Swanson let her go, straightened, then went to Sofia and Russ. He shook Russ’s hand and murmured something Cass couldn’t catch to Sofia as he patted her shoulder. Then he made his way to Cass and Grayson.
“Could you hold this for me?” Cass murmured as she handed Grayson her grandmother’s gift.
“Sure.” He slipped it into an interior pocket of his jacket.
She rose, feeling Grayson do the same at her side, and together, they faced Swanson.
“Ms. Ambrose.”
“Mr. Swanson.”
His lips took a slight curve up. “I realize you may want your own legal counsel to review the documents. Would you like me to courier them to someone? Or I’m happy to go over them now.”
The lawyer she worked with in Phoenix specialized in business law, not family law. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather go over it now,” she said.
“Of course.” He went back to her parents and picked up his briefcase before asking Elias, “Could we use your office?”
Her father looked from Cass to Grayson then back to Swanson before he nodded. “You know where it is.”
“Thank you.” Swanson turned back to her and waved her toward the hall. “After you?”
Wanting the support, Cass looked at Grayson. “Come with me?”
His answer was to come to her side and press a warm reassuring hand to the base of her spine. Together, they started down the hall. They reached the set of glass French doors and stepped inside, where book-filled hunter-green walls surrounded an impressive desk with a live edge, which faced two leather barrel club chairs. Various photos of famous people, with an occasional award scattered throughout, sat on the shelves, making it apparent that this was her father’s domain. Cass and Grayson took the two chairs as Swanson went behind the desk and pulled out papers from his briefcase.
“Everything’s pretty straightforward.” He slid documents across the polished surface. “However, there are a few more items we need from you to finalize the trust.”
The next twenty minutes went by as he patiently answered Cass’s questions. By the time she signed on the dotted lines, Cass was emotionally done. All she wanted was to escape the impending weight of familial duty and the incessant reminders that her grandmother was well and truly gone. Swanson was packing up the papers when raised voices penetrated the quiet office.
Cass shared a startled look with Grayson. “What?—”
“You can’t be serious!” an irate male shouted.
His tone of outrage spiked Cass’s adrenaline and knotted her gut. She rushed to the door, but Swanson was already there, yanking it open and disappearing down the hall. She and Grayson rushed behind him and hit the living room to find her parents on their feet, looking angry and confused, and Sofia facing down a furious Russ. Cass’s protective instincts shot to high alert.
“I’m not saying no, Russ.” There was the faintest tremor in Sofia’s voice, but she was resolute as Russ paced the limited space between the couches. “I just want to postpone the wedding.”
He spun around and snapped, “I don’t understand where this is coming from.”
Sofia’s chin lifted, and her eyes flashed, subtle tells that her composure was starting to crack. “Don’t you? I’ve been trying to tell you for weeks that I wanted to slow things down.”
“Maybe you should’ve tried harder.”
His remark skated the edge of snide, causing Sofia to flinch and Cass’s hackles to stand on end.
Russ flushed and squeezed the back of his neck. “That was…” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
Cass didn’t believe his apparent remorse, but Sofia softened. “Maybe you’re right, but now I’m telling you that it’s too much.”
Rhea decided to wade in. “What’s too much?”
Sofia’s composure frayed. “All of this. The wedding, Yaya’s death.” The last came out on a hitched breath that made Cass’s chest ache.
“You’re just overwhelmed.” Rhea’s tone was conciliatory, but it was the wrong thing to say.
Color rushed to Sofia’s face as her spine snapped straight. “You’re right—I am, because no one is listening to what I want.” Her voice rose as she gesticulated wildly, light glinting off Yaya’s emerald ring, now snug on her right hand. “I wasn’t sure about such a rushed engagement, much less a short one, but you both”—she motioned between Russ and Rhea—“insisted it was necessary, something about impressing the importance of family ties to the board, which I still don’t get.” Her hands went to her head as if it would pop right off if she didn’t hold it in place. “I swear, if it wasn’t for Yaya taking my side, you would have had me married off weeks ago.”
A hint of guilt flashed over her mother’s face as she opened her mouth to respond, but Russ got there first. “Which would’ve worked for me, since I love you, but then again, I thought we wanted the same things.”
