Secrets of a Billionaire

Chapter 9

Mark’s POV

Susan Langley was weeping loudly in her husband Bill’s arms, while the bride and groom were apparently arguing about whether or not to evict his own parents from the reception or not. Given a choice in their shoes, I might have evicted mommy dearest from my life altogether. Although the thought just occurred to me that I actually am in their shoes right now.

Hopefully I can figure out how to keep my new mother in law at arms length and my life drama free. Or at least as free of drama as I can while being in the Reynolds family with Eleanor Shipton as my mother. Only it looks like for now I’ll be getting screwed from both sides. Yay.

“You always let her get away with these ridiculous antics!” Lindsey was saying between clenched teeth. “I thought you said your sister was going to keep her in line today, but it looks to me as if Mandy’s the one causing all the drama this time and setting your mother off on purpose!”

“I’m sorry, baby! I’ll deal with it,” Derrick promises, and turns to his father. “Look, dad, can you maybe take mom outside until she calms down? I’ll let you know when the speeches start.”

“Sure, son,” Bill Langley says, and watched in frustration as the bride and groom leave in a huff. “Let’s go outside for a bit, dear.”

But then he spots the four of us, and I can tell he’s really unhappy right now.

“You’ve really upset your mother this time!” Bill accuses his daughter, Susan wailing even louder knowing she has an audience right now to torture with guilt and shame. “Maybe you should just go!”

Amanda makes a sound like she’s been struck down, disappointment evident on her face. I feel badly, since it wasn’t her fault at all.

“It was my fault, sir,” I say, stepping forward like a man determined to rescue his fair maiden. “I convinced Amanda to marry me. My grandfather is really ill, you see. And he wants to see me happily married before he passes. I was only trying to fulfill a dying man’s wish.”

“Hmph,” the older man says and walks off, dragging his wailing wife along with him.

“And the Oscar for best Actor in a leading role goes to…Marcus Shipton-Reynolds!” Mother says dramatically as soon as Amanda’s parents are out of ear shot, and she pretends to cheer and clap with Donny clapping right along with her. “That was brilliant, darling! But you and I both know Elliot Reynolds will never die. He will live forever just to spite everyone.”

“Susan Langley should also get an award,” I grumble unhappily about how my new wife was being treated by her father. “Best actress in a supporting role.”

“Pish posh, the woman is too annoying and unconvincing to win any such thing!” Mother claims. Then mother gets on her phone to call Dixon, her driver, to bring the car around for us.

“Your last name is Reynolds?” Amanda asks, apparently paying greater attention than I realized. Whoops. She wasn’t supposed to know that for another couple of weeks.

“Yes,” I reply carefully, and try for a little distraction. “And so is yours, now.”

“Your grandfather is Elliot Reynolds?” She continues on, unmercifully. “THE Elliott Reynolds? Founder of Fantasy Footwear, and 3rd most richest man in the entire state?”

“Whoopsie, was your new little wifey not supposed to know who you are?” Mother asks, looking delighted that she spoiled grandfather’s plot. “Maybe the old bugger is sicker than I thought, if he’s trying to pull your strings like this. I only warned you! Don’t try to play his games and let him turn you into his puppet, my darling!”

“It’s not quite like that,” I mumble.

“Let’s go get some lunch, and have a nice little chat. We need to get to know each other better,” mother suggests. “The car is already here!”

“Good,” Donny sighs dramatically, adding in his two cents to the conversation. “I never really care for the food served at weddings anyway. It’s always so predictable, and pretentious.”

“You’re quite right, my dear,” mother agrees as she slips elegantly into the limo. Every move she ever makes is smooth and elegant. “And always served with too much sauce, trying to disguise the taste of lower quality meat and produce.”

We end up going to her exclusive club for lunch. The exact sort of place she likes. The wait staff knows her by name, although they would never admit to it. They know her exact order, and generally have it placed the moment she sits down, yet they still wait patiently while she hems and haws over the choices, and makes demands about how it should all be prepared. Unfortunately, she normally dines here only on certain evenings when a particular chef is working. Her beloved Roberto, however, has today off. And once she knows it’s the other chef at the helm this afternoon, she feels that she must now choose something else entirely.

“Only Roberto can make my usual dish perfectly,” she sighs. “I’m not in the mood to suffer through a sub par experience on my son’s wedding day.”

“Chef Andre is a very accomplished chef,” the waiter sticks up for the poor maligned chef Andre.

After demanding such details about the products used in the kitchen today, such as where the seafood was caught and whether the strawberries are locally grown or from California, she chooses a strawberry and spinach salad with hazelnuts instead of almonds, blue cheese instead of feta, and the dressing on the side, a root vegetable terrine, and the sea scallops, lightly seared.

“I’ll have the crab, cucumber, and avocado salad, and iced tea with no sugar, thank you,” Amanda requests politely. I’m happy to see that she’s not a demanding harridan like my mother can be at times.

Donny orders a medium rare steak, a baked potato, and asparagus. I get the pecan crusted halibut and fingerling potatoes, and chocolate mousse cake.

“So, where did the two of you meet?” Mother brings up just as soon as the food has been ordered. I had been expecting this grilling, so had already formulated a plan. I can only hope that Amanda plays along! I give her hand a little squeeze.

“Amanda has been living in the Harrogate building for a few years, but I didn’t meet her until recently when she moved into Harrogate Towers. I fell in love with her at first sight!” I convincingly expand on the truth. I see Amanda smile at that. “So, as soon as I realized that things were not going to work out with Corina, I took a chance and asked Amanda to marry me instead.”

“He had a heck of a time convincing me, if I might add,” Amanda claims, and I breathe a sign of relief. “I had just broken up with my ex boyfriend of nearly a year, you see, which had necessitated my move. I honestly wasn’t all that eager to jump into another relationship so quickly. But Mark just seemed to sweep me right off my feet! Your son is a very persuasive man.”

“And what do you do?” Mother asks next, taking a sip of the water that was placed before her just now. A glass of water containing exactly 3 ice cubes, and a slice of lemon and cucumber to her exact specifications.

“I’m a writer, actually,” she claims, and I try not to look as if this is news to me.

“Really? What do you write?” Mother asks, sounding somewhat disapproving. “I hope it’s nothing trashy.”

“Oh, no,” Amanda claims, giving her iced tea a stir after squeezing some lemon into it. “I’m a children’s author, writing under the pen name Mandy Bee, as well as AB Langley for novels aimed at young teens.”

“Oh, my gawd! I’ve actually read some of your books to my nephews,” Donny suddenly gets really excited. “Your books are wonderful! Those are among some of their favorites! Do you do the artwork yourself?”

“I do, actually,” Amanda claims, and I’m quite amazed to learn all this about her. “You should bring your nephews to my next book signing event at Powell’s books, the Saturday after next. I’ll be reading from my newest book.”

Mother gives me an approving nod, which was very unexpected. Few people are ever deemed worthy of her nod. Not that I felt like I needed mother’s nod, but I’m glad to have it all the same.

So far everything I’ve seen of Amanda convinces me that I’ve made the right decision in making her my bride. And now that I know the reason she wants to cut our honeymoon short by a few days, I’m more than happy to comply with such a reasonable request.

I’m actually beginning to look forward to our honeymoon in Maui, and getting to know my new bride. She is turning out to be a delightful surprise!