by Heather Long
Yes, please.
Chapter Eighteen
Be Good To Your Daughters
I leaned back against the seat of the rental car. Archie had arranged for two vehicles to be waiting for us when we arrived so we would have options. The flight from Texas to Connecticut after three pleasure-and-fun-soaked days at the beach seemed a lot like spiraling back to reality. The delicious ache invading every single muscle had made sleeping on the plane easier.
We’d arrived before lunch, and instead of a rental house, Archie had gotten us the honeymoon suite at a really expensive hotel. I wanted to argue about the money so bad. This whole thing was costing him a fortune, but he just kissed me and reminded me it was his money to spend. Now, sitting beside him in the convertible as we followed the winding and picturesque roads toward our final destination, I made a promise to myself.
Someday, I was going to be the one who spoiled him. I was going to make sure he was okay. And I was going to make him feel like a king. The air was a lot chillier here, and I was back in my buttery soft leather coat, jeans, thick boots, and a dark cable knit sweater. I’d even pulled on a little knit cap, not only to protect my ears but also to keep my hair from getting windblown.
The car had seat warmers, and the soft kidskin leather gloves kept my hands warm. The only problem with them was I couldn’t wear my ring, so Jake had slid it onto a chain and tucked it around my neck. It nestled right between my breasts beneath the sweater.
“How much farther?”
“We’re not scheduled to be there for another hour,” Archie said, and I was impressed the wind didn’t steal his words. “I wanted to show you something before we got there, if that’s okay.”
“Anything you want.” I had no problems with delaying. I couldn’t make up my mind if I was excited or terrified or somewhere in between. I couldn’t even say why I wanted to do this. Yet, the night I explained it—or tried to—all four of them had understood and shifted our spring break plans to cut our time at the beach short.
He grinned. “Don’t tempt me when I know how sore you are.”
I groaned and tilted my head back. Who knew it was possible to have too much sex? I thought I’d strained my vagina or something. Telling Rachel on video chat had been hilarious. Her reaction still made me smile. She also suggested that I add more variety that didn’t insist on stretching me so much. It was cute, but I reminded her she had a secret boyfriend of her own, not to mention a girlfriend. And how did I know that second one? I’d caught sight of the bare leg out of the corner of her video camera as she’d scrambled out of bed.
The flushed look and over-bright eyes were another dead giveaway. Those and the hickeys on her throat. They got darker and more numerous about every five days. Fading just in time for her to see him again.
“I promise,” Rachel said, holding up her hand. “I’ll introduce you when you get back. But you have to promise to leash your boys.”
“I can’t guarantee it, they like you now. You’re going to be stuck with how overprotective they are. But if he isn’t treating you right, or she isn’t, trust me when I say I’ll be the one kicking their asses.”
“I love you too, now go away.” Rachel had winked before she’d ended the call.
But when I asked Jake later would he kick a guy’s ass if I told him it needed kicking but didn’t tell him why, he just looked at me like I was adorable. “Baby Girl, you want me to beat someone’s ass, all you gotta do is point. If you want their ass kicked, it needs to be kicked.”
Yeah, maybe that shouldn’t turn me on, but it so did.
We’d debated whether the guys should come with us, but everyone decided that it should just be Archie and me, at least for the first meeting.
“Honestly, Baby Girl, I kind of hate the thought of them,” Jake had confessed. “They knew about you, knew Maddy, and they left you there. That makes them assholes in my book.”
Coop had nodded grimly, but Ian’s reaction surprised me. “I get why you need to meet them and I want that for you. But I don’t like them, and I don’t want them anywhere near you. So the compromise is Archie goes because I know he’ll tear them apart if they try anything. Then you can make the call, Angel. This is your life. We just want you to be happy.”
