by Cee, DW
Halfway through the game, we took a breather and purchased meals and drinks from the passing cart. I saw Laney approaching us and put down my food to greet her. “Hello. I see you’re still a helluva gamer.”
She smiled and glanced at Niles, who caught her attention. “I don’t think I ever introduced myself. My name is Laney Reid. It’s nice to meet you Niles.”
“Hello, Laney Reid. You are quite the golfer out there. Grandfather is a little miffed that you are beating him right now.”
“That’s nothing new.” Grandfather grinned at her teasing. “Are you surprised I’m beating you? You should be used to it by now.” Niles and I both laughed.
“You, Laney Reid, are one sassy young lady. And I’m very unhappy and disappointed with you that you have chosen to break up with my grandson for that guy over there.”
“I know you are, Your Grace. I’m upset with myself for the way things turned out as well. I hope Michael and I will stay friends, and I hope you will forgive me one day for hurting your grandson. That was never my intention, and I know I’m not good enough to hurt anybody, but this is the way life seems to have worked out for all of us.” She was the consummate lady.
“What about that young man over there do you find better than my grandson? He’s definitely not as handsome as my grandson, or as wealthy, or as good-hearted, from what I can see.” The duke was pushing my cause. I would forever be grateful.
“Your Grace,” Laney answered, “Michael is as you say, handsome, will one day be extremely wealthy thanks to his grandfather, and he is as kind-hearted as they come. You are correct in your assessment. He is also one of the best men I have ever met and believe it or not, he was my first boyfriend. All these years, I have been in love with Donovan Taylor, and it wasn’t until I met Michael that I ever thought I could learn to love anybody else.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“The problem was, I was hasty in my decision with Michael. I knew deep down I couldn’t forget Donovan. I was selfish. Michael was so good to me I thought I could return his affection in entirety...eventually...but it didn’t happen.”
“You never gave it a chance to happen, young lady.” Grandfather was upset for me. I hadn’t seen so much affection from this man as I’d witnessed the past few days.
“I know...and I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t realize sooner that Donovan Taylor could never be replaced in my heart. I’m very sorry that I let your entire family down because the Bennington family was like a second family to me when I came to London. And I am truly sorry I’ll never get to know you as my grandfather, because underneath this gruff exterior, I know you’re a soft teddy bear. My grandmother would never have loved a coldhearted man.” I was his priority until Estelle Cowper entered the picture. Harry Bennington was silly-putty in both women’s hands.
“Anybody ever tell you you’re just like your grandmother, Estelle?” He inquired with a smile.
“That’s what both my grandfathers have told me. I consider it one of the highest compliments I could ever receive. I would have loved you as a grandfather, too.” Laney kissed the duke on the cheek as if it was an every day occurrence.
“Damn, Michael. I see now why you’re pathetically in love with this girl. I’ve never seen anyone put a spell on Grandfather like she just did.” Niles looked half in love with Laney, himself.
“Everything good? You all right?” The nervous “boyfriend” couldn’t stay away.
“You afraid we stole her from under your nose?” The duke snorted in disgust. “We honorable English men don’t do things like that, unlike you dishonorable Americans.”
“Your Grace,” Laney groaned. “We’ve got a lot of money on the line here, let’s go play.”
“She’s a fine woman, Mikey. Go after her.” Niles encouraged before we headed back to our game.
In the end, Laney and Roland ended up winning the pot, but I didn’t care. Grandfather ran into the love of his life and Estelle promised to bring her family to dinner tonight. Ruby arrived in Fife in time to help me and my parents prepare the house for our small affair.
“You ready for your attack? You have a plan in place to win over Laney Reid? This might be your last chance.” Grandfather reminded me.
“Just give me a solid hour without that clown attached to her hips and I can work my magic.”
“I sure as hell hope so.” This time, His Grace didn’t sound as convinced.
I was the first to see the cars pull up, but not the first to greet the vision standing in awe of Grandfather’s home.
“Laney!” Ruby ran down the steps to greet her friend.
“Ruby!” Laney was just as pleased to see my sister. “Where have you been?”
“Where have I been? I’ve been all over the freakin’ Arctic, thanks to a bet I lost to my damn cousin. It was so damn cold, I couldn’t wait to get back to the terrible summer heat and humidity in London…well, hello!” My sister checked out the jerk in front of her. “I’d dump Michael for this guy, too.” Gee thanks, Sis.
“Ahem!” and “Ruby,” went hand in hand with the duke’s welcome. “Good evening, everyone.” Grandfather only had eyes for his Estelle as he offered his arm. “May I walk you in?”
I decided to follow Grandfather’s lead. “May I walk you in?” Laney didn’t protest. “You look beautiful, Duchess.” She was truly a sight to behold.
