Mr. Big Love: The Mr. Big Series: Book Two

by Lund, S. E.

  "Your mother is always going to hate me," she said. "Nothing I can do will win her over."

  "Time will win her over. When she sees how happy I am with you, when she sees how good we are together, she'll come around. When we have children, she'll realize she's missing out on family if she cuts us off. She'll be the one who suffers, not us. Even if she does follow through, my father will keep seeing us and treating us like family."

  "You think so?"

  I nodded. "He's not a snob like her, even though he is a profligate cheater. I like him a lot more than I like her, in the end."

  "They seem to tolerate each other," Alexa said. "They don't seem like they really love each other. I never saw them giving any affection to each other."

  "That's my mother. She can't really show emotion. She's always so worried about how everything looks and what everyone in her circle of people will think of us. I hated it growing up. It was like she didn't do things because they were good for us, but because her friends would approve."

  "That's a sad way to be. I don't want us to ever get like that if we get married."

  "If we get married?" I said and forced her to look in my eyes. "You already said yes. Are you changing your mind?"

  She shook her head quickly. "No, I didn't mean that. It's just that things can change and none of us know what's going to happen tomorrow."

  "I know," I said and squeezed her to emphasize the point. "I know I'm going to wake up tomorrow loving you even more than I do today. I know that next week, I'm going to love you even more. And that next year, after you're done your coursework, I'm going to love you even more the day we walk down the aisle and every day after that. That's what I know."

  Her eyes filled with tears and she moved up and kissed me, her kiss passionate. Our arms went around each other even more tightly.

  When the kiss broke, she pulled away and looked in my eyes. "I'm so glad you were bad at transcribing that email address." Then she smiled.

  "Me, too," I replied.

  Then I picked her up and carried her into the bedroom to show her just how glad I was.

  The next morning while Alexa slept, I got up and went to the bathroom for a quick shower. When I was finished, I dressed and slipped on my jacket and shoes, then I wrote a quick note to her and left it on her laptop cover.

  Just going out for a quick visit to Dragon Lady to set her straight.

  When I come back, we should go get some brunch.

  Love you.

  Sunday morning traffic was busy, but I managed to get downtown to the apartment where I grew up in decent time, finding a spot behind back where the family parked. I still had a key to the building, so I was able to get inside without buzzing up if I wanted. I had planned to just go inside and confront my mother, but I decided to send her a message first. I didn't want a scene. I just wanted to clear things up.

  LUKE: I'm outside the building and want to come in and talk to you about your visit with Alexa yesterday.

  I sent the text and waited on the street for her to respond.

  She finally called me, so I answered.

  "Luke, why didn't you call first?"

  "Are you going to invite me in?" I responded, my anger starting to build.

  "Of course, dear. Come in. You have a key."

  "I didn't want to barge in."

  "You're always welcome," she said. "It would be nice to have advance warning, but this is your home and always will be."

  "I'm coming up," I said and opened the front door using my key. I didn't bother looking in the security camera. "We need to talk."

  "Of course, dear. Come up. I'll be in the kitchen making coffee for us. It's so early."

  I hung up and went to the elevator, taking it up to the top floor, preparing for a battle with her. It wasn't that I was upset about the money. I was upset about the attempt to bribe Alexa, threaten her, drive her away from my side.

  She wasn't going to get away with it.

  When I got to the top floor, I went to the closet to hang up my coat and then into the kitchen where my mother was, dressed in her robe and slippers. She looked like she'd just woken up.

  "There you are, dear. Come and give me a kiss."

  She held out her arms, and I was shocked. She wasn't the hug and kiss type, so that showed me she knew that she was in deep shit with me.

  "Mother, I'm angry with you over what you said to Alexa."

  From the hallway came my father, also dressed in a robe and slippers. He also looked like he'd just woken up.

  "What's up?" he asked, coming over to us and looking between my mother and me. "How come you're here so early? It's Sunday. Are you going to work today?"

  I shook my head. "Mother didn't tell you about her lunch with Alexa yesterday?"

  He frowned and I knew then that she didn't tell my father.

  "You'll be interested to know that she threatened to disinherit me if I marry Alexa."

  "What?" my father said, frowning. "You never said anything to me about it. Why would you say that?"

  My mother looked panicked, because she realized I was angry and that my father wouldn't support her.

  "Luke, I know you think you love this girl, but it's just rebound from your broken heart over Jenna. You have to realize that you two are far too different, from different social classes, and your marriage will fail because of it. I'm just trying to prevent even more heartbreak."

  "You actually threatened to disinherit him without talking to me? It's not your money to disinherit. Half of it is rightfully his from Emma and Charles."

  "I did it to protect him," she protested, wringing her hands. She turned to me, and her expression was very upset. "Luke, this girl is not on your level. Her parents are, well, not our kind of people. You must see that."

  "Mother, this is not seventeenth-century England. I don't have to marry in my class. You didn't."

  That shut her up.

  "Your father and I didn't work hard all these years just to see you throw it all away over a girl. One with no breeding, no background..."

