“Just be yourself,” he said to her, “and you’ll be fine.”
“But I’ve got to convince your father--”
Harrison interrupted her. “No you don’t. That’s off the table. You don’t have to convince him of anything, you hear me? Nothing. And I’ll be offended if you try.”
“But what about BCT and Bainbridge Oil?”
“I’ll worry about all of that. If it works out, then fine. If it doesn’t, that’s fine too.” He rubbed the side of her smooth, flawless face. “As the future Mrs. Harrison Bainbridge, that isn’t your responsibility anymore.”
Although Jayda smiled, she knew it was even more her responsibility. “We’re in this together, Harrison,” she said to him. “And there’s no way these people are going to claim that you hooked up with me and then lost it all. You aren’t losing agotdamn thing. If it’s to be gotten, we’re getting it.”
Harrison smiled. And then he laughed. Why was he so worried about her? He’d already seen how she could hold her own against the best of them. His father and brother were in a different league for sure, but so was Jayda. “Yes ma’am,” he said to her.
But after knocking on the window for Vincent to open the door, Harrison hesitated again. He was holding her hand, but not moving.
“What is it?” she asked him.Haven’t you told me enough, she wanted to add.
“It’s my brother,” Harrison said. “He can be vicious.”
“Why is so vicious?”
“Because he grew up that way. My father was that way and he thought being like my father would keep him in his good graces. And it has. But Felix, my brother, takes it too far. He loves pushing buttons. He loves getting you to lower yourself to his level. He wants you to lose it. He wants to have a clash of words with you because that’s his playground. Nobody is going to outtalk Felix. So don’t say a word no matter how offensive he gets. And believe me, he will be offensive. Viciously so.”
“And your father’s the same way?”
“In his own way, yes, he is. Only father doesn’t use words. He’s never been a man of many words. But he’ll cut you off in a heartbeat. He won’t return your phone calls for nearly four years, and refuse to see you.”
Jayda stared at Harrison. “Which is what he did to you.”
Harrison nodded.“Right.”
“If you were raised by a man that vicious, why aren’t you vicious like your brother?”
“Oh I have my moments. Especially at work. I’m a hard-pounding, no-nonsense person in the way I run my businesses. But I’m not like them.”
Then Jayda smiled. “They not like us?”
Harrison loved that she could smile about it. Which made him smile. “No, darling. They aren’t like us.”
Then he exhaled, although she could still see that concern in his eyes. “Ready?”
She’d been nothing but ready ever since he put that ring on it. “I’m ready.”
And then they got out of the limo. And as soon as they did, Jayda’s nerves reignited.
She smoothed down her perfectly-fitted coral-colored dress that hugged her curves beautifully, while Harrison buttoned his suit.
“I look okay?” she asked him.
“You look wonderful. That dress fits you beautifully. Perfect choice.”
“That’s what I’ve always liked about you.”
“That I love your style of dress?”
“That you never tried to change my dress style, even before we got engaged. You never tried to buy me any expensive clothes to meet your family or make a high-class woman out of me.” She looked at him. “You just want me to be myself.”
“That’s absolutely right, Jayda. I fell in love with you, not with some image you can become. No matter what comes our way: Be yourself.”
