“She’s not right for you, son!” he hissed.
I spun around, glaring at my father. “You don’t get to decide who is and who isn’t right for me.”
“She’s not one of us.”
My entire body stiffened and I advanced on my father. “The last man who said those words to me, ended up on his ass.”
My father’s eyes widened, mouth going ajar. “You would turn on me for her? On your family?”
“In a fucking heartbeat.” Tightening my fists at my side, I stepped back, fearing that I really would hit my father in that instant. How dare he try to hold the title of family over my head? The only time he’d treated his own sons like family was when he needed one of us to do something for him, or to look good in front of others. We were related by blood and linked forever by the legacy of Townsend Industries but we weren’t a family. At least, not in the truest sense of the word.
“She is my family. And with her, I will raise our children to know the meaning of the word family. To look out for one another first and foremost, business will come second. They will turn out nothing like you.” I meant what I said with every fiber of my being.
I stepped away from my father and the ghosted expression he now wore, and turned to walk away, going to look for my future bride.
****
Deborah
“That ring is gorgeous,” Robert’s aunt stated, holding my left hand out in her hand as she gazed at the princess cut diamond ring Robert had given me two days after he’d proposed. “I always looked forward to the day I’d meet the woman who captured Robert’s heart. You have to tell us how he proposed?” his aunt, Nancy, gushed as she stood beside Robert’s mother, his younger cousin, and two friends of his mother’s.
I glanced around the circle of women, who were all a part of high society. Their eyes were glued to me, anxiously awaiting for my retelling of how Robert asked me to marry him. Obviously, I wasn’t about to inform this group of women that my now fiancé proposed while he was deep inside of me, bringing me to my second climax of the night.
No.
That was a story I should probably keep to myself.
“Well,” I paused, clearing my throat and cupping the champagne flute I held with both hands, “it was very romantic. Just after dinner at my place. He pulled out the ring and asked.”
“Did he get down on one knee?” his cousin, Laura, questioned.
I took a sip of champagne and nodded. “Mhmm, I believe he did.”
Laura frowned. “Believe?”
“Oh well, you know, I was so emotional and everything, my recollection is a little hazy,” I laughed it off.
“Oh, don’t I know it. When my Harold finally proposed to me after our long courtship, I was over the moon,” Robert’s aunt stated, her eyes looking wistfully upward as if remembering that day. “I couldn’t wait to pick out a dress and design our wedding cake, and book the caterers for the food. It was such a spectacular time.”
I wrinkled my forehead.
Her daughter, Rachel, spoke up. “Oh yes, when Andrew asked me to be his bride I felt the same way. Luckily, I was able to take days off from the job I had at the time to work closely with my wedding planner and get everything done just the way I liked it. Hopefully, your job will let you take off,” she finished, looking toward me as if I should’ve been in agreement.
“Well, I don’t think I’ll need to take many days off to plan the wedding. We’ll just have to work around my schedule. It’s a very busy time at work right now.”
Rachel and Nancy frowned.
“They’ll have to learn to make due without you, hun. Besides, once you and Robert marry and begin having children, you’ll have to resign anyway. They might as well start looking for someone to fill your role now.” That statement had come from one of Robert’s mother’s friends. Suzanne, I think her name was but couldn’t recall.
I didn’t know what surprised me more—the fact that she’d actually said those words to me with a straight face, or the fact that every other woman in the circle nodded their heads in agreement.
“Quit my job?” I questioned, looking around the circle.
“Yes, of course,” Robert’s mother answered. “There’s no way you can work full time, be a mother, and hold up your duties as a wife to a man in a position such as Robert’s.”
“What position is that?”
“There’s all types of events and charity organizations that will need your time or request for you to make an appearance.” Janet shook her head. “Robert should’ve gone over all of this with you.” She moved closer, taking my left hand into both of hers. “We’ve all been through it, dear. It’s a bit of a shock in the beginning, but we get used to it. Besides, no woman attends a prestigious school like Stanford not to find a husband. Am I right?”