Then again, if anyone—say, Archie’s asshole parents—treated them the way Maddy had treated me? Yeah, I’d be ready for blood too. Decision made, Archie and I had stayed at the hotel long enough to change into warmer clothes before heading down to the rented convertible. He followed a twisting road that bypassed a pair of great iron gates into an isolated section that looked so forlorn, with only a hint of green amidst the sparse foliage.
Winter still held a fierce grip on New England, even though a weak sun had warmed the day up to the upper fifties, low sixties. My cheeks burned a little, chilled from the drive, but as he took the long winding route through the sparse woods, the wind abated.
“Where are we?” As if summoned by the question, the trees parted to reveal an old gothic style structure of a building. It was huge and imposing. There was a circular drive leading up to the front and huge wings jutting off to the sides. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be impressed or terrified. It was both fascinating and cold all at once.
Archie followed the circular drive around, then backed into a parking slip I hadn’t even noticed so that we could face the building. After he put the car into park, he said, “Welcome to Blue Ivy Prep, my home away from home for a few years.”
Surprise speared through me, and I glanced over at him. “I thought you went to a boarding school.”
“This is it,” he said. “Generations of Standishes and Graysons have gone here. If Maddy hadn’t left and broken off with her family, we might have met here instead of in Texas.”
I stared at the building. It was…cold. Unfeeling. I mean, it was just a building, but it seemed…isolated and alone.
“I know it looks bad, but that’s just the outside. C’mon,” he slid out of the car and walked around to get me. “Kids are probably away on their spring break, which is why it’s so quiet. But it’s perfect for an impromptu tour.”
“Aren’t we going to get into trouble?” I stared at him.
Archie laughed. “Babe, this is one of those times where our last names open doors, and here, our money built at least a third of this place.”
Our money.
We made it three steps as I lagged, and he glanced at me with a question in his eyes.
“It’s not my money,” I reminded him. “I’m not even sure they’re my family.”
“No,” he murmured softly and cupped my cheek. “But I am. What’s mine is yours.”
Some of my reservations melted away. “I love you.”
He grinned slowly and with more than a little smugness. “Luckiest bastard in the world right here.”
I snorted. “I’m the bastard in this relationship, remember?”
A snort followed by a groan met my declaration, but we set off again. The big doors looked like they’d been created out of hammered iron, but they were just heavy and wooden, yet Archie pulled the door open easily. The interior was all dark cherry wood and elegant looking. If the outside was cold and forbidding, the interior was warm and inviting.
Portraits lined the walls of stuffy looking individuals, yet they all seemed extremely expensive oil paintings. “School founders,” Archie murmured against my ear. “This is the main hall. Food court is down there.” He pointed toward one of the myriad of halls jutting away from this building. “Upstairs are administration offices and counselors. This way…” He grinned at me as he tugged me along. “This is the way to the boys’ quarters. Girls are quartered on the other side, though there is a courtyard between them.”
It was a whirlwind tour that included seeing a communal shower, bathroom, and a library that I wanted to stay in until Archie told me there were two of them—this one and then an identical one in the girls’ wing. Why two? He shrugged. Probably sex in the stacks in the sixties
and seventies. Free love had changed how Blue Ivy did business.
When he eyed one of the shadowy areas in the shelves then me, he winked. “Next time. When you’re not so sore.”
They were all intimately aware of my current status, and my blush was not for that, so much as for the promise of next time.
Next, we plunged deeper into the boys’ side, and he took me to a room at the far end. Only then did he let go of my hand to work something against the lock.
“Archie, what are you doing?” I hissed. So far, we hadn’t seen anyone, but that didn’t mean we were alone. There were cameras in some of the halls. None up here, though.
At all.
“It’s fine,” he said as the lock gave. “This thing is so stupid easy to open if you know what you’re doing.” Inside, we found a tidy room with a private bathroom. It was a single, apparently, about as big as my bedroom, maybe a little bigger. There was a bed tucked in the corner under the window with a desk next to it and a big fat arm chair in the opposite corner.
It definitely smelled like teenage boy in here.
