Charlie shrugged. “Perhaps. He has a seat in the House of Lords. Maybe it has something to do with that. Something that could risk his seat or title and in order to maintain them, you have to get married.”
“Whatever his corrupt dealings are, I don’t see why I have to be punished for them.” That didn’t sit right with me. It was possible but I didn’t like to think of my father being corrupt. I didn’t know why. It wasn’t like I ever looked up to him. Whatever was in his past was starting to affect me now and I didn’t like it. Charlie’s logic tended to be good though.
“What’s the woman like?” Brenna asked.
“Who?”
“Lisbeth, did you say her name was? Oh, can I find her online?” she asked, taking her phone out.
“Probably. I don’t know what her family does.”
“What’s she like. You’re so opposed to being with her, I want to know what she’s like.”
“There’s nothing wrong with her, objectively. She’s pretty, a lot of people would think so but a few bulbs short of a sunbed if you know what I mean.”
Brenna laughed. “That’s so mean Niall. She’s really pretty,” she said, showing Charlie the pictures that she had turned up on her phone.
“I wouldn’t marry a woman simply because she was pretty. And besides, she isn’t even my type.”
“You might as well. How much luck have you had searching on your own?” Charlie asked.
“Says the man who turned down an entire army of women for arranged marriages.”
“I had a prospect. You don’t.”
Who said that I didn’t? Eddy didn’t count so he was right, but I didn’t want to think about it. She wanted nothing to do with me, but I wasn’t letting him know that.
“She seems eager to marry into the family. Maybe I’ll do her a favor and give in.”
“Do not marry that woman out of pity,” Brenna said.
“I won't. I don’t want to marry her at all. She, however, doesn’t know this yet so I have to meet with her to tell her.”
“Settling down will do you good regardless,” Charlie said. That was the happily married father in him talking. I believed that he felt that way. He and Brenna had a great relationship, but he couldn’t compare what he had with her to what I had with Lisbeth. I had nothing with Lisbeth.
“Maybe, but it won’t be with her.”
“With who then?” Brenna asked. “Is there someone? There is,” she said when I stalled too long before answering. She was good. Either that or I was obvious.
“Someone I met before all this mess,” I said.
“Is that really all you’re giving me?” she asked. I shrugged, keeping tight-lipped. “She’ll be lucky to have you.”
Charlie scoffed. “A drunken gambler with no family values? The picture of an eligible bachelor,” he said. Brenna rolled her eyes.
“Be nice, Charlie.”
I laughed. “Don’t worry, Brenna. He’s right.”
“It’s about time that you owned up to it.”
“I do have family values, just not for this one.”
20
Edwina
“What in the world is going on with you lately?” Missy asked. I fingered the trim of the pillow I was holding, lying on Missy’s bed, feeling like a child being scolded for bad behavior.