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“So, did your grandmother have all the gardens planted?” I asked as I walked on the estate grounds after we’d finished lunch and I’d been shown up to the beautiful suite Spencer had occupied while growing up.
I’d changed into a casual pair of soft, skinny trousers, my favorite cashmere sweater, and a pair of flats to meet Sloane and Becca for the walk they’d promised me.
“Actually, she replanted them,” Sloane said as we wandered the stunning gardens. “They were a mess when she and my grandfather bought the estate, and she grew up in a gardening family. There were a few really confused gardeners out here when my Nonna came out daily with a hoe and a few bags of fertilizer to ensure they were doing things correctly and getting seeds from the right vendors.”
There was something about Sloane that I found so calming. Once we’d gotten away from Heidi, she became much more confident, with the tone of her voice stronger and tougher than it had been just an hour before. Aside from her beauty, one would never guess she came from the womb of the miserable bitch. Even Becca seemed freer, skipping through the hedgerows and pausing to pick a flower now and then. It made me a bit sad for them, living that way.
“Remember only to pick the ones that Nonna told you were okay, Bex,” Sloane called after her daughter, who waved us off before continuing on her way. “Becca spends as much time as she can out here with Nonna,” she said as she looked back at me. “If I didn’t make her come in for her studies, she’d probably spend the whole night outside.” She shrugged then her expression darkened, “I guess if I let her stay all night out here, she would at least have a great excuse to avoid her grandmother.” She sighed, then looked at me with sad eyes, “Forgive me, I should’ve kept that to myself.”
“Don’t worry about saying what you need to say in front of me,” I answered her. “I’m no stranger to disliking my own family. If anything, I’m sorry for making myself into your mom’s enemy by sparking off like I did at the table today.”
“You were going to be her enemy either way,” she said, kicking her booted foot through the tall grass. “It’s inevitable with her. If Mother is crossed by any of us, even for the most insignificant things, it’s impossible to keep on good terms. She just—she is who she is.”
“And here I thought I put the woman in her place,” I smiled, but after seeing Sloane’s unwavering expression, my ego instantly deflated at that theory.
“No,” she said. “All you did was talk to hear yourself talk with that woman. Nothing affects her. All she heard was noise.”
“She’s that bad, eh?”
“There’s a reason Spencer hardly speaks around her, and Spencer is the harshest of us all. “She’s wasted energy for him, and if there’s one thing I know about my brother, he doesn’t waste anything he values, especially his energy.”
“Makes sense. I’ve seen Spence put people in the ground over a business disagreement. I’ve yet to meet anyone willing to stand up and hold their own against that man,” I said truthfully, understanding why Spencer gave his mother no airtime at lunch.
Sloane’s expression lightened as her chocolate eyes searched mine, “But you can hold your own with him?”
I rolled my eyes. “I have a bit more leverage with him, obviously,” I winked at her.
“How did you honestly manage to pull Spencer off the market? I can’t tell you how many women have wished to be in your shoes,” she teased.
“Oh, I have my ways,” I said, not wanting to get into the lie Spencer and I had concocted to get him through this wedding.
I liked Sloane, and I liked Becca. And, despite how good I was at it, I wasn’t a fan of lying. So, if I wanted to get out of here with a shred of dignity, knowing I hadn’t conned the kind and decent people around this place, I would have to keep the conversation light—time to learn everything about gardening.
Chapter Thirteen
SPENCER
I sat in my father’s old office after I changed from my traveling clothes into a pair of jeans. A faint smile turned up in the corner of my mouth, knowing that wearing jeans around this estate would positively repulse my mother. I’d managed to successfully put up an impenetrable façade no matter what she said, simply reminding myself of what awaited me upstairs in my room once I finished this bullshit.
I was pretty impressed with Natalia holding her own against my mother at lunch, but again, that’s why I brought her as my fake wife. I knew she could take that woman’s insults and hurl them back at her. Sadly, Natalia’s words didn’t put my mother in her place, and therefore, it was a waste of time to speak them, even if she was standing up for herself.
My mind drifted back to when we dismissed ourselves from the table and went up to our room, where our things had been unpacked for us already. Nat sat down on the bed with a deep sigh of relief. “Not gonna lie, I could get used to this bed.”
I smiled, walking over to her. “You’re lucky I made Nonna replace all the mattresses a couple of years ago. These beds used to be the worst part of being here.”
“Really?” She raised her eyebrow at me. “The worst part, huh?”
“Well,” I said, shrugging, “I’d say it would’ve been on par with the other worst part.”
She tilted her head at me as she pulled her knees into her chest to hug them. “Your mother is a lively one, isn’t she?”
I gave Nat a tight smile. “Lively is certainly one way to put it.”
“You know what I mean,” she said with a roll of her eyes.
I took my seat on the bed next to her, unsure how to approach the subject of my mother, but shit, I brought Nat here to be part of this, and she was a human and not a fucking robot. She had feelings, too.