“This,” Archie said. “This was my home away from home for four years. Started at Prep in fifth grade. Left after eighth. This hall has changed some, but they quartered by year when I was here, so all my neighbors were in my class. Facilitating cooperation and closeness. Not that it worked. They were just kids who went here, not my friends.”
My heart twisted.
“Nana and Grandpa lived about twenty-five minutes from here. Pretty close to where your grandparents live. Grandpa sold the house after Nana died.” He’d told me that.
“You spent weekends with them.”
“Every chance I got,” he told me as he turned in a slow circle. “This room though, was basically my world for four years. I spent a couple of holidays here when Edward and Muriel were too busy to make it back. That was the first year. After that, Nana always came to get me.”
“Did you go to boarding school before here, too?”
He nodded. “A couple of different ones. Jeremy would collect me at the end of terms and bring me back in the spring. He always made sure to send care packages too. I never ran out of contraband. But it was easier when I decided on public school.”
Pivoting, he faced me and grinned.
“Best decision I ever made.”
I laughed. “I don’t know if I can even imagine going here.” Our parents had. Was that why they were so messed up? Had Maddy saved me, inadvertently or not, from this life? Had Archie saved himself by leaving?
What if his nana hadn’t died?
What if…
There were too many of them.
“I’m glad you came to Texas,” I told him, and I really was. When he dragged me into a hug, then glanced at that kid’s bed, I whacked him.
Laughing, he kissed me before leading the way out and locking the door behind us. “Can’t blame a guy for being turned on around you, babe. You’re everything and more.”
“Smooth talker,” I teased, even if I was grinning. We finished our sneaky tour and had just made it back to the car when we got busted by security. Unsurprisingly, Archie talked our way right out of the trouble, particularly after the security guard recognized him. After a handshake and a flash of cash vanishing from Archie’s palm to the security guy’s, we were back in the car and on our way to the Grayson Estate.
Estate.
Ugh.
A chill raced through me, but I did my best to cover it as we left Archie’s old school behind. I really couldn’t picture him there. Or maybe I just didn’t want to. When he talked about that time to me, all I heard was the loneliness in his voice. Reaching over, I covered his hand on the gear shift, and he glanced at me with a grin. The sunglasses and ruffled hair gave him a rakish edge, but did nothing to hide his inescapable charm.
Never lonely again. Not like that.
Despite the fact I’d done an internet search on them, I wasn’t prepared for their house when we arrived. It really was an estate with a fountain in the front. The brick work was brighter here than at the school, but the building was equally imposing. It looked easily as big as our high school. Holy crap.
“And Maddy has no siblings?” I hadn’t found any in the search. Archie parked in the circular round right in front of their main doors.
“Nope,” he told me. Granted, Archie lived in a huge house too, but that seemed almost cozy compared to this museum. “Still time to bail, babe. No questions, no judgment.”
No, I had questions and a lot of judgment. I wasn’t doing this for Maddy or for Patience and Eugene, whoever they might be, I was doing this for me. I needed to know. I needed to put these questions to rest so I could move on with my family.
I tugged off the knit cap and stuffed it into my pocket before checking my hair in the mirror in the visor.
“You’re beautiful,” he told me, waiting patiently for me to step out, and I grinned up at him.
“You’re biased.”
“Absolutely,” he winked. “I’m also right.”
Blowing out a breath, I gathered up my courage and stepped out the door he held open. We didn’t even make it to the door to ring the bell before it was opened by a stately looking elderly gentleman wearing a suit. He didn’t look like the picture of Eugene Grayson, I’d seen.
“Miss Curtis, Mr. Standish, please, come in. You’re expected.” Well, that confirmed it. He stepped back to allow us inside and then closed the door behind us. “May I take your coats?”
Archie had already shrugged out of his and then helped me out of mine. With care, he passed them over to the man, who hadn’t introduced himself but seemed to be some kind of butler. A woman bypassed us and headed for the stairs. Unlike the butler, she was dressed in a pale blue uniform of some kind. She kept her eyes down but gave me a polite if quick smile before hurrying on.
