“Hey…” I walked to the window and narrowed my eyes. “Is that a bear?”
“Where?” Lachlan walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.
“Seriously, I saw something move out there—it was big.” I tensed up.
“Don’t worry; bears don’t really do much breaking and entering.” Lachlan pressed his lips to my ear, then the bushes in front of us moved, and a deer ran out of them. “See, just a deer.”
“Well, that’s a relief.” I snuggled closer to him.
“Are ye just on edge because yer going to see yer parents next weekend?” Lachlan squeezed me tight and then pulled me towards the couch.
“Yeah, that’s definitely part of it.” I nodded, and a sigh passed across my lips.
“I wish I could go with ye.” We sat down, and Lachlan held me in a warm embrace. “Ye shouldn’t have to do this alone.”
“If they were coming here, I’d agree with you, but I think it would be a little strange if I show up with a guy—especially one that my father knows.” I looked up at Lachlan and smiled. “It’s going to be fine. I’ll break the news to them gently.”
“Aye, I know ye can handle it.” Lachlan nodded. “I just wish ye didn’t have to.”
“It’s a process. I’ll tell them I’m dating someone, then mention that you’re older than me, and once they’ve wrapped their head around that part, I’ll tell them the rest.” I patted his arm. “I got this.”
“Still don’t like ye having to do it alone.” His hand intertwined with mine. “Are ye sure we can’t wait until they visit?”
“My parents? Visit? We may be waiting for years…” I shook my head and laughed. “I’m working on them now in hopes of convincing them to come for the next sorority event—hell; I might be lucky to get them here for graduation.”
“I guess there’s no other way…” I sighed.
I could tell Lachlan was bothered by the fact that I had to explain everything to my parents on my own, but it seemed better that way. Breaking the news slowly over the course of a weekend seemed better than just dropping a bombshell by having him walk through the front door with me. If there was fallout, I could handle it, because Lachlan had made me stronger than I ever imagined being on my own. In truth, I wasn’t sure there would be any fallout. My mother might have a few things to say, but my father was always too busy to care about what was going on in my life.
“I love ye.” Lachlan kissed my forehead.
“I love you too.” I leaned against him and sighed.
Hopefully, my family will come to adore you as much as I do one day.
* * *
Five months later
“Come on, Ame!” Mallory grabbed my arm. “The new recruits are here!”
“I know, I set this up—remember?” I pointed the way. “We’re going to be nice, right?”
“Yes.” She nodded quickly. “We’re a whole new Pi Beta Phi now.”
Mallory kept her promise after she took over the sorority from Kira. The rules were completely rewritten, and Mallory made it very clear that things were different with her in charge. I didn’t have much of a public voice in the new regime, but I felt like I was Mallory’s confidant in private. I wasn’t sure if that meant I would ever be in an actual leadership position or follow in Mallory’s footsteps, but it felt good to have some input in the overall direction.
Despite being happy about the direction of the sorority, my mind was elsewhere. The only thing I was thinking about was what was happening after the party got underway. I had already cleared my absence with Mallory—because it was one of the few weekends I got to spend with Lachlan.
That’s a lot more important than what is going on here tonight…
* * *
I finished up with my sorority duties as fast as possible and sent a text message to Lachlan. He picked me up a few minutes later—so quickly that I assumed he was nearby just waiting on my call. After a few minutes of making out in front of the sorority house, we were on our way to the cabin, which was where we both really wanted to be.
“I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to see you this weekend with all of the sorority stuff going on.” Lachlan reached over and squeezed my hand. “I missed ye.”
“I missed you too. Yeah, Mallory is a lot more understanding than Kira was.” I looked at him and smiled. “I definitely wasn’t going to miss another weekend, especially after you had to go out of town…”
“Yeah, I didn’t think my new job would take me away on the weekend, but Dean Stevenson really wanted me to go to the conference.” Lachlan shrugged. “I would have rather spent it with ye.”
My excitement started to mount as we got closer to the cabin. It had become our haven and refuge when we could get away. We weren’t hiding our relationship, but we didn’t flaunt it. Most of my sorority sisters were aware that I was dating a professor. They were quite interested at first because they thought it was a juicy scandal, but once they found out we did everything by the book, it wasn’t scandalous enough to keep their attention.
“Did you have them set up everything for dinner, or do we need to get something?” I leaned closer and pressed my lips to his ear. “Or we could skip it altogether if you want…”
“Everything has been arranged.” He let out a sigh. “As tempting as that is right now.”
Lachlan usually had the cabin rental company get things ready for our arrival. I had told him a few times that he didn’t need to waste his money on that when we could just cook something, but he liked to take care of it. The company wanted to keep him happy since they were going to be making a lot of money during peak rental season.
Lachlan was going to have his own place before then, so we would have somewhere else to go. He planned to do it after he got his job at the university, but his uncle’s relationship kept him away from the house most of the time, so it wasn’t urgent. We just didn’t know when he would show up, and that had created a few awkward situations we hoped to avoid when the cabin was rented out again later in the year.
