Page 96 of Playing By Ear

“Then what? Would you work for Ray and Pete or strike out on your own?”

Belinda pursed her lips. “I don’t think I could work for them. It’s MacKray Enterprises. It should be run by a proper MacKray, not an in-law.”

“So not Stuart either?”

She shot him a sharp look. “Has Dad dropped a hint to you about my husband?”

Jamie put up his hands. “Not at all. I just thought, if it cannae be a son, he might think a son-in-law’s the next best thing.”

“That would kill me, and Dad knows it.”

“Okay, okay.” He bought himself time to think by digging into his bag of Empire biscuits, though he already had a sugar rush from the mocha.

He’d never wanted any part of this succession battle, and here he was at the center of it, thanks to Middle Tony. By warning Belinda before his father, he’d taken a clear side.

And instead of embracing this opportunity to break free like Jamie had hoped, her pride and loyalty were making her dig in even more. But could he really judge her, since he himself had felt the same knee-jerk rejection of Tony’s proposal?

A pair of mute swans swam past side by side, their long white necks forming two graceful arcs.

“Dad once telt me,” Jamie said, “the male swan sometimes culls his own offspring if he thinks them weak. To save the rest of the family, he said.”

Belinda groaned. “He told me the same. How the father drowns the babies that are slowing the rest of them down. Did you cry?”

He would never admit that to her. “No, but I must have had some reaction, because he said it was proof humans are better than animals. We protect all our family, even the soft ones.”

“Funny,” she said, “he never mentioned that bit to me.”

“Maybe you didn’t need to hear it like I did.”

“Hmm.” Belinda ran her thumb over her name written in black marker on the coffee cup. “Did you ever think it could be you, taking over things? Did you want it to be you?”

“Fuck, no.” He sucked melted icing off his forefinger. “I thought it would be Ritchie. Then, with him gone, you were the obvious choice. Never me. I’m not strong like the rest of you.”

“You are strong, just not the twisted sort of strong it takes to be part of the family business.”

“I’m not the sort of strong it takes to be part of the family, full stop.”

Belinda looked hurt. “So, what, you’ll leave us after Dad’s gone?”

That had been exactly his intention. Now, he spent every spare thought working out how to be with them yet not with them. “I’ve survived ten years without this mad clan.”

“But I saw you at Easter, how well you fitted in, how happy you were to be back with us. And the family, they all glowed when they looked at you. Especially Dad.”

Jamie remembered all too well that unsettling look of contentment on his father’s face.

He asked the signature Bad News Bench question. “What do we do now?”

“Let me handle Middle Tony. I’ll pass on his message to Dad, but not until I’ve worked out my next move. Until then, promise me you won’t say anything.”

“Promise,” he said automatically.

Belinda removed the lid from her coffee, then lifted the drink with both hands to take a sip. The steam billowed up to wisp around her face as she stared out over the loch. “There was a time I would’ve stopped at nothing to gain control. But since Lucy came along, I’ve gone soft.”

“Gone human, you mean.”

“I would kill to protect her, but so would any mother.” She looked at Jamie. “You can’t know real fear, real rage, until you’ve had a child. Every emotion I felt before Lucy seems pure beige to me now.”

He put his hand on her arm, ready to speak plainly. “Lucy could be a lot safer if you negotiate with the Coyles. If they leave the family with enough money to be comfortable, you could start a new business. A legit one, like you’ve been wanting to do.” Like she’d claimed to want to do.