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It sounds crazy, I know. I’m so desperate, though. A marriage of convenience would give me all the things I’m losing in the wake of my job being shirked from my fingertips. Financial security, insurance…
And being married to Chase Gladstone doesn’t sound half bad.
I know it wouldn’t be real. Iknowthat. And that’s part of the problem. Because a part of me wonders if I could make it real. Ever since Chase came home from his first semester at Princeton, walking in on Caroline and me playing a game of mermaids in the pool, I’ve been hung up on him. Just a crush, one I tamped deep down inside me, knowing that it’d be wrong to want my best friend’s older brother.
However, as the years pass, Chase has just made it harder.
Gram might be giving him shit for getting older, but he’s like a good brandy. Just getting better and better and more intoxicating with age. I haven’t seen him with the beard yet, dense and thick on his jawline.
I’d love to feel it on the inside of my thighs.
You’re doing this for security, Jude. Nothing else can be promised.
“Spit it out, Judith,” Gram snaps at me.
“I – I think…” My eyes lock on Chase’s. Now or never. “I think we should tell them.”
Chase raises an eyebrow. “Tell them what?”
“Tell them about…” I drift closer to him. “About us.”
Chase pulls his head slightly back, trying to add up a math problem that doesn’t follow any logical steps.
Caroline alerts, sitting straight up in her chair. “Are you – are you telling me y’all are –”
“Together,” I say firmly. I touch Chase’s arm. He nearly flinches from my touch. But I grab tighter to assert myself. “I know, we said we wouldn’t say anything, honey, but given the circumstances –”
“How long has this been going on?” Caroline asks. Her face is unreadable, somewhere between betrayed and… possibly excited.
I slip my arm through Chase’s. “The better part of a year. We didn’t want to tell anyone until we were sure.”
“And are you sure?” Gram asks, lips contorted with skepticism.
I squeeze Chase’s arm. I’ve been doing all the talking.
Chase looks at me, sapphires boring into my eyes. It’s a look that might kill me in two separate ways.
I purse my lips and look back at him harder.I’m helping you. Don’t fuck this up.
He looks back to Gram, head held high. “Yes. Yes, I’m…” He claps his hand over mine. We could be painted for a portrait right now in this position. “I’m sure.”
Gram’s doubt fades into a smile. I can’t help but smile back. Earning a smile from Gram is like winning the lottery. And given the size of her fortune, it may as well be that. “You have no idea how happy this makes me.”
“Have you proposed?!” Caroline squeaks, now kneeling on her chair.
“No, not yet, this is all rather sudden. I’m sure we wouldn’t be rushing if not for the circumstances,” Chase responds, getting his sea legs.
Though we stand arm and arm, I’ve never felt more like someone is disgusted by me. However, he’s agreed to the terms. Must mean he really wants the money. “No proposal is necessary. I don’t mind an agreement and a quick courthouse –”
“No, no, no, dear,” Gram says, getting to her feet. She’s a tiny woman, but she may as well be a dragon as she approaches me. “There are traditions to be had. You two will be married in style, I assure you.” She cups my cheeks in her hand. “It’s what you deserve for reining in this wild bull, huh?”
Chase’s eyes squinch together. “Please don’t call me a bull, Gram.”
I laugh. “It wasn’t easy, but –”
“I’ve always known there was something here,” Gram goes on.
“Brandy anyone?” Caroline cries out from across the room where she now stands at the bar cart.
