As we stood outside facing the gigantic front door to her family’s mansion, I thought about how none of it mattered. How their opinions of me didn’t change a goddamn thing. Gracie was all who mattered to me.
The door swung open, and her mother greeted us with an apprehensive smile. She hugged her daughter, eyeing me over Gracie’s shoulder with a more subtle hatred than her fatheronce had. “Liem. It’s good to see you. Come in, both of you. Hilda almost has dinner ready.”
I tilted my head in a welcoming nod and followed my Gracie inside. The foyer was lined with professionally done portraits of her and her parents. Gracie being the only child, I assumed was another reason they held her so closely.
“How’s work, dear? You’re looking thinner than usual. I hope you haven’t been too busy to eat.” Her mother threw the question over her shoulder as we followed her to the dining room.
“Busy as usual,” Gracie answered in a tired voice.
I snaked an arm around her waist as if she’d fall over from exhaustion. “She’s an amazing nurse.”
Gracie’s cheeks reddened while her mother shot me with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“Is that my baby girl?” Gracie’s father walked into the room, then flicked his reading glasses on top of his head.
“Hi, Daddy.” Gracie broke out of my hold and into her father’s outstretched embrace. He too, like her mother, shot me with an unfriendly glare over his daughter’s back.
I shot one back.
“Please. Let’s sit. Can I have Hilda get you two a glass of wine or perhaps a beer, Liem?”
I clenched my jaw and felt Gracie tense beside me as we all sat at the dining room table. “Water is fine. Thanks.”
Her father glared at me from the head of the table, tapping his glasses onto the wood in a silent threat.
Gracie broke the uncomfortable silence. “Liem has been building a home. He’s in charge of… well, everything that goes into it. It’s incredible. It really is beautiful.” She patted my hand and then threw a warm smile at me.
There was a beat of silence. Except for the ticking of an old grandfather clock at the corner of the room.
“That’s lovely, dear.” Her mother reached for the bowl of roasted potatoes and held it up. “Potatoes anyone?”
I smirked at their obvious disinterest in what I did for a living. I wasn’t saving lives so they could give a fuck less.
“What kind of long-term stability is in the… building business, Liem?” Her father eyed me as he set down his wine glass and leaned back into his wooden chair.
“I make decent money if that’s what you’re asking. Sir.” I stressed the sir.
He caught the snark in my tone and his eye flinched in irritation. “Enough to support my daughter and a family?”
“Daddy.”
“It’s a simple question. One that needs to be addressed. Is it enough to support a family, Liem?”
“It’s enough.” I ground my teeth, and Gracie squeezed my thigh under the table.
“Liem makes good money, Daddy. And in case you forgot, I work too.”
“Yes. But one day you shouldn’t have to. You should be at home with the kids raising your family.”
Gracie wanted to say something but instead, clamped her mouth closed, going in for a sip of her wine.
As much as I agreed with her father on that aspect of wanting to take care of her and her not having to work one day, that wasn’t in the cards for Gracie. She loved her job and everything it stood for. She would never dream of giving that up permanently.
“Whatever Gracie decides to do, I’ll support her.”
That earned another loathing glare from both her parents.
Just what I needed.
