His Spoiled Reborn Bride

20 Blame

Howard smiled into his teacup. Though he knew that Isabel was using him in her fight with her cousin, her words sent a secret thrill through him. Did she really find him handsome? He looked between Janet and Isabel. Janet’s face had turned flaming red and Isabel was lividly pale. He put his teacup down and frowned.

“What’s wrong, Howard?” Lawson asked, flashing his overly whitened veneers. “Is it too cold?”

“It’s not to my taste,” he said. “But we didn’t come here for tea, anyway.”

“I’m so sorry,” Lawson said. “Melanie, I thought I told you to order the best tea.”

“I did, dear,” she snapped. “But you know how the servants are.” She plastered a simpering smile on her face and looked at Howard, “It’s so impossible to get good help these days.”

“No,” he said. “I don’t.”

He’d met people like the Hanovers before and they were always from new money. Without a powerful old family name, they walked through life with a chip on their shoulder, constantly trying to impress the old money families and constantly resentful about it.

He was surprised to see that Isabel was so different from them, though of course she was an Aediles. For a moment, he almost pitied her. Living with them must have been miserable.

…

A long tense silence filled the room and Isabel broke it, “You know, we bought some gifts for you, but I’m afraid we forgot them when we left this morning. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Oh, of course not,” Lawson said. “You know what they say, it’s the thought that counts, and I’m just glad you thought of me. You know, people always say that the relationship between a father and son in law is supposed to be tense, but I think we’ll get along just great, Howard.”

Isabel dug her nails into her palms and bit her tongue to keep from screaming. Her uncle had no right to call himself Howard’s father-in-law. He wasn’t her father.

“I’m glad to hear you say that,” she said. “You should have seen the emerald necklace and earrings we got for you, Auntie. I think they used to belong to the crown princess of Greece or was it Monaco? They were breathtaking. And then the limited edition designer bag for Janet was incredible—not to mention those creams.”

“Wow,” Melanie said. “Those sound divine. I’d just love to see them.”

“They really are,” Isabel said.

“I’m sure you’ll remember them next time,” Janet said.

“Well, you know now that I think about it, Uncle has a point,” Isabel said.

“What do you mean?” Janet asked.

“Well it really is the thought that counts,” she said. “And now you know that we thought of you, I think it might be nice to auction the pieces for charity. There’s just so much suffering in the world.”

“That’s a good idea,” Howard said.

Melanie forced a smile but her face looked pained, “Yes, that’s just so thoughtful.”

“You’re so kind, cousin,” Janet said. “You know, Mom, we should really do more for charity here too.”

“You’re absolutely right, my sweet,” Lawson said. “Anyway, it’s past noon now. Let’s all head to the dining room for lunch.”

Everyone rose and headed toward the connected dining room. The huge table was piled with elegantly arranged dishes: fruit cut to look like flowers, crackers smeared with glimmering caviar, steaming silver platters of lobster and steak. As Isabel looked at the food, she couldn’t help but think of Samuel’s skinny body. While Maria was struggling to feed him, her uncle’s family was wasting thousands of dollars of food on a single lunch.

“Wow, there’s enough food to feed a whole sports team,” she said.

“It’s all your favorite dishes,” Melanie said.

Isabel wanted to laugh. Unlike the Hanovers, she had simple tastes. Not a single dish on the table was one of her favorites.

“How thoughtful,” she muttered as a servant rushed forward to pull out a chair for her and pile her plate with food.

“It does make me feel guilty though,” she said as she picked at her food. “There are so many people who go hungry every day. They work day and night just to put food on the table and here we are enjoying this huge feast that we won’t finish.”

“When did you become so civic minded?” Janet snapped.

“Oh Isabel, you’re so naïve,” Lawson said with a forced chuckle.

“Yes, dear, it’s simply the way of the world,” Melanie said. “If you don’t work hard in your youth, you end up suffering throughout your life.”