“Mr. and Mrs. Grayson will be down directly. If you’ll follow me to the sunroom. Lunch will be served in thirty minutes.”
The sunroom turned out to be a huge glass enclosure filled with foliage, flowering plants, and another fountain. It was much warmer in here and just a tad humid. Not enough that I wanted to shed my sweater, but I was definitely glad to be out of my jacket and gloves.
A table awaited us, all set for serving four. I guessed they’d prepared when Archie confirmed our arrival time. I’d been a bit of a coward on that front. I had no idea what to say to them right now, when I was about to meet them face to face. Calling them seemed impossible. What do you say to grandparents who might as well be strangers?
“Can I get you a refreshment?” the butler asked.
“A couple of sodas would be great,” Archie told him. “Coke, if you have it. If not, coffee.”
“Of course,” the butler said, then gave us the briefest of nods and left us alone.
“So. Weird.” It was almost creepy. I mean, the sunroom was gorgeous, and I could imagine sitting out here to read in the middle of winter would be amazing if there was snow outside and it was still warm in here.
Arms folded, I made a slow circuit, not quite ready to sit down. The fountain was a total surprise. Not that I had expectations, but the fact there were literally dozens of brilliantly colored koi in the water and the fountain was more of a water feature that wound through all the plants, including little bridges to create footpaths over it, was incredible.
“Holy crap, Archie.” I turned as he cleared his throat and stared right into a pair of intensely familiar eyes. They should be familiar. I looked into them every single day.
Patience Grayson with her near perfect white hair, streaked in silver and dressed in a neatly tailored blouse and what I imagined were riding pants—did they own horses too?—stared at me with the same green eyes I possessed. Her eyes. Mine. Maddy’s.
“You look like Madeline.”
Well, that was a greeting.
“So do you.” Two could play that game.
Perfectly manicured eyebrows raised, the woman—yeah, not leaning
on a title for her yet—said, “Touché.” Then with a little more warmth, she extended her hand as she crossed to me. “Patience Grayson.”
“Frankie Curtis,” I answered and gripped her hand in a brief handshake. Her fingers were warm, almost papery in texture, but her grip was strong.
“Not Francesca?” There was a note of disappointment in her voice.
“Not if I can help it,” I told her simply. “Francesca is a little too fancy for my tastes, and I’m a pretty simple girl.”
“You’re dating a Standish, and you come from a prestigious line that can trace its roots back to the Mayflower.”
She probably didn’t mean that to sound as pretentious as it was, but I gave her a little shrug and a smile. “I’m dating Archie because he’s Archie. That he’s a Standish just happens to be a small part of the equation. As for my ‘prestigious line,’” I continued, making sure to emphasize the air quotes, “I grew up in a two-bedroom apartment in Texas, cutting coupons and buying stuff on sale. Bloodlines don’t mean much because they don’t really make sure you eat.”
Patience Grayson frowned at me, her eyes cooling but not turning frosty. If anything, they seemed disappointed.
“She sounds like Madeline,” a male voice announced a moment before the older man came into view. Like Patience, he had white hair, though more of his was steel gray than white. His eyes were a shocking shade of blue, somewhere between Ian’s deep blue and Jake’s much paler color. Still, he fastened those eyes on me with an assessing look. “But more direct, and with far fewer digs.”
I shrugged. “Unfortunately, you can’t choose your parents.”
The man surprised me when he laughed. While he moved slowly, he didn’t seem to have any balance issues. In some ways though, he seemed ancient. Like a lot older than Patience. Maybe I should have checked on their ages, but there were some things I didn’t want to know and others I avoided. I had enough preconceived notions about them.
“Archibald,” Eugene called. “Good to see you boy.”
Archie grimaced but inclined his head. “And you, sir.”