  "She's got fine breeding and background. Her father was a USAF fighter pilot, one of the most skilled pilots around and he now manages an airport in Oregon. He's a wonderful man and her mother is a wonderful woman. I'm lucky to be marrying into their very loving and supportive family. I only wish I could say the same about Alexa."

  My father shook his head and went to the coffee pot to pour himself a cup.

  "She won't disinherit you," he said when he turned around, cup in hand. "And if she does, I won't be changing my will, so don't let that worry you."

  "It's not the money," I said in protest. "She can cut me off completely if she really wants to. It's threatening Alexa, trying to make her leave me, that pisses me off."

  My father nodded and narrowed his eyes. "It won't happen. You can trust me."

  "Grant," she said firmly. "You can't just order me around like that. I can change my will any time I want."

  He shook his head. "Do what you want, but I don't support it. I won't change my will."

  I'd had enough and wanted to leave before I got really mad.

  "I just want you to know that using money to stop me from marrying Alexa won't work,” I said to my mother. “Now, I'm leaving. I don't want to hear another thing about this and if I do, I'll be cutting you off from my life."

  Then I left.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Alexa

  I woke up alone in our bed, and turned over, staring out the door into the rest of the hotel room.

  "Luke?"

  There was no answer, so I got up and went to have a quick shower before I got dressed. I found the note when I finished and came out to see if he was watching television.

  He'd gone to meet his mother and confront her about our lunch and her ultimatum. That sent a surge of anxiety through me. I should have kept quiet about it, and just let it drop, but I didn't want to do that in our relationship. I wanted to be totally open and honest with Luke and he with me. It
was the only way for a relationship to really work.

  No secrets.

  I sent Luke a text.

  ALEXA: I'm so sorry about this. I hope this doesn't drive a wedge between you and your mother.

  Then, I waited for an answer. When Luke replied, I heaved a sigh of relief.

  LUKE: It's all good. I spoke with my mother and gave her the word. My father was not happy with what she did so don't worry about him. He supports us getting married.

  ALEXA: I'm so glad. I hated the thought that there'd be a feud between our two families.

  LUKE: Nope. No family feud. My father will straighten out my mother. If she decides to write me out of her will, he won't. It's not even the money I care about. It's the idea of my mother using money to try to get you to break up with me.

  ALEXA: She really doesn't like me.

  LUKE: She doesn't know you. To know you is to love you. :)

  I smiled.

  ALEXA: You're biased.

  LUKE: I am. When I get back, I want us to go out for Sunday brunch. The hotel has a nice spread.

  ALEXA: Okay. I'm dressed and ready.

  LUKE: Meet me downstairs in fifteen. I'll text you when I arrive.

  ALEXA: I love you.

  LUKE: I love you, Alexa. We got this.

  I smiled and covered my mouth, tears in my eyes that he felt he had to go to his mother and fix things right away.

  He texted me about twelve minutes later and so I went downstairs into the hotel's restaurant for Sunday brunch.

  He was waiting for me in the lobby and when I saw him, I smiled. He looked so good, sitting on one of the sofas, his arm stretched on the back, his leg crossed over his knee. He looked like he belonged in this hotel. He looked like a billion dollars and for a moment, it made me self-conscious about my humble origins. I glanced down at myself, at my sundress and sandals, at my bag, but I caught myself. He'd seen me in a bikini and sweatshirt for the past eight months as we crossed the oceans on The Phoenix. He accepted me for what I was. A surge of pride filled me that he was willing to fight his mother over this. He wouldn't be the man I loved if he hadn't stormed over to her house and gave her a piece of his mind.

  "There you are," he said when I walked up. He stood and came to me, his hands on my shoulders, pulling me in for a kiss. "I wish we didn't have to deal with this. It was so much calmer out in the middle of the ocean surrounded by thirty-foot waves."

  I laughed and he took my hand, leading me over to the restaurant. "It was."

  We were seated at a booth in the back of the restaurant next to a window, and we sat side by side instead of across from each other so we could be close.

  "So, tell me about your encounter with your mother."

  He shook his head. "Nope. Not going to. Suffice to say that I gave her the third degree and told her she could keep her money. End of story. I don't need her money."

  "But half her estate would give you a lot of money for your Mars project."

  He shook his head. "There's lots of seed money out there, and people excited about the future of commercial space travel and industry who want to invest. I have absolute certainty that I'll get lots of people interested in funding our project. Honestly, Alexa," he said and leaned closer. "I have enough money for the two of us to live on for the rest of our lives plus invest in the new project. We could go to the Bahamas and moor The Phoenix off the coast and never work for a living ever again."

  "I don't want that," I said. "I want to do something useful in my life."

  "I know, I do, too. I want to build something that will outlast me and become part of the future. I'm just saying that I'm not at all concerned about her money. It just burns me that she'd even think of blackmailing you to break up with me. It's a terrible thing."

  I nodded and leaned back. "You're such a good man."

  He smiled. "It's easy to be good when you have my life. I have you. I have the new project. I have John as a business partner. The world is my oyster."

  "Good. It's settled. Your mother can plot and scheme, but she can't do anything to break us up."

  "That's right. Nothing."