“Funny,” Isabel said. “I can think of several people who haven’t worked a day in their lives, but live in the absolute highest luxury.” She looked around the table, staring into everyone’s eyes. “I pity the deserving people who are eating much simpler meals right now.”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” Melanie said.

“Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean,” she said.

Lawson cleared his throat, “Come now, Isabel. All this talk is putting a damper on the mood and this is such a special day.”

“I’m sorry,” Isabel said. “I just hate to see injustice in the world.”

“Injustice?” Melanie asked. “What do you mean? I personally think our society is very just. If you work hard, you can earn a good life.”

“And what about the criminals?” Isabel asked. “Some people steal good lives.”

A heavy silence descended on the room. Janet’s fork clinked against her plate, but everyone else had stopped eating.

“We have a great criminal justice system in this country,” Lawson finally said. “You’re an educated man, Howard. Wouldn’t you agree that this nation’s justice system is fantastic?”

“Oh that’s a great idea,” she said. “Let’s ask Howard. Tell me, husband, stealing a house is criminal, is it not?”

“Of course,” Howard said. “Without the permission of the owner, it’s completely illegal.”

“So if someone came into your home and took possession of it, the law would support you in kicking them out, right?” she asked.

Howard smirked, “It would.”

“That’s what I thought,” she said, turning back to her food.

The tender, butter drenched lobster tasted rotten in her mouth but she forced herself to chew and swallow it. She wasn’t sure if Howard would really support her in kicking them out of the house, but the Hanovers didn’t need to know that. She looked around at them—not a single one of them was eating. Her aunt’s face was deathly pale, Janet’s eyes flashed with rage, and a large purple vein throbbed in her uncle’s temple.

“Why aren’t you guys eating?” she asked brightly. “This really is a wonderful meal.”

Though she’d won a small victory, she couldn’t leave it alone. For years, they’d controlled and manipulated her. Ruining one small lunch wasn’t nearly enough.

“Anyway, we can change the topic if you prefer,” she said. “By the way, uncle, I don’t think I ever thanked you for what you did for Noah. It must have been such a hassle for you to get that visa for him. And I suspect you had to make some generous donations to get him into those colleges. You’ve always treated him like a son-in-law, so when are he and Janet getting married?”

She knew it was dangerous to mention Noah, but she couldn’t resist it. If she could trap the Hanovers into admitting their involvement in the elopement, her life would become a whole lot easier.

Janet’s eyes flashed, “How could I marry, Noah? He was your first love, after all. We may be close, but not close enough to share the same man. Dad helped him out because of you.”

“That’s funny,” she said. “I never asked him to do it. It was always you who went to him, wasn’t it?”

“Let’s leave the past in the past,” Melanie warned. “We’re being very rude to our special guest.”

Isabel glanced at Howard. His eyes flashed pure ice and his face had become a frozen mask. She knew she should let it go, but she couldn’t help herself. The Hanovers needed to pay for what they’d done.

“No,” she said. “I want to clear this matter up once and for all. How can we move forward if we don’t get our story straight? Anyway, as I remember it, I was really nervous about Howard’s proposal. He was practically a stranger, and I’m just nineteen. I didn’t think I’d fit into his world at all.

“But you all were very reassuring. You told me I didn’t have to marry him if I didn’t want to, and you promised to help me get out of it. You offered to me 100,000 pounds if I left the country. You even said you’d take care of the plane tickets and everything. You said you’d explain it all to Howard, yourselves. I even remember that you thought maybe with time he’d see that Janet was the right woman after all.

“I know you only did it for my own good, but I’m lucky it didn’t work out. Noah turned out to be the wrong man for me, and I’m much better of with Howard. What a mess, right? I guess now that you’ve invested so much in Noah, it only makes sense for him to become part of the family, though.”

Four pairs of eyes stared at her with hatred and anger. She smiled and reached for her wine glass. She swirled the ruby liquid around the crystal glass and took a small, calm sip.