Page 3 of Wed to You

Chelsea felt reprimanded and thought that, perhaps, she should. She’d made assumptions about Jagger based on what she knew about his playboy exploits and failure to show up to Kaden’s conferences. Still, he was Kaden’s guardian and needed to make more of an effort to participate in his education, instead of pawning it off on the nanny. Chelsea considered telling him so, but her mother had long ago taught her to control the expression of her opinions. “And if you have to say something, use a little tact, Chelsea, even if it tastes like vinegar rolling off the tongue.” She bit her lip to hold back her thoughts and rearranged her words. “I’m sorry if I offended you, Mr. Talbot. I can see Kaden is well taken care of, but it’s my job to make sure he gets what he needs educationally.”

“Are those his tests and grades?” Jagger nodded toward the folder.

“Yes.”

“Is there anything in there that suggests he’s not getting the education he needs? Because I can send him to private school.”

She knew he was poking at her, but she refused to take the bait. She was more interested in why he hadn’t sent Kaden to private school. “Why didn’t you?”

He leaned back, his furrowed brow suggesting he hadn’t expected her question. “Because I want Kaden to have a regular childhood. I want him to ride the bus to school and live in the real world with real people.”

Real people?Weren’t they real people?

“Someday Kaden is going to be very rich and expected to live as a Talbot. Until then, he deserves to just be a kid.”

The mixture of determination and pain in Jagger’s expression softened Chelsea but didn’t completely eliminate her criticism of him. She didn’t know what he meant by “expected to live as a Talbot” or what caused the sadness in his eyes, but she’d never put much stock in the idea of a poor little rich boy. It always amazed her to hear about rich people’s suffering. Not that they didn’t have problems, but they had money to help solve those problems.

Money might not buy happiness, but it could do a lot. It could allow a young man to go to graduate school instead of enlisting and dying in a foreign land. It might not cure cancer, but it could afford enough medical attention to prolong the life of a parent. For sure, it would keep away the creditors who were more interested in foreclosing on a home than renegotiating terms with the owner.

Chelsea shook her head of her problems and refocused on Jagger. He seemed sincere and serious in his love for Kaden, and he was clearly offended by her suggestion that he was otherwise. On the other hand, there’d been plenty of times he could have come to a school event, and he hadn’t. The question was why. Was it because he was doing whatever was “expected of a Talbot?” Did he work? No. Jagger Talbot didn’t have to work. His great-grandfather and grandfather made sure no Talbot would have to work ever again.

It was more likely that Jagger missed school events because he was bored living in the quiet rural town of Charlotte Tavern and was spending time back in New York with women and wine. Except wouldn’t that have put him back in the tabloids? Thinking about it, she realized she hadn’t seen anything about him in the media since his move south a year ago. The sleepy town and his domestic life must be too boring for the paparazzi. So why hadn’t he come to Kaden’s school events?

Realizing he was waiting for her to respond, Chelsea managed a smile. “I’m sorry if I offended you, Mr. Talbot. My intentions are good.”

“Yeah, well, you know what they say about the road to hell.”

“Ummmm, you swore. You owe me a dollar.” Kaden held out his hand to Jagger.

“Put it on my tab.”

Deciding it was time to get the meeting back on track, Chelsea pulled Kaden’s test scores from the file. “Kaden is a very good student and does well in all areas, although I’d encourage you to continue to work on reading over the summer.”

“I don’t like reading.” Kaden scrunched his face.

“We’ll find stuff you like.” Jagger looked over Kaden’s scores.

“Jagger?” Kaden tugged on Jagger’s sleeve.

“Yeah?” Jagger turned his attention to Kaden, scoring him a point with Chelsea. Many adults verbally responded to kids but didn’t give them their full attention. Instead, they listened with one ear while distracted with something else.

Kaden stood, lifted himself up on his toes, and covered his mouth as he whispered in Jagger’s ear.

Jagger’s gaze flicked to Chelsea as Kaden spoke then turned back to Kaden. “Sure, if you want. Let’s finish the meeting first.”

“You ask.”

Jagger shook his head. “It’s your idea, you ask.”

Kaden looked at Chelsea, who lifted her brows, expecting a question.

“Besides reading, is there anything else we need to be concerned with?” Jagger slid the test scores back to Chelsea.

“I don’t anticipate he’ll have any trouble in first grade, as long as he keeps up on reading.”

“Looks like we’re going to the library this weekend.” Jagger patted Kaden on the back.

“Aw.” Kaden slumped back in his chair.

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