“Now, don’t play oblivious, darling. I know you’re smarter than that.”
Her snide remark blasted through my core and sent shock waves of anger plummeting through my body. I’d never been the angry or disrespectful type, but something about Damien’s mother, and her arrogant, elitist attitude made me react in ways I’d never reacted before. I clenched my fists at my sides, gritted my teeth, and inhaled deeply. Marlena worked her way around me, stopping in front of me to block my view of the lake. I lifted my gaze to meet hers. “What do you want from me?”
She let out a sigh and shook her head. “I think you know the answer to that.”
“No,” I said, grinding my teeth. “I honestly don’t.”
“I want you to stop seeing, Damien.”
I opened my mouth to tell her that I can’t. I can’t stay away. I can’t because I love her son like he’s the oxygen in my lungs, the plasma in my bloodstream, and the rapid pulsating beat of my heart.
But she doesn’t give me the chance to profess any of that. She closed my mouth with a frown and five words. “Stay away from my son.”
No was on the tip of my tongue, but again she cut me off. “Damien has a bright future. He’s smart, dedicated, loyal, and passionate. He’ll take our company to the next level.” Her eyes flitted over to mine. “When he graduates from Yale of course.” I reached the point where I couldn’t even look at her anymore. My eyes had shifted downward, focusing on a few cat-tails surrounding the lake. “He’ll make an excellent husband and father someday too. Just not for—.”
I cut her off with a whisper, “Someone like me.”
“I’m sorry that I had to be so blunt, dear, but it’s the truth. No son of mine is going to be involved with a girl of your means.”
I scowled and scrunched my eyebrows together. “Means?”
She flicked her wrist at me and shook her head. “You know a girl who comes from a family with a reputation. You don’t have a background. And you don’t have a future.”
I shook my head and let out a soft laugh. “No. You mean because I’m not like you?” A frigid bitch who has more money than God. Forgive me, but that was something I’d never want to be.
She’d pursed her lips and looked like she was thinking, then said, “No. Technically, that’s not what I meant.” She faced the lake again and folded her arms across her chest. “If you came from a decent family and were raised the way a young woman should be raised, we might be having a different conversation.” For some reason, I didn’t believe that one bit. “You know,” she continued, “my older son went slumming once.” I sneered at her when she wasn’t looking. Slumming? Did she just say slumming? “Fell for some waitress when he was away at college. But it didn’t take long for him to see reason.”
I heard my name echoing somewhere in the distance. Marlena peeked over her shoulder and I followed, watching Damien as he approached, a wide smile on his lips. “Adelaide!”
He was getting closer and closer. When he was only a few feet away Marlena leaned down, her lips centimeters away from my earlobes and whispered, “Do the right thing, dear. Don’t drag this out any further than you already have and save yourself from suffering a broken heart down the road. The longer you let this continue, the more painful it will be.” At Damien’s arrival, she straightened her posture and smiled. She brushed my shoulder and walked past me and her son, throwing her shoulders back and pointing her sloped, narrow nose to the sky.
Damien moved closer to me and kissed me gently on the cheek. “What was that about?”
I couldn’t move. My whole body felt like it was being stung over and over again by an angry hive of wasps. Stingers imbedded. Welts everywhere. My skin was throbbing. Tears glazed over my eyeballs and I tried to blink them back, but it was no use. I turned away from Damien and swallowed hard. “Can you walk me home?”
“Is something wrong?” There was worry in his tone. “What did she say to you?”
I exhaled and sucked back my tears. “Nothing is wrong,” I assured him with a tiny grin. “I’m just tired.”
“Oh.” He smiled back at me and kissed my temple. “Well, let’s go then.”
He wrapped an arm around my shoulder, while I kept my eyes on the ground, trying desperately to hold back the sobs that were stuck in my throat.
I never told him what his mother said to me because deep down inside as painful as it was to hear, I knew she
was right.
The truth is we could be defiant. We could go against his parents’ hopes and wishes. But where will that get us? I know that loving someone as much as I love Damien is worth every bit of fight and struggle we’ll have to go through to be happy. But that’s what I think. What about him? Someday he might resent me for being the cause of him having to give up everything. And for me to have to live with the fact that someday he might wish he would have listened to his family, went to college, made something of his life and never abandoned his bright future by falling in love with me, well, that thought is too wicked, and too painful to bear.
Scuffing footsteps bring me back to the now.
I peek over my shoulder and Damien is still walking behind me. He kicks a rock and it bounces several times on the dirt road, stopping inches away from my feet. I’ve reached my breaking point. He needs to let me get over him. He needs to move on with his life so I can move on with mine as miserable as it is. “Just stop it all ready,” I snap at him when he kicks another rock.
Damien lifts his head with widened eyes and a smile on his lips. “Did you just talk to me?” Before I can respond he rushes over to me, sweeps me up in his arms, and twirls me around in a circle. “Addy, I’ve missed you so much. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. Why didn’t you call me back? Why have you been ignoring me?”
My eyes sear into his deep blue eyes. I tilt my chin and motion for him to put me down. He releases his grip on me and our eyes lock as he slides me down the length of his body. The friction of my body against his sends rippling streams of want to the tips of my nerve endings. I’m crackling and sparking like a firecracker on a long stretch of sidewalk during a Fourth of July picnic. Desire whips through my gut and I have to use every amount of will power I have to push myself away from him. I start walking and stop after a few steps, meeting his gaze from over my shoulder. There’s a vacant expression in my eyes, a buzzing in my ears, and an ache in my heart. “Damien, it’s over,” my voice quivers. “Just forget me. Just go home and forget me.”
Hurt and disbelief swirl together, sparking in his eyes. He stalks toward me, grips my arm, and spins me around to face him. He cups my face with both hands, massaging my cheeks with his thumbs and I keep my eyes on the ground. Heat from his hands burns my cheeks and sets my whole body ablaze. I’m on fire for him and I do the best I can to hide it. But my body betrays me. My cheeks flush and tears swell in my eyes, residing in the corners, I close them and let out a soft breath. “Addy, look at me.”