I didn’t even remember the drive out to the Big House. My hands were tight on the steering wheel, my jaw locked, and my chest braced for whatever fight was waiting for me.
When I got there, Garvey didn’t say a word. He just waved me toward my mother’s sitting room and I didn’t bother with pleasantries. The staff knew better than to try to stop me whenI was like this, so even though Mom’s door was closed, no one tried to intercept me on my way in.
I burst into her sitting room, sunlight spilling across the pale blue walls and a porcelain tea set on the ornate coffee table in front of her. Steam curled from one of the cups, but another was already laid out.
She didn’t look surprised to me at all. If anything, it kind of looked like she’d been waiting. She was strangely pale as she waved me into the seat next to hers. “Come sit, darling. Have some tea.”
I didn’t sit or make myself a cup of tea. Instead, I curled my fingers around the back of the chair she’d wanted me to sit on, leveling her with my gaze as I held on tight, hoping that this would keep me from falling over in shock over whatever she was about to say.
“I want the truth, Mother. What is your problem with Aurelia?”
Her cup paused halfway to her lips. Then she set it down gently and smoothed her silk sleeves. “I don’t have a problem with her. She’s a lovely girl.”
My eyebrows shot up. “So what’s this about, then? If you think she’s so lovely, why don’t you want me to marry her?”
“She could’ve been mine,” she replied cryptically after pausing for a few long beats. “She could’ve beenmine, Harrison.”
The words knocked the air out of me. I stared into her weirdly vacant hazel eyes, heat rushing to my ears. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Ask Regina,” she said, rising gracefully to her feet and dismissing me from her gaze. “I’m sure her version of the story will be very different from mine.”
“Mom—”
She shook her head, already moving across the room to collect her bag and slide on a pair of gloves. She didn’t even glance back at me. “I have a meeting. Charity committee. Next time you want to talk, try letting me know you’re on your way. This wasn’t a good time.”
Before I could even ask why she’d had another cup ready then, she was gone, her heels clicking down the hall. She left me with nothing but her words echoing through my head.She could have been mine. The fuck does that mean?
I left the sitting room with my blood boiling. My mother’s words rattled around in my head, each one sharper than the last.And what does Regina Van Alen have to do with Mom not liking Aurelia?
The more I thought about it, the more it felt like complete and utter bullshit. My brothers had beenrewardedfor moving their lives forward. Sterling, Jameson, Callum… They’d all gotten their wives, their families, their spots in the company, and their inheritances secure. Mom hadn’t stood in their way. Hell, she and Sterling had organized Callum’s entire wedding as a surprise and she’d thrown a hell of a wedding for Jameson and Sadie too.
But me? I finally found something worth holding on to, someone who made me feel like I could stand on my own two feet, and suddenly, she was ready to burn it all down.Why does it feel like she’s punishing me for growing up?
As I dropped back in behind the steering wheel of my car, a thought hit fast and hard.Maybe I should just cut through all of this noise and elope with Aurelia.
No audience. No ghosts of past feuds whispering in our ears. No family drama.
Just the two of us, signing the papers, exchanging vows, and moving forward on our own terms. The idea settled in my chest,and as I raced away from the mansion, I just couldn’t shake it. Aurelia and I were right for each other. I knew that. She knew it.
Maybe the best thing that we could do was to take the next step together, really go out on our own, and leave all this other bullshit behind us.
CHAPTER 32
AURELIA
Harrison and I were supposed to be at lunch together right now. Instead, I sat on the couch in my living room, trying to read a book while a fire crackled in the hearth, but I couldn’t focus.
When he’d texted to say that he couldn’t make lunch and told me he would see me tonight instead, I hadn’t been surprised, but it’d stung more than it should have. It wasn’t like we were dating. I didn’t expect midday meetups, love notes on the fridge, or lingering phone calls late into the night.
This whole thing had started as business. I’d agreed to that, but I couldn’t deny that my chest had ached when I’d read that message, a strangely hollow feeling blooming deep inside me.
It wasn’t just about him. At least, that was what I’d been telling myself.
I’d been completely out of sorts lately, and the damn Christmas lights strung all over every street weren’t helping. The scent of cinnamon and pine drifting from shop windows, carolers on every corner smiling at each other like the whole world was wrapped up in ribbons and bows…
The season was getting to me, the magic of Christmas making me yearn for things I’d never wanted before. It had to be that, even if it didn’t make much sense either.
I’d never been sentimental. I’d never cared about mistletoe, or hot cocoa, or someone holding me in front of the fire on cold, winter nights. This year, however, I wanted it so badly it made my hands tremble when I reached for my laptop.
