they’re counting on finally piecing together all the details.
I don’t hold back, telling them how this all came to be.
This is, without a doubt, a moment for the bitter truth.
“I know a little bit,” Aubrey says, shaking her head. “I was there when your mom came over to yell at Dalton.”
I sigh, hating that my cousin has faced her wrath on my behalf. “I’m sorry you had to deal with her like that.”
Aubrey scoffs. “I sure hope she won’t be invited to my wedding if he ever gets around to proposing.”
I shake my head. “I don’t blame you.”
“I’m clueless,” Lauren says. “Other than knowing she ruined the dress.”
“Not any dress. Your dress.” I sniffle, feeling another wave of tears coming.
She growls and scoots forward on her chair to grip my hand and squeeze hard. “No. Claire. You’re not crying over my dress. Because whatever that woman ruined or broke or tore, I’m going to replace.”
Aubrey giggles and elbows her. “Yeah, after what Dalt said about finally catching Jeremy in court, you’ll be loaded!”
I blink, amazed she can have such hope. Financial freedom has sounded like a pipe dream for too long.
“Start from the beginning,” Lauren prompts with no worry about her dress. I’m amazed she has such utter trust and faith in me like that.
“My mother has always been controlling. When I was a child, I wondered if it was because my father loved me so much. I was the apple of his eye, and he loved me so deeply. I was doted on, but never spoiled. Just being with him was a treasure, but he became ill, and by the time I was a teenager, he passed.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that.” Lauren frowns, pulling Aubrey in for a hug, too.
I pat her hand, knowing she can empathize with that much. Aubrey lost both of her parents as a teen as well. The difference between us, though, is that she had a pair of loving parents, whereas my mother has always been unloving.
“If not for my dad, I never would have been exposed to the idea of love. My mother has controlled who I see, who I interact with, what I do, and what I should never want to do. I was held to high expectations, required to be prim, proper, educated, and never lift a finger and ‘work’ because being an employee was a sign of weakness to the Rennard name.” I roll my eyes, hating that I have to say this.
“She sounds awful.” Lauren shakes her head.
“Yeah, you had to deal with that controlling crap, too,” Aubrey says.
“I grew up with no love and heavy expectations on my shoulders. I’ve become used to never feeling like I would have an opportunity to escape her. I’ve all but given in to thinking I’ll never get out from under her control.”
Aubrey narrows her eyes. “Because she manages the estate?”
I nod. “And my trust is tied up in it. The only way I can get it is if I’m married.”
Both woman curse and react with outrage, pissed on my behalf that I’ve been treated like this. “That can’t be right.” Lauren smacks her hand to her thigh. “That’s the same crap Jeremy did with me.”
I shrug. “Dalton’s looked into it. I imagine Caleb has done just as much now. She’s too smart and employs even smarter lawyers. My mother is determined to keep her greedy hands on the money left to me. The only way I’ll get it is if I marry, but she’s only ever encouraged that with her explicit approval. She doesn’t want me connected to someone she deems unworthy, someone beneath our family name. Because if I marry ‘beneath my status’ it will bring her down, too.”
“What is this, the eighteen hundreds?” Aubrey scoffs.
“I tried to get around her. I asked the man I was dating in Paris to elope simply so I could be married and get my funds.” I hold my hand up, not wanting them to assume the worst. “I don’t want the money. I won’t even touch the majority of those billions. All I want is the capital to start my shop. I only need the funds to open my bridal shop.” I can’t help the smile on my face. Despite my mother’s awfulness, I won’t lose sight of my passion and my dream. “I just want the money to open my shop so I can do what I love. What I’ve always wished I could do.”
“You’re going to open up a shop?” Aubrey brightens, smiling wide.
“Here?” Lauren adds with equal excitement.
“Well…” I sigh and sip my warm drink, relishing the soothing burn of its heat as it travels down my throat. “I guess.”
“Gee.” Aubrey swats at my knee. “Don’t blow us away with your enthusiasm.”
