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“Thursday,” he mumbled and left.
“How very, very unusual for him to show up at our door,” James said, watching Benjamin growing smaller in the distance. “I wonder if that is connected to the, well, how did you put it…marriage?” His head tilted to the side as he rubbed his chin. Ava buried her face into her palms. This would be the strangest, most difficult conversation she would have ever had in her life. But it had to happen. Now, not later.
“Let’s go inside, I will explain everything to you over a hot cup of coffee…” They both started walking inside. “Or wine,” she added dead seriously.
Thursday arrived.
Benjamin sat in the study with his mother. He’d been pacing for the past twenty minutes, only deciding to sit down at his mother’s insistence.
“Where is he?” he asked irritably, peering through the window before taking his seat.
“Calm down, son. We have bigger problems than that. It’s that Ava we have to worry about.”
Benjamin folded his arms, leaning back. “I don’t think she’ll show. She’s got pride. People who ‘work with society’,” he paused, punctuating the air with his fingers, “always seem to think they’re above everyone else.”
“Anyone can give the homeless some bread,” Lucy rolled her eyes.
“I don’t think it’s that simple.”
“Whose side are you on?” His mother waved a hand in front of herself.
“The side of a billion dollars,” Ben smirked.
Lucy grew quiet, smoothing her skirt with a dull look in her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Benjamin wondered, noting the look of disgust in her face as she got lost in her thoughts.
“You mean besides the fact that my son is getting married to the gardener’s daughter?”
Ben frowned. “Yes, besides that fact…”
Lucy bit her lip so hard it bled a little. “Alright Ben, I will tell you. Besides the fact that this sham marriage will result in a stranger being in our house, who knows what type of people will start lingering around here. Have you ever considered the possibility that she is not aiming for the ten mil at the end of the six months but rather… well… ALL of the estate?”
Ben looked at his mother long and deep. With Lucy Radcliff you always had to fish for the hidden words in between the lines. He sighed and stroked his chin.
“You are worried I will break the rules? Disappear for weeks in Vegas or something”
Lucy stayed quiet.
“That I can’t keep my pants zipped for six months? Like a dog chasing everything that’s not up the tree by the count of… one?” His voice shook a little. He was more hurt than angry. Sure, he wasn’t exactly the model son from next door, but he also wasn’t Charles Manson. What did she think of him? For weeks he had stood by his grandfather’s side, not going out once. Did that not prove that he wasn’t an out-of-control teenager on an overload of testosterone?
Lucy continued her silence, angry at his words but a bit embarrassed about her own too.
Impatiently Ben rubbed his hand on his leg, checking the time on his cell once more. “If Ava thinks she has a shot at my inheritance, she will be horribly disappointed.”
Lucy’s face was a contorted mask of hate and anger, her voice sharp and acidic. “Damn right this street girl will be disappointed. There is no way I’ll call myself a Radcliff and then allow some… some nobody reap whatshe did not sow. I won’t just let some stranger waltz in and take everything away from me.” Her eyes narrowed and her lips pressed tight gave her a devious image. “I’ll make those six months a living hell for her…”
Ben was about to remind his mother that it was his inheritance, not hers, when the door opened and Walter stepped in next to a court clerk, followed closely by Ava Burns. A heavy curtain of thick, unbreathable air filled the room in a matter of seconds. Ben rubbed his neck, Ava stared onto the marble floor, while Lucy tightened her face and looked at Ava, making sure the girl saw the contempt in her eyes. Ava tried to ignore it and sat down at a chair in front of the desk.
Benjamin quietly took a seat next to her. He sat on his chair without turning as the clerk seated himself in front of both of them. He peeked over at Ava. Was she scared? Angry? Maybe her face would give away what she thought. She looked… different, in a way. Pretty. She was wearing make-up and a cute, white, summer dress. Her blonde hair fell over her shoulders. Did she dress up for the wedding? He looked away, feeling a bit ashamed that although his wardrobe was worth more than her entire house, he was only wearing jeans.
Walter, once again, thanked everyone for coming. He introduced the court clerk, a middle-aged man who kinda looked like a giraffe, and then even tried to make a joke about some charities becoming millions of dollars richer if they hadn't shown up, but no one laughed. He shrugged and admitted, perhaps speaking to himself, “Excuse me… I’m a lawyer, not a comedian.” He then handed things over to the city clerk, who was mumbling the usual meaningless words before things would actually proceed to the important part of the whole ceremony. The signing of the marriage license.
When both of them silently picked up their pens to sign the license, Lucy loudly shifted in her seat, but Walter cast a sharp glance at her and quickly reminded them that he wouldn't appreciate any unnecessary interruptions today.
Just do it.Ben leaned forward and signed first. But Ava was frozen, pen in hand, staring onto the paper in front of her as if it held the answer to who killed Kennedy and if aliens were real. Ben and Lucy exchanged worried looks then stared directly at Ava. She knew they were looking at her; her hair fell over that side of her face, a natural veil. She cleared her throat.
“I have one more condition to add,” she suddenly said loud and clear. Lucy straightened in her seat, her nails digging into the armrest with the rage of a dragon.
