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“I mean—” She stops, surprised by my response. “Really? You noticed?”
“Ever since my father passed, she’s been deep in mourning. As far as I know, last night was the first time she left her wing of the house in months.”
That seems to stun her. Keely sits back, sips her coffee, and frowns down at her hands. “I didn’t know.”
“My mother and my father were close. But it’s more than that. My mother was deeply involved in the family, and now that my brother’s in charge, she feels like she’s losing her purpose, too.” I reach out and put a hand on Keely’s thigh. “Sort of like how I felt, before you came along.”
She brushes my hand away and opens the door. “Easy there,” she murmurs, but I can tell something’s still on her mind.
I don’t push. I learned a while ago that silence is sometimes the best interrogator. I follow her inside and watch as she busies herself cleaning up, puttering around, looking at the work that still needs doing. Roger and his guys are doing a good and efficient job, and I’m guessing the whole place will be finished in a couple weeks. Well ahead of the original schedule.
Finally, after a few minutes, she turns to me with her arms crossed, looking frustrated. “I need to tell you something about your mother.”
“Okay.” I lean against the same metal workbench I fucked her on yesterday. I can still taste her on my lips. “Go ahead.”
“Your mother talked to me last night. She said some things about—about your family.” She’s turning red. I can tell this is hard, whatever it is.
“Just say it plainly. I won’t get angry.” Which might not be true, but I’ll try at least.
“She told me to leave you. Well, she told me to leave the family.”
I stand up straight, feeling like someone shoved a hot metal rod down my throat. “She said what?”
“It’s not about you. She said it’s the family, it corrupts people. She seemed sad and lonely, and when I told her about the five months—”
“You didwhat?”
“I had to do it! She started talking about this other thing and I just blurted it out and—”
I rub my face, pacing back and forth. “Tell me what happened.” My voice is cold and hard. I don’t like talking to her this way, but there’s a gap on this story and I want to understand.
“She told me to leave the family. She said you’re a good man, and you’d make a good husband, but the family ruins people. It makes them hard. And, Nolan, I’m not sure she meant it, but she’s obviously hurting. That’s why I’m telling you, because she’s hurting, and maybe she needs you more than you realize.”
I pause my pacing, working my jaw. “What do you know about my family?” I say, hating myself for the heat that pours from my lips. “You don’t get to make judgments like that.”
“Nolan, I’m not telling you this to upset you. I just think—”
“You think what?” I turn on her, hands bunched into fists. “You’ve been itching for an excuse to end this relationship since the moment it began. I understand this wasn’t your idea, but I had hoped you’d give it a try, at least for a little while. We’ve been married for barely three days, and you’re already thinking about divorce.”
Her eyes widen, and her anger flares in response to mine. “You knew what this is,” she says. “I never said I’d stay with you longer than the five months we agreed to. This is a business deal, you asshole. I kept telling you not to look for something from me that I’m not offering.”
“Still doesn’t give you the right to judge my family.” I work my jaw, not sure why the fuck I’m defending the Crowleys so damn hard right now. The whole point of being with Keely is to escape my family—it makes no sense that I’m reacting like this.
Except deep down, I know why. I’ve been so conditioned by my family, by my father and my brothers, even by my mother, that at this point I can’t escape it. I have the Crowley organization deep in my bones, deep in my blood, and no matter how hard I try to wriggle away, I’ll never escape.
It owns me. It owns all of me.
“I’m not judging. I just think maybe we could do a weekly Sunday dinner with your mother. You know, to help her. And I liked her.”
“I’m sure you did.” I turn my back on Keely, angrier with myself now than I am with her. I like that she’s thinking of ways to bring my mother back into the world. “Sunday dinner sounds good.”
“We could invite your brother,” she says quickly. “Carson, Ash, Finn, Dara—”
“Mother first,” I say through my teeth. “And only mother. The others later. When you’ve decided that you don’t hate my family.”
“I never pretended like this was anything more,” she says, her voice soft, but firm.
I know she’s right. I still don’t like that my mother told her to leave, and she listened.
