Page 3 of Give My Everything
“…not to mention the fact that a marriage and a baby could be tied up nicely without any significant complications. Marry me, and I take full responsibility—for you, and for the baby.”
I pause, giving her a moment to digest it. Then I go in for the kill.
“You’re no longer the unwanted single mother. You’re a fiancée with a future as Mrs. Calloway and a child who will be taken care of for the rest of its life.”
Her eyes reconnect with mine.
“And what do you get out of this?” she asks.
If I’m honest, I wasn’t certain she would think to ask this of me. When someone is drowning and somebody else reaches out to save them, the person gasping for breath doesn’t often pause to ask why.
Because you’re drowning, of course.
But Remmy is much more shrewd than many others. It’s likely one of the reasons she has problems disguising her facial expressions. She’s too busy examining others to worry about whether her lip is curling or her eyebrows are arched.
Her attentiveness is actually a point of caution for me. As perfect a candidate as Remmy is for the role of future Mrs. Calloway, there is some value to marrying someone with a mind that stays a little blurrier on a regular basis. The sharper you are, the faster you can cut through the bullshit, and I’m not sure I need those kinds of eyes watching my every move.
Not when I’d rather handle my business undetected.
“Me?” I repeat back to her. “My motives are my own.”
Her eyes narrow, and I see my mistake instantly. Her focus shifts, no longer having asked a flippant question to abate her own curiosity, but having inquired about something I don’t want to address.
Shit.
I pause, let out a lingering sigh. “Although, I guess…you knowing wouldn’t be so bad,” I tack on, tapping my fingers along the tabletop while trying to douse the fire of interest I see flickering inside of her. “I’m at a point where my parents are both vocalizing their desire for me to get married.”
A lie. My parents don’t give one shit about who I’m in a relationship with as long as I don’t cause any more problems for the Calloway name.
I’ve caused enough of those in the past.
Too bad for them, I’m not even close to being done.
“I’m regularly accosted by women they deem appropriate to marry and settle down with, and I’d like them to kindly back off as I have no interest in any of the people they’ve brought forward.”
That last part is true, at least it was on my mother’s part back before…‘the scandal’.
That’s what she calls it:the scandal.
It makes me want to laugh and roll my eyes and continue right on without a worry.
Ever since then, she hasn’t pushed anyone toward me, hasn’t tried to get me to settle down. She hasn’t given me any attention at all, if I’m honest.
Both of my parents ignore me now, though my mother is the one who called me an embarrassment and uninvited me indefinitely from all functions where she would be attending with ‘family’, aka my sister and brother. My father still demands appearances from me on occasion to represent the Calloway name, especially while Wyatt was in college at the other end of the state.
I go along with his expectations while I lie in wait, allowing him to believe he hasanycontrol over my life. He won’t know the reality of the situation until I deem it necessary.
Remmy watches me, taking in my explanation with that perceptive mind of hers. Apparently, what I’ve said has satiated her desire to know more.
“I don’t know that you’ve thought everything through,” she finally says, “as wonderfully logical as your reasons might be. This isn’t just marrying some dimwitted socialite.” She leans forward and drops her voice. “I’m pregnant.”
“I know that.”
“Do you?” She grits her teeth. “Do you really? Because this is a real baby, one who will cry and scream and shit all over your house and your perfect, fancy fucking life. And I doubt it’s much of a secret that I’m a handful, too. So I just…don’t know. I don’t know if you’re really prepared for what this would mean. For you, for me—for either of us. I can’t jump on board when I feel like you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into. I’ve made that mistake before.”
Silence settles between us as her words wash over me.
As foolish as I think she is to shoot me down, there’s a part of me that’s impressed as well.
