“Ms. Joyce? Hello. It’s Mason.”
“Oh! So, you do exist? Mason, do you and my daughter want to tell me who the hell you are and why you two decided to get married without giving her family a call?”
Mason glanced over at Xeni and realized there was no painless way out of this. “Let me apologize for that, but I will also admit that Xeni and I both agreed to keep this information from our parents.”
“Sounds like a lousy idea, Mason. So, what now? Do you have a job? Where do you live? That’s an interesting accent there. Where are you from exactly? Are youWhite?”
“I am White.”
“Oh god,” Xeni groaned quietly.
“I am also a citizen. My mother’s from Cleveland and my father’s a Scot. This was not a green card marriage, but I do think we owe you an explanation.”
“I would say so. Go ahead. Explain yourself.” Mason braced himself to have two members of the Everly family upset with him at once, but he didn’t see any other way to handle it . He reached out and took Xeni’s hand. She cupped the back of his palm with her other hand, holding on to him like he was the only thing grounding her to safety.
“I have my reasons for keeping things from my parents and I’ll happily explain them to you, but I think Xeni was trying to keep you from having another reason to be upset with her Aunt Sable. Your sister left Xeni and me both a sum of money. She left Xeni a much larger sum than she left me, of course, but it was stipulated in her will that we needed to get married in order for either of us to claim our portion.”
Joyce grumbled something unintelligible, before she went on. “So, my sister told you two that you had to get married and you just went ahead and did it. I don’t see how that stopped my daughter from picking up the phone.”
“No, that doesn’t excuse our behavior, but I have a feeling Xeni didn’t want to give you another reason to be upset with Ms. Sable, especially now. We only have to stay married for thirty days. We’ve already been transferred the funds. I know telling my parents would cause other issues.”
“Well, I don’t know what kind of people your parents are Mason, but that’s not how we do things in my house. So, you got your money and this is over in thirty days?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Mason said. He didn’t like the way his chest was starting to hurt.
“I hope the money was worth it.”
Mason glanced down at Xeni and took in the worry playing across her face. “All in, I think Xeni received around twenty-three million dollars in assets—”
“Twenty-three what?!”
“Million. For marrying me. And I don’t and won’t see a dime of that. It’s all hers. I know we went about this the wrong way, but Ms. Sable meant a lot to me and if marrying your daughter meant she could claim her inheritance, I couldn’t see how I could say no. I apologize for how we went about it.”
“Well—well I think I can understand. That’s a lot of money.”
“Would you like to talk to your daughter?”
“I—in a minute. You said you won’t see a dime of that. What did you get?”
“Ms. Sable left me some money to cover my student loan debt and a bit of money I owed my father. I’m very grateful for it.”
“I bet. So, I won’t be meeting you then, since is this only temporary?”
“I’d be happy to meet you, if you like,” Mason said carefully. The pain in his chest was now joined by a pulsing on the side of his head. His brain was doing all it could to punish him via hindsight. He and Xeni had really fucked up.
“Put my daughter on the phone.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Mason handed Xeni her phone. “She wants to speak with you.”
Xeni pressed her cell up to her ear, then turned and started walking through the grass. Mason went and sat on the steps, his head still throbbing. He knew they both needed the money. Xeni’s family probably needed what he knew she would end up sharing with them. Still, they’d been so focused on what they thought they had to do, they didn’t stop long enough to think about how they did it. He didn’t want to beat himself up for not considering how Xeni’s parents would react because he never thought they’d find out. He never thought she’d tell them. He never thought he’d be considering a single ‘what if’ beyond the thirty days.
“Mommy, I know, but you have to listen to me. Do not tell your sisters about this. Do not tell Anton or Rosia. I want to get you and Daddy squared away first and there’s still so much I have to sort out,” he heard her say. Suddenly his brain forced him to tune out. What the fuck had he been thinking, on the brink of asking Xeni to think about a real future where she saw the two of them together? He heard her say a tense goodbye to her mother. He looked up as she made her way back through the grass, Hank tight by her side. She was so beautiful, Mason almost reconsidered doing the right thing by letting her walk away. Another deep breath forced its way out of his lungs.
“Thinking about moving up that divorce?” she said with a humorless laugh.
“What did she say?”
“Basically told me I was selfish. Then she told me how much I’d hurt her.” Xeni tilted her head back, like she was trying to keep her tears inside her eyes. “But she doesn’t seem to be upset with you, so thank you for that.”
