So take a deep breath.
Now, Leo.
I pause reading and take a deep breath.
Good girl.
I love you.
Now get out of the truck and take my hand.
I got you.
– Ev
I look up from reading his note, and he is waiting outside my door. Jesus, I am so nervous I didn’t even realize he got out of the truck. When I look at him, he is already watching me. He opens my door and holds out his hand. I take it and hope that everything he said in his note is true. If I run, will he catch me? He has so far, but a part of me will never fully trust someone. It’s a product of my past, and despite how deeply I want to change that, I can’t. It’s part of the reason I know that Ev is too good for me. He doesn’t deserve someone as broken as I am.
When we get to the front door, their butler opens it. “Mr. Rowan, Miss Laney.” He motions us in and bows slightly. “Mr. Rowan, your parents are waiting in the sitting room.”
“Thank you, Richard.”
I nod and give him a smile. God, how rich do you have to be to have a butler? I know Mr. Rowan is the mayor, but does being the mayor of small-town Aurora, Oregon, really pay that well?
When we enter the sitting room, my fingers interlocked with Ev’s, his mother's eyes instantly meet mine, her chin tilts a little higher, and her eyes roam down my body, inspecting me.
They don’t say a thing. An awkward silence thickens the air, and I practically choke on it.
“Mom, Dad, this is Leora Laney. My girlfriend.”
By some miracle, I manage words. “It’s nice to meet you both. Your house is incredible.”
They don’t acknowledge my compliment. Ev’s dad looks just like him, or I guess it would be the other way around. He has the same stature as Ev, just slightly stouter, and his once-blond hair is mostly gray now. His face is almost identical to Ev’s, just slightly more wrinkled and worn. He clasps his son on the shoulder. “Come, son. Let's go into the den, let the ladies get to know each other.”
I beg Ev with my eyes not to leave me, but he gives me an apologetic grin and kisses me on my temple. He whispers in my ear, “You’ll be fine. Just be yourself. She will love you.”
Ev leaves with his dad, and I feel like the walls are caving in on me.
“Come and sit, Leora.”
She looks like she is gliding as she walks to a dark leather wing-backed chair. Her posture is perfect, legs crossed at the ankles. In her stiff white dress, she looks like the wife to the president, not the wife of a small-town mayor. She is beautiful in that old-money type of way, her dark-brown hair wrapped up into a French twist.Her face is tight, skin flawless. Most likely from Botox, but could be really good genetics, I guess.
I take the seat across from her and try to mimic her position and posture. She raises an eyebrow at me like she notices how hard I’m trying to fit in. “So, you and my son?”
“Yes, ma’am.” I’m not really sure what she is asking.
“I’m going to be forward with you, Leora. You and Everett were a surprise. Everett had been in love with Natasha for two years and then suddenly ended things with her and is completely smitten with you. I wonder how that happened?”
How do I even answer that?
“I…I…umm. I am not exactly sure what you are asking me?”
“We and the Baldwins have had an arrangement since Everett and Natasha were young. They were to be together. Married. In the world of politics, connections are everything. Do you understand?”
“Everett and Natasha have an arranged marriage?”
I feel like my heart has stopped beating. Can they do that? Are arranged marriages still a thing?
“Yes. Everett understood the importance of such a powerful connection and had agreed to it. Until you came along. So you can see why his father and I are not exactly thrilled about your hold over our son.”
