Page 94 of Shadow's Surrender
“Good riddance,” Scarlett muttered, then sank down in a chair opposite her dad. “I don’t appreciate you going to Shadow’s warehouse yesterday. If you have something to say, then tellme, not him.” She folded her arms across her chest.
“You won’t listen to sense, so I thought he would, but he’s just as hardheaded as you are.”
“I intend to stay that way. I love him, Dad. There … I said it.”
George jerked his head back. “Love? That’ll get you far. Marriage is hard, and in a couple of years that love you talk about will fade—and coming from the same background and understanding the elite society in which we live, that’ll keep you together. You need a foundation.”
Scarlett’s hands fell down to her lap. “First of all, I’m talking about dating him, not marrying him. I’m only twenty-five, and I have a job I’d like to turn into a career. Besides, Shadow and I do have things in common.” She laced her fingers together. “He’s the one for me,” she whispered.
“The one,” her dad scoffed. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means that I’m in love with him and I’d do anything for him. It’s that simple and that perfect.”
“You know your mother’s sick about this.” Her dad poured some more whiskey into the glass.
“She’ll survive—she always does. She’ll find some more charities to keep her busy.”
“Don’t talk disrespectfully about your mother. She loves you and wants the best for you.”
“I don’t think so,” she said in a low voice. “Mom wants the best forher. Everything revolves around her.”
Her dad brought the drink to his mouth.
“Why did you and Mom marry? The last time I saw any affection between the two of you was when I was a kid. Did you two ever love each other, or was your marriage one of convenience?”
George looked hard at her over the rim of the tumbler as he drained the last drop of whiskey.
“You young people think you invented love. How naïve and childish. There are all kinds of love … and affection. You don’t have a damn clue. Your mother and I have a quiet understanding—a bond. We’ve been together for a long time. Enough said about that.”
Scarlett wanted to ask him how he thinks her mother feels when he’s with other women, but she held her tongue and glanced over at the window instead. Outside, glittering water danced from the mouths of several stone lions perched around the edge of a large fountain, creating mini rainbows of brilliant prismatic hues.
“I’m not going to break up with him,” she whispered. Leather squeaked as her dad shifted in his chair.
“I know. Just promise me you won’t rush into anything until you get to know him better.”
Glancing at him, she nodded. “That’s fair. Mom will be mad that you’re not reading me the riot act or cutting me off.”
A slow, tired smile whispered across his lips. “Would either of that do any good?”
“No,” she replied.
“Then why go through the motions? You might not believe this, but I want what’s best for you. That’s why I thought Warren would’ve made a good husband.”
“There was nothing sincere about the way you were shoving him down my throat. I can’t believe that you used me as a damn bargaining chip with that loathsome Mr. Huntington. Way to go,Dad.”
“It wasn’t like that.” He held his hand up in front of his face. “Let me finish. Yes, I would’ve received a bargain price on Huntington’s land if you and Warren married, but I really thought the two of you were perfect for each other. He comes from the right background, has a good career … good schooling. What parent wouldn’t want someone like that for their daughter? None—that’s who.”
“Warren didn’t make me happy, and Shadow does.”
“For now.”
“This isn’t just a crush or an infatuation kind of love. My heart hurts just thinking of my life without the joy he brings. That’s the kind of love it is.”
“When everything is great, that works. But life is full of ups and downs, of past events we wish we could change. Life can be wonderful and cruel, and I’ve always wanted to give you the world—to protect you from all the ugly bullshit. I feel like I’ve failed you.”
In that moment, for the first time in her life, Scarlett saw her father as just a man and not as the domineering patriarch of the family.
Her heart squeezed. A lump filled her throat. “You haven’t failed me,” she murmured. Scarlett stood up and went over to her father. “I’ve always thought I disappointedyou.”