I smile. “When I came here, I had loose plans to do an apprenticeship in Paris. It would give me real-life experience for my portfolio, but since you asked me to design your dress,”—I say as I glance at Lauren—“that’s the same thing and even better. I…” I sigh, almost not believing I’m going to admit this out loud. “I’m going to do my best and open up my shop somewhere. Wherever I can afford it. I refuse to let my mother hold me back. I’m not sure this area will have the greatest opportunities for a shop to succeed, so maybe I am better off returning to Paris. Or New York. The way she holds my funds puts me in such a bind, but I’m determined to work hard, save up, and hopefully, one day, I’ll have my shop.”
“Stay!” They say it in unison, then giggle.
“Seriously. You complete our trio,” Lauren tells me.
“I mean, you’ve got Marian, too. She’s the mother we’ve all been needing in our lives.”
Lauren makes a face at Aubrey. “No. I’ve told you, she’s my fairy godmother.”
“Whatever. She’ll adopt you, too, Claire, like she did with us. Then we’ll all have each other!”
“And…” Lauren glances at me before grinning at Aubrey, who nods with a knowing smirk. “And Sawyer is here…”
I pull my lips in and bite down on them, unwilling to speak up there. It’s on the tip of my tongue to admit I’m falling for him, but I can’t say that. No matter how sweet he was standing up for me with my mother, it still seems like I’m the only one who feels this deeply. I tuck that thought away and shrug. “Yeah, Sawyer is here, and I don’t see him leaving.”
They share a look and sigh, perhaps realizing they won’t get more out of me about him. We move on, though, after that talk. They pamper me all night, feeding me and keeping my drinks flowing. It’s a night of girl time I didn’t realize I needed, and by the time I lie down to sleep that night, I feel slightly better.
***
Lauren and Aubrey bring me back to my cabin late the next evening. It was nice to break away with them and just talk. It was a release and the venting process I needed, but I’m eager to get “home” and start all over again on Lauren’s dress. If not for her project, I fear I would be so lost and directionless that I’d beg to stick with them.
After more goodbyes, I head inside the cabin and drop my bag.
Shock slams into me with a tidal force. My jaw drops, and I gawk, staring wide-eyed at the person in my living room. I hadn’t even looked for his truck as Lauren pulled up. We were too busy chatting, and he must have parked it off to the side, not right out front.
“Sawyer?”
He pauses but doesn’t stop with the unboxing. His sweet smile threatens to melt me into a puddle, and the sight of what he’s setting up floors me.
“Is that…” I approach him, almost frantic to rush closer and make sure I’m not imagining things. Because I very well could be. If I’m not mistaken, he’s taking off the protective cover and guards for a brand-new sewing machine. Not just any old thing, like the one I’d found when I came here. It’s a Brother Stellaire model, something I didn’t even have at school. They’re insanely expensive, able to last forever, and perform a variety of stitches, including embroidery. The last time I fell under a spell of wistful thinking, I looked them up and daydreamed about where I would find fifteen thousand dollars to afford the top-of-the-line piece of equipment.
“Sawyer.” I swallow, becoming frantic at the thought of something like this here. “What are you doing?”
“Helping you set up something in your work area.”
I gape at him and shake my head. “No. No way. I mean. Sawyer, I can’t afford that!”
“I don’t care.” He stands and shrugs. “It’s a gift. From me to you.”
I know Kevin explained that Sawyer holds all of their dad’s construction company now, but still!
I blink at him, too shocked to reply, but as I try to let this discovery sink into my brain, I notice how clean the whole place is. He reorganized the entire living room, going so far as to put up proper shelving while I was gone.
“Sawyer…” I lick my lips, feeling the burn of tears again, but this time, they would be tears of joy.
Before I can ask what exactly he’s up to, he takes my hand. “I need to show you something.”
I huff out a weak laugh, already so thrown off by his amazing and generous gestures.
He leads me outside, heading toward his truck, and I feel so very confused. And stupid. If I want to think he doesn’t care for me, I might have to seriously reconsider. Buying me that sewing machine and putting this much effort into perfecting my workspace, he’s practically showing me that he adores me. I watch his back as he guides me to his truck, and without a word, I take a leap of faith to just trust him and go with it.
