Page 7 of Taming His Honeydoll
“I thought they didn’t know about Everett.”
“Not formally, no, but they suspected. When Mum spotted me and Everett having lunch in a pub in London, she figured it out pretty quickly. They both jumped me last night, and in the ensuing argument I let it slip that Levi wasn’t my son and they went bonkers. They’ve written me off as completely useless and I don’t intend to crawl to get back into their good graces. Not this time, I’m tired of groveling at their feet.”
Emma groaned. “You told them everything?”
He sighed. “I didn’t mean to, but it’s time I stood on my own now if Everett and I are ever going to have a chance to be together. Right now, I don’t know what they will do about Levi. I know my mother adores him but my father is old school tradition and all that. He’s disappointed, but realistic.”
“Henry, I’m so sorry. Maybe they will soften in time and want you back in their lives.”
He snorted. “And maybe pigs will fly. Even if they did, I’m getting tired of being disinherited every time they want me to do something I have no intention of doing. It’s a stick they’ve held over me for far too long as it is.”
Emma tried to fight the tears. “B-but what will I do? I can’t afford to pay the debts we accumulated together, I don’t make enough,” she protested.
“Can’t your brother help you? He certainly seems to be doing well and all that. Plus, Marsha is becoming a well-known defense lawyer, I’m sure she must be making big quid.”
Emma’s fingers tightened on the phone. “The last thing I want to do is go crawling to Oliver,” she snapped. “I need to do this on my own.”
Henry tutted sympathetically over the phone. “I’ll still try to send what I can, dear girl, for as long as I’m working, but I have bills here to pay for. I don’t want you and Levi to become destitute and I love you both, just not in the way you need. If not Oliver, then I think you should reach out to Levi’s father for help. Using each other was only temporary at best—we both knew that going into the marriage.”
Emma gritted her teeth. “That isnotan option.”
“Come now, dear girl. You’ve been hanging on to the little doll you came home with one night since our college years. I’m guessing you still have feelings for this man who went into the military. Look him up.”
Emma thought of the little curio doll that still held a prominent spot on her jewelry box. She hadn’t been able to let go of it because Sawyer had given it to her. “Never going to happen,” she said flatly.
“Then sell the house and buy a flat in the city. You should have enough profit from the sale to do that, even after you pay me a share of the money. That’s why I had my parents put the house in both our names in the eventuality something like this happened. At least we’d have a nest egg of sorts to fall back on.”
Rubbing her temples barely relieved the throbbing ache that was beginning in Emma’s head. “That’s why you’re really calling, isn’t it?” she asked sarcastically. “You want your share of the house.”
“That’s not very fair now, is it? I really am sorry, dear girl, but I think you have too much pride. Just admit what’s been going on and asked for some bloody help. I can’t do anything in my situation, that’s for sure. I’m depending on Everett too much as it is. At least your family won’t disown you. And your soldier might step up.”
“He’s not my soldier,” Emma retorted, regretting she’d even told Henry that small tidbit.
“Fine, say no more. I still think you’re wrong, but have it your way, love.”
Emma sighed. “I guess that means you won’t be coming out to see us anytime soon?”
“I’m afraid not. All trips are off until I can get back on my financial feet.”
“All right, Henry,” she replied wearily. “Thanks for giving me a head up anyway. I’ll let you know what I decide to do.”
“Chin up and all that, love.”
Henry made a kissing noise over the phone and the line went dead. Emma laid it on the desk and dropped her head in her hands with a huge sigh. After rubbing her face, she drew in a deep breath and pulled the stack of bills over in front of her. They had been mounting ever since Henry had left back in April. It was now October.
True to his word he’d been sending child support payments, but they barely covered child care and a few groceries. Having his full paycheck to spend, plus the generosity of his parents when it came to Levi, was missing. Now that she was on her own, it was a lot harder to make ends meet.
Briefly she thought of her brother. Marsha was pregnant and her baby was due the first week of December. Not a good time to unload her financial troubles on them, not with Marsha taking maternity leave soon.
Aunt Tootie, her mother’s sister who had moved in with her and Oliver after their parents had died, was now living in Boston with her husband of two years but they didn’t have anything extra. They were deliriously happy, with sufficient for their needs and wants, but that was about it.
Besides, asking Oliver for money was tantamount to admitting failure. It was admitting that she hadn’t made the grade. Her brother was so successful, and had worked so hard to get where he was. He was brilliant, handsome, and always made the right decisions. She couldn’t face him with her failures.
And they were plural.
He was always so damned bossy during her teen years after Dad had died that she’d been hellbent on defying him just to piss him off most of the time.
Oliver had wanted her to live at home and go to a junior college to save money. She couldn’t wait to get away from home. He was always sensible, she wasn’t. He didn’t know what her big rush was to get married on spring break, but she did. She was pregnant and needed a father for her baby because the last thing she wanted to do was have to go dragging back home with no education and a baby to boot.
