Page 8 of In the Heir (Westerly Billionaire 1)
She laughed. “You make me sound horrible.”
Giving his grandmother’s hand a gentle squeeze, he said, “I’m beginning to think we are.”
“Well, at least you include yourself. I asked my mother once why she picked apart everything I did. She told me the greatest gift a parent could give a child was to have high expectations for them. Children these days stop pooping their pants and they think they deserve a gold medal. That’s not reality. I only push the ones I love.”
I agree and have done the same, but where has it brought our family? “I understand that, Grandmother, but if something doesn’t change, you may end up dying alone.”
His grandmother gasped. “You’re awful.”
He smiled. “I get it from you.”
A reluctant smile stretched her lips. “You do, I’m afraid.”
“Is there hope for either one of us?” he joked, more serious than not.
Still holding his hand, his grandmother said, “Oliver always knew just what to say to make people feel better. I see him in you.”
“Me?” Brett asked, not too sure he appreciated the comparison. Especially now that I know how my grandfather died.
“And your father. Dereck worshipped his father. He was so much like him when he was younger. Always laughing. Seeing the bright side of everything. Your mother’s betrayal made Dereck so unhappy he lost himself, and he’s never found his way back.” Delinda had never believed her son had cheated on his wife. Dereck’s protests that the dissolution of his marriage had been his fault had fueled Delinda’s distrust of Stephanie.
As Brett listened, he understood his father’s decision to keep his grandfather’s dark secrets to himself. There would have been no benefit to destroying his grandmother’s version of her husband. “We need to talk about the letter you sent everyone. You realize Spencer took it to heart.”
“Good. Alessandro says his family was healed when his nephews and nieces found love. He thinks the same could happen with us.”
Brett put an arm around a woman who needed him more than he’d ever realized. “That’s what the marriage clause is about? How many glasses of wine in was Alessandro when he gave you this advice?”
She rolled her eyes. “It worked for them. I’m giving it a try.” She waved a finger at him. “Who knows, even you might finally settle down. Then maybe you’ll come around more.”
He smiled at her gently. “I don’t need your money.” He guided her toward the door. “But I will try to get here more often. At eighty, you’re already living on borrowed time.”
His grandmother swatted at him and laughed. “I intend to live to one hundred.”
“Good,” he said. “Now, we’re going to find everyone else, and you will be nice. Keep all of your helpful advice to yourself. Say things like, ‘That’s great’ and—”
“Bravo,” his grandmother said with forced enthusiasm.
“We’ll work on your delivery,” Brett said as they entered the foyer.
Michael met them. “Pardon the interruption, but it seems that there was an emergency somewhere that required everyone to leave.”
“They’re gone?” Delinda asked and slumped against Brett.
“Yes,” Michael answered simply.
“Thank you, Michael,” Brett said.
“Will you be staying for lunch?” Michael asked.
Normally, Brett would have declined, but the more he learned about his grandmother, the more he felt sorry for her. She was living by a stern philosophy her parents had passed down to her, and there she was, after a life of being doted on, alone and confused as to how it happened.
No different than his father.
No different than me.
“Would you like me to, Grandmother?”
A smile returned to her face. “I would. I would like it very much.”
A short time later, Brett bit into a lobster salad sandwich and encouraged his grandmother to tell him another story of what life had been like before his grandfather had died. The way she glowed as she spoke of that time made him smile, but he was also sad for how it had all turned out.
He wished he’d met his grandfather.
Would he be the weak man Father described or the loving paragon Grandmother remembers?
Could a man be both?
Chapter Four
Monday afternoon Alisha left school a few minutes after her last student was picked up. Before pulling out of the parking lot, she sent a text to Rachelle to say she wasn’t feeling well and wouldn’t be working out with her that evening. Physically, Alisha was fine, but emotionally she’d only made it through the day by pushing back how raw the weekend had left her.
Although on the surface her childhood had certainly looked different, the gut-wrenching guilt of watching someone she loved be treated badly was familiar enough to bring back memories Alisha could usually keep at bay. Telling Delinda Westerly what she thought of her behavior should have felt cathartic, but it remained tangled in a cluster of other feelings.
Marrying Spencer had been easy to agree to. At the time it had felt like a helpful deed without consequences. She hadn’t expected for everything to go so fast. He wanted to move the wedding date to the following weekend. She wasn’t ready.
Which felt ridiculous, because there was nothing to get ready for. In fact, the sooner they did it, the sooner they could end it.
Alisha drove toward her sanctuary. Had it gone to her mother, her father would have sold it. She was thankful her grandmother had wisely bypassed her own daughter and left Alisha the three-hundred-square-foot, one-bedroom cabin on a tiny slip of land by Lake Serenity. Over time the land around it had been built up with extravagant homes plus docks that jutted out well beyond the shore. The cabin was often confused for a utility shed for one of the neighboring properties, but to Alisha it was heaven. The thick brush surrounding it gave the illusion of privacy on an otherwise overpopulated shoreline.
And Alisha needed a place to hide, even if only for a few hours.
After leaving Delinda’s home, she had gone back to Stephanie’s place with the rest of the siblings. Emotions had been running high for everyone.
Stephanie had taken Spencer and Alisha aside to talk about slowing down their plans to marry. “It’s a big decision, and not one anyone should rush into.”
Spencer had argued that some things were better done quickly, decisively.
Never happy being left out, Rachelle and Nicolette had joined the awkward conversation, and soon the length of the engagement was being debated from all sides. The whole thing began to feel like a train speeding down tracks without brakes, and instead of helping Alisha gain control of it, the multiple opinions only added more fuel. The more arguments Spencer heard against marrying fast, the more determined he became that they should do it the following weekend.
“What does Alisha want?” Stephanie had asked, and all eyes turned to her.
Unable to voice the truth and unwilling to lie, Alisha had excused herself from the conversation and bolted to the porch. It was Rachelle who’d joined her there, but what she said had cut through her even though Rachelle hadn’t intended it to. She’d said, “Crazy day, huh? Aren’t you glad we’re not really your family?”
With a whoosh, her words had knocked the breath clear out of Alisha. When she’d stood up to Delinda for the people she loved, in that moment they’d been her family. But they’re not.
They’re friends. Good friends, but Stephanie is not my mother. As much as I love Rachelle and Nicolette, they are not my sisters.
She’d looked down at the ring on her finger. I don’t really even have a fiancé.
If this goes badly, I could end up with no one.
Her thoughts must have shone on her face because Rachelle quickly said, “Oh my God, Alisha, I didn’t mean it that way. I was trying to make you feel better. I’m an idiot.”
Alisha had forced a bright smile. “What? Don’t be silly. I knew what you meant. I’m probably fighting something, because I’m
tired and cranky all of a sudden.”
Rachelle had placed the back of her hand across Alisha’s forehead. “You don’t feel feverish, but there are all sorts of colds going around my classroom. You should get to bed early tonight.”
Alisha had stood, brushed off the back of her dress, and promised to do just that.
Sleep hadn’t helped, though. Nor had her busy day at school. She was hoping a few hours at the lake house would clear her head.
A while later, she was sitting by the edge of her lawn, throwing pebbles into the water. Once summer started and school ended, peace would be impossible to find here, but today it was blissfully quiet.
If I marry Spencer, will Stephanie forever see me as the woman who divorced her son? Will she come to hate me the way Delinda hates her?
I could tell Spencer that I’ll only do this for him if we can be honest with her. And Nicolette.
Alisha remembered Brett’s expression when he caught her standing up to his grandmother. He looked . . . proud of her. Someone should tell him, too; then he might stop seeing me as a potential gold digger.