If he’s not careful, I’ll be hopelessly, utterly in love with him and stare at him like he just hung the moon for me.
He seems to be in a trance as he drives, tense and nervous. We leave Dalton’s property, and I do my best to tamp down all the questions running through my mind as he heads to Breckenridge.
Why?
How?
When?
What?
But mostly, why? Why would he go so far to make this happen for me like this if he’s cool with diminishing what we have as a mere hookup?
He stops at a storefront on the main drag. It’s full of tourists here for the summer season and retail shopping. Unlike the smaller town near the Goldfinch Bed and Breakfast, plenty of activity is going on here.
“Sit tight.” He exits the truck and rounds it to open my door, and helps me out.
I step out and hold his hand, unsure what’s coming next as he leads me toward the building. The specific place we’re in front of is empty, maybe abandoned. Windows are covered up, and some peeling paint shows on the outer walls.
I shield my eyes and squint to look up, but no name reads on the awning, and no sign flaps in the slight breeze. My surprise is extended even further when he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a key that he slides into the door. He leads me inside to the empty space, and I furrow my brow.
“I own this building. My father purchased it, and he left it to me. The tenants recently retired and moved out.”
My heart races as he tells me this, and I can’t stay still. I walk around with him, confused but starting to catch on to what I think he’s showing me. He points out a showroom, a huge back room, and an attached office.
Back in the center of the space, he faces me. “I spoke with Dalton, Claire. If we get engaged, it will give Dalton and Caleb’s lawyers time to sort out the mess with your mother. It might be enough to convince Adelaide to drop the issue with your trust fund, or we can take the case to court and properly press charges against her.”
I open my mouth, but he doesn’t let me speak, holding up his hand.
“If it doesn’t work, if your mother refuses to let go, you can have this place. It would be yours. All yours, for free. I can do the work to make it into the bridal shop of your dreams.”
Holy shit. “Whoa.” I suck in another quick breath as the start of a panic attack hits me. He’s going so far with this and dropping one bombshell after another…I can’t catch my breath. I’m excited. I’m stunned. I’m overwhelmed, and even though this is Sawyer, and I trust him, old fears of wondering what he’ll expect from me rise to the surface. “Why are you doing this for me?”
He shakes his head, glancing at the floor. “I…I want to.”
“But you don’t want to marry me?”
He frowns. “I never said that.”
All I can manage is a stare. I gaze at him, trying to make sense of it all, of him.
“Would you try, at least? Will you let me help you?”
Why? Why do you want to help me so badly? “By being engaged?”
“It wouldn’t mean anything unless—” He hesitates. “If we did have to get married so you could access the estate that is rightfully yours, I’d give you a divorce right after that was settled. I wouldn’t expect any money from you, nothing like that.”
My heart feels like it’s about to crack. Nothing like that? Is he joking and trying to be cruel here? “You don’t want this.”
“I want you, Claire. I think that’s pretty clear.”
A tense moment follows his blunt confession, but I fear a lifetime of trying to process this won’t be enough.
He steps closer, raising his brows in a silent question.
I nod, agreeing, and hate how guilty I feel. I can’t let this offer—or him—pass me by.
He exhales and pulls a beautiful ring from his pocket. He really means this. He came prepared. “This was my mother’s,” he says.
That makes me feel even worse. He shouldn’t be wasting an heirloom, a family ring, on a sham with me. I almost backtrack, regretting this “game,” but he slips it on my finger before I can move back.
“Dalton will handle the rest.”
I stare at him, blinking quickly. I want nothing more than to lay my heart open for him, to tell him how I feel about him, but it’s so clear he doesn’t feel the same. If he did, he wouldn’t safeguard his offer with backup plans and easy outs. He can’t feel the same, but for whatever reason, he feels obligated to help me.
As he gazes into my eyes, I sense that he doubts this, or maybe he’s unsure of himself.
He snaps, though, robbing me of a chance to ask, and he kisses me deeply.
I hold onto him, pressing up to match his desire, and as he dips me back, I can’t help but imagine this is real, that I’m a bride in this future space of a shop, choosing my gown for our wedding, should he ever feel the same.