“Michael.” She tried to warn me away with her disapproval, but I wouldn’t allow it.
“Don’t say it. I’m not going to listen. I’m not going to live in regret like my grandfather. Look at him, sixty years later, still regretting not having gone after your grandmother. There was no passion between the duke and duchess. I don’t want to live like that.”
“And you won’t live like that. You will meet a woman who will return your love equally, who will give you that passion you so want and deserve.”
“I have met that woman. That woman is you. I have told you before, and I’ll say it again for the last time. I’m not giving up.”
Something changed in Laney’s demeanor that disturbed me. For the first time since I’d made this vow to win her over, I was feeling unsure. Was she truly giving up what we had for Donovan Taylor?
I gave her some room until we all sat to dinner.
“Michael.” Laney spoke first. “I don’t know how else to tell you this fact. I’m in love with Donovan. Even if he and I don’t end up married, I don’t think you and I will ever be.”
Shit. That wasn’t what this dinner was supposed to be all about. “Laney. Duchess.”
She didn’t let me continue. “Please respect my decision. I want us to stay friends. If you can’t accept what I’ve told you, I’ll have to cut off all ties.”
The seriousness in her tone led me to understand I needed to back off—at least for now.
After the Reids left, I convinced Ruby to help me one last time. I needed to ask once more and hear from Laney that she wanted me no longer.
Knowing Donovan Taylor was gone and Laney was headed to the States for a few days, we put “Operation Laney” into motion.
“Hi Duchess.” I greeted a surprised Laney, who was having breakfast with my sister.
“Hi.” She appeared unhappy with all of us. “And hello, again, Niles.”
“Hello, Michael’s duchess,” Niles turned on his own charm.
“What brings you both here? I thought you were staying up in Scotland?”
“Niles and I would like to see Stonehenge and thought you and Rubes should come along.”
“I leave for LA, tomorrow, Michael.”
“What time is your flight?”
“I think it’s a morning one.”
“Let’s go for the day. We have a car, it only takes about ninety minutes from here to Stonehenge, then another thirty minutes to Bath. Let’s spend the day sightseeing.”
Before she could nix our plans, Niles begged, “Laney. Believe it or not, I’ve never s
een Stonehenge. My cousin is offering to spend a day playing my chauffeur and tour guide. This has never happened. Please make my dreams come true of bossing around this future duke. He’s paying for all our meals.”
“He even brought Grandfather’s gaudy, but ultra-luxurious Bentley.” Ruby added, “It’s a convertible.”
“Do I have a choice in this matter?” The laugh that accompanied the question was a good sign.
We all answered, “No!”
The road trip was a fun one until the idiot called to check up on Laney. Fortunately for me, the two got into a big argument. I could only smile at the turn of events.
After a very stern, “Don’t,” on Laney’s part, she ended with a, “Thank you for the unsolicited advice because it was so necessary. And now let me give you my response. I will no longer be your on-call travel partner. When I go back to LA on Wednesday, I will have most of my stuff packed and I will be attending medical school this fall. I am not attending medical school this year because of you, as previously stated, but because this sorry situation of mine as a lady-in-waiting is pissing me off. I will not wait around for your charity and I will not hope for you to take me places when it’s convenient for you.” Donovan must have said something because she paused for a few seconds then practically ground out, “I understand you are working. But if you want me to put my life on hold so we can travel, I don’t want to be left behind. And as for your unsolicited warning and lack of trust, I know what I will not be doing, but if you so choose to do so with Kate, be my guest. You have my permission! Good! Bye!”
“Shit.” Niles grinned. “I don’t think any of the duchesses had this kind of a temper. She’ll whip all the staff and employees into shape. You are one smart-mouthed woman,” he spoke to a still angry Laney. “You sure you want her as your duchess?” he then asked me.
Donovan wasn’t the only one on her shit list. We got the same treatment. “Michael. We are friends. We will stay friends and I will not be your duchess. If any of you mention that word again, I’m going to take the bus back to Belgravia.”
We three watched this angry woman carefully before laughing with her. Laney couldn’t hold her anger for long.
We walked around Stonehenge, and then took a nice stroll around Bath. Laney’s words about leaving London disturbed me. “Are you truly leaving for Los Angeles for good, or were you bluffing?” I needed to know.
“I said it in haste, but it’s been something that’s been on my mind the past few weeks. As much fun as these few months have been, I’m getting restless. I need to do something, and that something is school. Eight years of schooling is a long time and to start a year late doesn’t seem like the best idea.”
“But what about Donovan? What will happen with your relationship?” I asked, but understood the inevitable. The look of love in Laney’s eyes whenever she was with or talked about her man was unmistakable.