“Wow!” I looked around when we walked through the door. “You went a little overboard…”
“Nah, I like spoiling ye.” He kissed the back of my neck. “Open the wine. I’ll be right back.”
Lachlan walked towards the bedroom, and I continued to look around. There were several bouquets of flowers and rose petals on the floor—something that he did the first night we spent at the cabin and hadn’t done since. I walked across them to the table, lit the candles, and started opening the wine. I wasn’t sure why Lachlan went to the bedroom, but I took the opportunity to peek at our dinner before I heard the door open behind me. When I turned around, I had to take a step back—Lachlan was dressed in his formal Scottish attire—another thing he hadn’t done very much since our first night together.
“I thought you said you didn’t want to skip dinner.” My eyes lit up, and a surge of excitement shot through me. “I’m not going to be able to focus on eating if you’re wearing that to the table.”
“I think yer going to have something else to focus on.” He took a step forward. “I have a confession.”
“A—confession?” The excitement turned into a hint of nervousness.
“Aye.” He nodded. “I didn’t go to a conference last weekend. I flew to California so that I could meet yer parents.”
“I’m sorry, what?” I blinked in confusion. “Why would you do that?”
“Maybe, I’m a little old-fashioned, but…” He held up a small wooden box. “I needed yer father’s blessing before I could give you this.”
“Oh my god!” My hands immediately went to my mouth.
I had a million questions, but Lachlan only had one. He knelt down in front of me, opened the ring box, and asked me to be his wife. I said yes so loud I practically screamed. The ring was a beautiful diamond solitaire, set in a band that was custom made with Scottish accents. I fell in love with it at first sight, just like I did the man who put it on my finger.
“He had some concerns, but I told him the truth.” Lachlan pulled me into a tight embrace. “I love ye, and I will be honored to call ye my wife.”
Lachlan filled me in on the rest of the plans once we finally sat down at the table. He wanted me to meet the rest of his family before the wedding, so we were going to Scotland over the summer. I was amazed, to the point of being almost speechless, and I couldn’t stop staring at my ring. I took a quick picture to send to my parents, my best friend, and Mallory. Everyone else would just have to see it in person.
“So, after we’re married, do I have to stop calling you Daddy?” I bit down on my bottom lip and grinned.
“Nay, lass.” He shook his head and laughed. “Maybe ye won’t be the only one—after ye graduate, of course.”
“Of course…” I nodded and looked down at my ring.
We’re just going to get a lot of practice before then…
Forbidden Kiss
Taylor
“How does my dress look?” I turned around to check myself in the mirror and adjusted a couple of wrinkles in the fabric.
“It looks fine.” My younger sister, Anna, looked up from her book for a moment and shrugged. “Why do you care anyway? It’s not like you’re going to buy anything.”
“I want to blend in with the crowd—the best way to do that is to look like I belong there.” My shoulders slumped forward, and I sighed.
I totally don’t look like I belong there.
There was an art auction—technically, it was just a preview show for the art that was going to be auctioned so potential bidders could figure out what they wanted to bid on before the actual auction took place. Every year, Wellington’s gave a few tickets to the art department at Carson Cove University so that a few students could come to the art show. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for most students because very few of us were ever going to have the kind of wealth required to get a real invitation.
I didn’t expect to actually win when I entered my name in the raffle, but luck was on my side—the fact that I bought twenty raffle tickets might have had something to do with it too. It was my senior year of college, and my last chance to attend the art show, so I decided to take a risk. Thankfully, it paid off.
“Have you seen my crimson-sin lipstick?” I picked up my makeup bag and started digging through it.
“Why would you ask me?” Anna looked up from her book again. “If anyone in this house is borrowing your lipstick, it’s not me. Mom was talking about lipstick a few days ago when she was getting ready for her date with Brad—or was it, Steve?”
“Right…” I nodded and made a beeline for my mother’s bedroom.
Anna would rather die than wear lipstick.
My mom had been raiding my makeup since she decided that it was time to start dating again. I couldn’t say much—I did the same thing to her when I first started wearing it. I still hadn’t adjusted to the fact that my mom was going on dates with someone other than my dad, but he was the one that left, so I couldn’t say much about it. At least someone in the house was getting some action. I was too busy with school to have a boyfriend, and Anna was technically old enough to start dating if she wanted to, but she always had her nose in a book. I’m wasn’t sure she would even notice if a guy hit on her.
“Ah, there it is.” I found my crimson-sin lipstick sitting on my mother’s vanity—it was a stark contrast to the boring shades she usually wore.