  We spent the rest of the day lounging around the hotel room, looking over apartments to buy in Manhattan. It felt like a dream to me, to be looking at such expensive properties. It just drove home how much different my life was from Luke's. He thought nothing of showing me an apartment for $2.5 million dollars on Park Avenue.

  "It's three bedrooms, which would mean you could have an office plus a spare bedroom for when we have visitors. When we had a child, we could convert the spare room into a nursery."

  I glanced at it. The apartment was lovely. It had a nice view, too, including a patio door to a rooftop patio.

  "That's nice. How much would the mortgage be?"

  He shrugged. "I could buy it outright. Who needs a mortgage?"

  "You can just drop $2.5 million on an apartment?"

  "I can," he said and leaned over to kiss me. "Get used to it. Whatever you want. Whatever we need."

  "That's so much money. An apartment in Portland would be in the hundred thousands of dollars, not millions."

  "But we live in Manhattan. You go to school in Manhattan. So, we need a place in Manhattan. Besides, I have a thousand times that amount from the sale of Chatter."

  I sighed. "It boggles the mind."

  He laughed and showed me a different apartment. "Look at this one. It's half the price and is in Brooklyn. You could commute if you really don't want to pay that much."

  I checked it out but had to admit that it would be much nicer to be half an hour from Columbia than Park Slope in Brooklyn.

  "Look, don't worry. We'll find a place even closer to Columbia. We have time."

  I smiled and continued to search for apartments that were close to Columbia but didn't cost so much.

  "Here's an apartment in a co-op near Riverside Park. It would be much closer to Columbia," I said, showing him a two bedroom with a small balcony.

  "It's kind of small," Luke said and frowned. "We need three bedrooms. I want a patio, not a balcony. Here," he said and showed me one closer to Central Park. "This is nice."

  We spent the rest of the day searching for apartments and drinking coffee, planning our lives together.

  What started off as a bad weekend turned out much better.

  On Monday, Luke and I made several appointments with real estate agents to look at apartments, hoping to see the five we'd picked out of all the ones available. My favorite was the most expensive one on Park Avenue that Luke preferred, but I felt guilty wanting it. Luke didn't even think twice about it.

  "The price is well within our range," he said, like we had any kind of budget. "We'll check out the local neighborhood and decide based on that and how much we like the apartment."

  "Okay, if you say so."

  "I say so, but seriously, Alexa. My mother has gotten under your skin. She's making you feel undeserving and guilty. You are not and you shouldn't."

  "What will I be contributing to this? If we were any other couple, we'd be sharing rent."

  "We aren't any other couple," Luke said firmly. "We're us. I am who I am, Alexa. I'm rich. You have to get over your prejudice against wealth because if you marry me, you'll be wealthy, too."

  "I know," I said and stopped him as we went to the hotel's front entrance, where our limo was waiting to take us apartment shopping. "It's just that I feel guilty that I'm not contributing. I always considered a marriage to be a partnership. You know, fifty-fifty."

  "In most partnerships, people bring different qualifications and skills. In this partnership," he said and held my hand, brushing hair off my forehead. "I have the money. You make killer poached eggs."

  He grinned and then bent down to kiss me.

  I finally smiled when he broke the kiss and pulled back. "I do make killer poached eggs. It's my superpower."

  "I can think of others, too." He wagged his eyebrows and I laughed because only earlier that morning, he'd praised m
y skills with my tongue and lips.

  "I'm sure you can."

  We took the limo, giving the driver directions to our first property. It was the one on Park Avenue and was Luke's favorite. It was the nicest and the one farthest from Columbia, but it was still only a twenty-minute drive -- if traffic was light. I would only have to be on campus three days of the week for classes and to teach my seminar, so it wouldn't be onerous.

  The limo drive took about twenty minutes with heavy traffic on Monday morning, but we finally arrived at the building, which had a colonial façade for the entrance in white stone, a canopy over the entrance, and was red brick.

  Park Avenue was jammed with cars and delivery trucks. The buildings were all similar, and the neighborhood was very wealthy.

  In other words, Luke belonged there.

  Like he said, if I married him, I'd belong there, too, so I swallowed back my sense of inadequacy and left the limo, standing on the street in front of the building, glancing around in awe.

  "It's so nice," I said. "All the buildings are nice."

  "It'll do," Luke said, grinning.

  Our real estate agent was named Nathan, and welcomed us, shaking our hands. After introductions, he took us inside the building and up to the apartment, which was on the top floor.

  "You're lucky," he said, ushering us into the apartment. "It's one of the best in the building with a nice patio on the rooftop. Great views and a brand-new kitchen. Plus, lots of room."

  We spent some time walking around, while Nathan described the place, noting the great floors, the windows with a view of the city, and then took us out onto the patio. Seriously, the apartment was really nice -- for Manhattan.

  "It's a steal," Nathan said.

  "Hardly," I whispered to Luke.

  Nathan heard me, despite my attempt to only whisper. "In Manhattan real estate terms, it is," he replied with a grin.

  Nathan showed us the other four apartments closer to Columbia, and they were all nice in their own way, but felt smaller, and of course, didn't have such a nice patio. One had access to a shared rooftop space, and the others had balconies. But none had that brick patio with a view of the city.