“Michael. Donovan and I will get married. We might be in a tiff now, but unless Donovan calls it off, we will stay together for the rest of our lives. I’m sorry I led you to believe otherwise. I love Donovan.”
Her words were as deadly as the rocks of Stonehenge falling on my chest.
It was over.
We were done.
Michael: Another Taylor?
“Tell me why you pulled a James Bond move at Donovan and Laney’s wedding.”
“What the hell does that mean and how the hell did you know I was there? What…you have eyes on the back of your head, Bee Taylor?”
Bee laughed. “How could I miss such a striking English figure in the Chapel O’ Love? And you know what I mean about flying twelve hours to stay at a wedding for twelve minutes.”
I sobered up at the thought of Laney’s wedding. “I don’t know why I do some of the things I do concerning your niece-in-law. It was Christmas in London and I couldn’t stand the thought of not seeing Laney. I took Grandfather’s plane and purposely arrived after she walked down the aisle. She looked stunning.” I sighed.
“She did.” Bee agreed but changed the subject. “What brings you to my neck of the ocean?”
In the course of a few months, Bee and I struck up an interesting sort of friendship. When I finally let go of Laney Taylor, Bee Taylor somehow took center stage. The last thing I wanted was to replace one Taylor with another, but my mind and heart did stupid things all the time.
“Grandfather has some legal issues that he didn’t want his English legal team to handle. He needed a confidant, and I guess Roland Ascot was the person who came to mind.”
The two of us had an easy conversation about my life in London, her life in LA—especially her life with her current on-and-off boyfriend.
“You two are back together again?” I asked with some interest. It didn’t bother me a whole lot that there was another man in her life. While Bee held my interest, I couldn’t see her as my future duchess.
“I don’t know Michael.” Bee’s status in life and relationship was similar to mine. Perhaps this was why we got on so well.
She spoke of her struggles with Nick and her desire to get married. I told her of my semi-depressed state after seeing Laney with her pregnant belly.
“Try sitting in the office of the man who married your dream woman. If that wasn’t depressing enough, your dream woman walks in to a room full of men and sees only her husband. It was after we called attention to her that she noticed there were other men in the room.”
“So you finally saw her!” There was mischief in Bee’s voice.
“I finally saw her, spoke with her, and even touched her. Of course, as life had a way of mocking me, she was wearing my ring.”
“What ring? Donovan allowed Laney to wear a ring you gave her?”
“Neither know I gave that ring to Laney.”
“Explain.”
“I left it as a wedding present for Laney. The ring belonged to our family for generations, and I had asked Grandfather for it after I asked Laney to marry me. She was to wear one of the three rings, and I, the second. After we married, Laney was to wear all three.”
“So it was a wedding present for Laney—but with a different groom.”
“Something like that. I had her name engraved in the center ring and knew it would look perfect on her ring finger.”
“On this fateful day, the woman who was to be your duchess wore a Bennington heirloom on her ring finger? Ouch…”
“She actually wore it on the right hand. That pink diamond was on the ring finger.”
Bee chuckled, “Any new woman in your life since my niece is completely off the market?”
“How can there be when I was waiting for you to return? That kiss between us wasn’t hot and heavy enough?” I kidded.
The woman sitting across the table from me had a scared rabbit look. “Do we need to talk about that kiss?”
“No we don’t. It was New Year’s Eve. Everyone kissed someone, and though I think we could explore the chemistry between us, I don’t think either one of us wants to at this time.”
“I know you and I kid about being attracted to one another, but I need to see this through with Nick. We’ve been together for a long time and I want a resolution one way or another.”
“You’re willing to see it end if he doesn’t want the forever you want?”
Now Bee was sighing. “If that’s what it takes to get some answers, I suppose I don’t have a choice. I’ve been alone a very long time. It’ll be nothing new to start again.” There was a whole lot of sadness in her statement.
I disliked what I heard. “Stay with me when you come into London,” I offered. “I’ve finally set up my own place and it’s awfully lonely being in that large space. Why, I can hear echoes.” This was more an offer of friendship than anything else.
Bee agreed, and I left feeling good about having helped a friend.
“Are you ready to leave?” Grandfather asked as soon as I entered his home.
“Leave?” How
could an elderly man fly twelve hours and not feel the effect of the ride? “We just arrived, Grandfather. Let’s at least spend a night in this fancy home of yours. Why did you even buy this place when you never come here?”
“I thought Ruby might like it here when she lived in LA.”
I saw through his lie. “You forget who’s taking care of all your properties, in and out of England. I know for a fact you bought this home decades ago. Why have you not stayed here?”
“I’ve stayed here occasionally.”