Very true.
That was one of the things that scared me the most when my grandfather died. The growing reality that one day I would be on my own, helming the ship. Making all the choices and having to live with them.
“What I hear in that audio recording,” she went on, “is the bigger problem, as I see it. If it had been edited and distributed in the media, it certainly wouldn’t have come across like a woman who loves you. It doesn’t sound much tomelike a woman who loves you.”
I sat back in my seat and blew out a breath. Laurinda wouldn’t distribute it now. Not with the Kings and our legal team breathing down her neck. But I wasn’t sure I even cared about that anyway.
“What if you’re right,” I asked her, “and my wife doesn’t love me?”
“Then you have some work ahead of you.”
I considered that. I wondered if our marriage would be able to survive all the blows against me—against us—even if Devi wanted to stay with me. To try.
“What if she does love you?” my grandmother asked me.
“Then I guess we’re both wrong.”
“Then I want great-grandchildren, Dane,” she said firmly. “Many, many great-grandchildren, while I’m still here to meet them.”
I studied the woman sitting in front of me. Petite. Elegant. Aging.
Strong.
Devi had called me the devil, and it stung. But as the matriarch of my family, I’d always seen my grandmother in that role. And the devil didn’t dwell down below, in the shadows. She sat high above the masses, looking down. It wasn’t an insult, seeing her that way. She’d probably be amused if I told her.
I’d never thought of the devil as getting pleasure from causing pain. The devil simply knew what she wanted and took it. If you had the courage or the stupidity to bargain with her, she’d honor what you won from her.
But it would be hard-won.
I knew that now.
People thought that my life had been easy because I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth.
Other than the money, there was nothing easy about being a Davenport.
“Here’s the thing, Grandmother,” I told her. “That all sounds great. But I’ve had some time to think. And with Devi gone, kind of makes all the rest seem… not worthwhile.”
“What are you saying, Dane?”
“I’m saying that if what you really want is a family, great-grandchildren, you have a strange way of showing it.”
My grandmother said nothing. She held my eyes, and for once in my life, I didn’t just back down from that cold, expectant gaze.
“You have a grandson you don’t even acknowledge. Lex deserves better than that.”
“It’s complicated, Dane,” she said in a warning tone.
Just like my mother said.Complicated.
As if love being “complicated” was an excuse not to love someone at all?
“Yeah. I’m sure it is. But this part is pretty simple.” I got to my feet. “The pursuit of this inheritance, proving myself to you, has made me lose the one thing I want even more than my name, my money, my place in this family. So, I’m walking away.”
“What?”
“I’m walking away. I want this marriage to work. But I can’t be a worthy husband or a member of this family or even president of this company if I don’t even know what kind of man I am, when everyone shuts up for a minute and lets me decide for myself. Do you follow me?”
“No,” she said icily. “I do not follow.”
