Page 58 of Romance and Peppermint Lattes
“It’s honest work, Dad. I don’t understand why you’re acting like this. You’re making it sound like I’m doing something that’ll bring disgrace to the family name.”
“But your education is being wasted,” her mother said, shaking her head. “You could have any job in publishing you wanted.”
That much was true when it was her family doing the hiring, but when she was looking on her own her employers were more interested in her job skills than who her father was.
“I’m afraid I’m the one who started this,” Nolan interrupted. “I wrote a column about Maryanne,” he said bluntly. “It was unfortunate, because I was out of line in some of the things I said, but—”
“Nolan didn’t write anything that wasn’t true,” Maryanne hastened to say. “He made me stop and think about certain aspects of my life, and I decided it was time to prove I could make it on my own.”
“By denouncing your family!”
“I never did that, Dad.”
Samuel’s shoulders sagged with defeat. The long hours her parents had spent travelling were telling on them both. They looked at her blankly, as though they couldn’t quite believe, even now, what she’d been doing for the past month and a half.
“I did it for another reason, too.” All three of them were staring at her as if they suspected she’d lost her mind. “I’d met Nolan and we had dinner together and I discovered how muchI liked him.” She glanced at the man in question and saw him frown, knitting his brow, obviously searching for a way to stop her. “I’m sorry, Mom and Dad. I hated lying to you, but I couldn’t see any way around it. I didn’t want to worry you,” she said, stepping next to Nolan and wrapping her arm around his waist. “I belong here with Nolan.” There, she’d said it! “I won’t be returning to New York with you.”
“Maryanne, sweetie, you can’t go on living like this!”
“I have a wonderful life.”
Her father was pacing again. “You’re in love with this man?”
“Yes, Daddy. I love him so much—enough to defy you for the first time in my life.”
Her father’s eyes slowly moved from his only daughter to Nolan. “What about you, young man? How do you feel about my daughter?”
Nolan was quiet for so long it was all Maryanne could do not to answer for him. Finally she couldn’t stand it any longer and did exactly that. “He loves me. He may not want to admit it, but he does—lock, stock and barrel.”
Her father continued to look at Nolan. “Is that true?”
“Unfortunately,” he said, gently removing Maryanne’s arm, “I don’t return her feelings. You’ve raised a wonderful daughter—but I don’t love her, not the way she deserves to be loved.”
“Nolan!” His name escaped on a cry of outrage. “Don’t lie. Not now, not to my family.”
He took her by the shoulders, his face pale and expressionless. She searched his eyes, looking for something, anything to ease the terrible pain his words had inflicted.
“You’re sweet and talented, and one day you’ll make some man very proud—but it won’t be me.”
“Nolan, stop this right now. You love me. You’re intimidated because of who my father is. But don’t you understand that money doesn’t mean anything to me?”
“It rarely does to those who have it. Find yourself a nice rich husband and be happy.”
She found his words insulting. If she hadn’t been so desperate to straighten out this mess, she would have confronted him with it. “I won’t be happy without you. I refuse to be happy.”
His face was beginning to show signs of strain. “Yes, you will. Now, I suggest you do as your family wants and leave with them.”
Every word felt like a kick in the stomach, each more vicious than the one before.
“You don’t mean that!”
“Damn it, Maryanne,” he said coldly, “don’t make this any more difficult than it already is. We don’t belong together. We never have. I live in one world and you live in another. I’ve been telling you that from the first, but you wouldn’t listen to me.”
Maryanne was too stunned to answer. She stared up at him, hoping, praying, for some sign that he didn’t mean what he was saying.
“Sweetie.” Her mother tucked an arm around Maryanne’s waist. “Please, come home with us. Your friend’s right, you don’t belong here.”
“That’s not true. I’m here now and I intend to stay.”
