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‘I found her in bed with our gardener.’
‘What?’
‘Such a cliché, right?’
‘Edward...’ She shakes her head, sympathy creeping back into her eyes that I truly don’t need. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘I’m not. It was a relief to be off the hook—to learn the truth before it was too late.’
‘But your mother...what part did she play?’
‘Analise came out with all. We had a blazing row. She accused me of being a workaholic, said that she was bored, that she only ever agreed to marry me to keep my mother happy and because my mother had promised she would get her every wish fulfilled. She was moulding her into the perfect daughter-in-law—she was moulding her into herself.’
She gives a dramatic shudder. ‘Married to your own mother...heaven forbid.’
A laugh erupts out of me. ‘You never were her biggest fan.’
‘She was never mine.’
Her voice is stripped of any warmth and there’s a glint in her eye that I can’t read.
‘Don’t take it to heart. There aren’t many who secure her particular brand of approval.’
‘No, I guess not.’
Though it’s so quiet I struggle to hear her and I feel like I’ve lost her somewhere, that her head is in another place, another time. Her eyes... Are those...tears?
I lean forward but she looks away, reaches for her glass. She’s evading me. Or am I just imagining it?
‘Your mother hasn’t changed much, then?’
She blinks, her eyes returning to mine tear-free, and it takes me a second to adjust, another to absorb her question. ‘Not really.’
She gives a soft huff around her glass, takes a considered sip. ‘And there I was, thinking we’re supposed to grow as we get older, learn through our life experiences, become better people... Does she know about the inheritance?’
My jaw pulses as I fend off the memory of that particular phone call and nod.
‘How did she take it?’
‘About as well as you’d expect.’
‘Which is...?’
‘She threatened to bring in her lawyers, have it contested.’
‘You don’t seem worried?’
‘I’m not.’
‘So, you don’t think she will succeed?’
‘No. Gran did nothing wrong and followed the law to the letter. Charles made sure of that.’
‘Yet, you said—’
‘I know what I said, but my lawyers are better than hers.’
Are you serious?I cringe on the inside. How playground do you want to sound?