Anna didn’t look up at me when I walked back into my bedroom and started applying my lipstick. I had no idea why she even bothered to hang out in my room anymore—it used to our tradition after school every day, but it had been a long time since we shared any common interests. Our age difference had a lot to do with it. She was barely sixteen, and I was twenty-three. I hated that we had drifted apart, but our lives were in different places. I was focused on graduating, finding a real job, and getting my own place. She was trying to survive high school, and if there was anything else going on, she didn’t talk to me about it. The divorce seemed to impact her more than it did me. I was old enough to realize that the relationship was broken before our dad left, but she was still young and naive.
“Alright, I don’t know when I’ll be back—don’t wait up.” I tried some humor to see if I could get a smile out of my little sister.
“I never do.” She looked up and rolled her eyes—but there was no smile.
Oh well, I tried…
The art show was being held at Wellington’s Museum downtown, which was about thirty minutes away from my house. I waited for my phone to connect to the car so I would have some music for my drive and skipped over a couple of Ariana Grande songs so that I could listen to my latest jam, Old Town Road by Lil Nas X. I started singing along as I drove through the streets of the Mandalay Subdivision. I didn’t live in the richest part of Carson Cove by any means, but my neighborhood was picture-perfect suburbia with well-manicured lawns and flower beds everywhere.
I always thought I would leave Carson Cove behind when it was time for me to go to college, but money got tight after my parents divorced. Living at home and attending Carson Cove University was the best option for everyone—I certainly didn’t want to drown myself in student loans and work two jobs on top of going to school.
Getting a chance to go to the art show is a definite perk of staying behind—I wouldn’t have gotten an opportunity like this if I moved to New York like I planned.
The drive was rather peaceful. There weren’t that many cars on the road since it was the weekend, and it was late afternoon, so most of the people my age hadn’t begun their weekend debauchery. I didn’t have any bad intentions on my agenda for the weekend, and I rarely mixed it up with the people my age who thought they ran the town on Friday and Saturday night. I didn’t have Carson Cove privilege as some people referred to it—that basically meant you were filthy rich and not afraid to flaunt it.
There would be plenty of people at the auction with Carson Cove privilege, and my only goal for the evening was blending in so that I didn’t look like an unprivileged member of the middle class. I wasn’t ashamed of being unprivileged, but it would be nice to have one evening where I didn’t get slapped in the face by it.
Tonight, I’m not simple little Taylor Abernathy from Mandalay—I’m just a girl in a black dress who enjoys art—standing next to people who could buy every piece with a wave of their hand.
* * *
One hour later
The art show was set up in sections where you could browse based on the price range, and there was an area with an open bar and some snacks I would have never purchased on my own, for those who were just there to socialize. Like most gatherings in Carson Cove, it was more important for people to know they were getting something expensive than to just enjoy it, so there was a card explaining why everything you could have was special. The liquor they were serving was a step above top shelf, the wine was older than anyone in the room, and the snacks were ridiculously expensive.
I learned that it was possible to spend five-hundred dollars for a pound of cheese and while it wasn’t bad, it didn’t taste that good. Even the crackers were from a premium bakery that boasted about using water you could only get a certain time of day from a special spring that was supposedly prehistoric with rich deposits of Tanzanite at the bottom. The crackers didn’t taste any different than the generic ones my mom bought at the grocery store, but the people around me acted like they were sampling manna from heaven.
I guess I’ll get a glass of wine—it’s not like I’ll ever get to drink anything this expensive again.
The only good thing about the exotic food and drink selection was that nobody seemed to notice an unprivileged in their ranks. I was completely ignored for the most part. I started walking through the gallery and immediately wished it was socially acceptable to take pictures because some of the paintings t
hat were being auctioned were exquisite.
I might not have had the means to hang one of them in my home, but I loved art. I got that from my parents—they were both artists when they were younger, and several of our family vacations were conveniently scheduled around art shows at the destination they chose. That part of our family dynamic never rubbed off on my sister, and she normally complained when our vacation took a detour towards a museum, but I couldn’t have been happier.
My parents would love to be here right now—they might even be civil to each other while they were looking at all of these pieces of art.
I spent some time looking through the gallery while I sipped my wine, and by the time I got to the end of the first section, I decided that I wanted a refill. I hated to admit that it was the best wine I had ever tasted, although my palate was inexperienced. There were more people near the open bar than there were when I got my first glass of wine, so I had to wait my turn to get served. I tried to pretend that I was a statue that only got to take a step when the person in front of me did. I was nothing more than an image against the backdrop—a nameless face in the crowd. I hoped to stay that way for the rest of the night.
The glamorous, beautiful, and drop-dead gorgeous Carson Cove privileged were all around me, and I was extremely uncomfortable. As soon as my glass was refilled, I scooted over to the side to look for an opening, so I could disappear into the gallery. I must have blended in so well that the privileged thought I was literally part of the scenery because two women walked over and stood directly in front of me to sip their wine while they gossiped about the other guests. I wasn’t sure if they cared that someone was behind them or were just so caught up in their own conversation that they didn’t notice—I couldn’t help but eavesdrop.
Daddy’s Kilted Friend Page 16