Who Loves Them? (Who--? Series)

by Storm, Taylor

  “I agree. It is beautiful,” Gordon replied, but he was looking at her and not at the park.

  “Is this okay?” Christina asked as she stopped under the trees.

  “It’s perfect. Let’s spread the blanket,” Gordon said as he sat the picnic basket down out of the way.

  Once they had the blanket settled, they sat down looking at the pond.

  Chris turned to look at Gordon. They made small talk for a few minutes.

  “So, how do you feel about having to marry me now?” Christina asked. She figured she might as well take the bull by the horns and start the hard conversation.

  Gordon was not sure he wanted to reveal exactly how he felt, so he tried to turn it around.

  “How do you feel about having to marry me?” he asked.

  Christina was a little irritated that he wouldn’t just answer the question, but she decided to just be honest. “I think what we have may just work out to be a great marriage, despite the fact that we really have no choice. Now that you aren’t being rude and distant to me all the time, I like you quite a bit.” She wouldn’t look at him. She was scared of how vulnerable the truth made her.

  When Gordon hadn’t responded for several minutes, Christina got irritated and lifted her head to look at him. He was staring at her with disconcerting intensity.

  He moved closer, tilted her head up and kissed her. When she opened her eyes, he was looking directly into them. “I think this might be the best mistake my family ever made,” he said.

  She smiled, and he kissed her again. Christina pulled back and said, “We really do need to get to know each other better. I was not joking when I said I would really like to get to know the man I’m going to marry.”

  So, for the next few hours, they talked about how they grew up and their parents, and their friends, and just about every other thing that people learn about one another when they are dating. Due to the circumstances, Christina thought, we have to speed up the process.

  Christina’s head was spinning by the time they had taken a break from talking to eat lunch. Gordon had insisted on feeding her chocolate-covered strawberries. When she bit into one, the juice started running down her chin. She laughed and fed him a piece of watermelon that was so big he couldn’t close his mouth.

  Wow, I cannot remember when I have had such a good time, Christina thought. Gordon is really quite smart and he obviously loves his family. This might turn out to be a good match after all.

  If I had known how good it could be to have an intelligent conversation with a smart girl, I might have tried it in college, even if those girls didn’t put out, Gordon thought. How much nicer would it be to be married to someone you liked, maybe even loved, and could have intelligent conversations with?

  Gordon was stretched out on the blanket with his head in her lap. Christina absently ran her fingers through his hair like she had wanted to do since the first time she had seen him. It was thick and silky, and she loved the way it felt. Gordon was staring at the pond, but he had captured her other hand, and was holding it against his chest.

  Christina hated to interrupt the moment, but they were going to have to call the taxi to come and get them soon. “So, what did you want to talk to me about this morning when you attacked me in the woods?” she asked.

  “I did not attack you. I merely attempted to get your attention,” Gordon responded with a smile.

  “Clearing your throat or tapping someone on the shoulder is how you get a person’s attention. Not grabbing them from behind!” Christina teased him, smacking him playfully on the shoulder.

  Gordon sat up and turned to face her. Suddenly, he looked serious, and Christina began to worry.

  “Okay, here’s the deal. We know we have to get engaged, get married, and produce a son, right?” Gordon asked, looking into her eyes.

  Christina was worried. She nodded slowly.

  “Now, hear me out. Don’t say anything until I finish, okay?” Gordon asked as he took her hands in his.

  Christina was really worried now. A million things were running through her mind. What could he possibly want?

  “We have no choice in this. Our families set us up for this without our permission or even knowledge of it, right?” Gordon asked.

  Christina could only nod.

  “Granted, I think this marriage is going to work out well for the both of us, but it doesn’t change the fact that it is an arranged marriage, does it?” Gordon asked.

  Again, Christina couldn’t say anything, so she just shook her head at his question.

  “What if we got back at our families by using the loopholes?” Gordon asked.

  “What? What do you mean, get back at our families?” Christina asked.

  “Well, they have put both of us in a very difficult situation, so I propose that we teach them a lesson about trying to control our lives. I love my family and I know you do too, but do you really want them to control our lives even after we are married? Do you want to become a society wife, and chair committees, or do you want more?” Gordon rushed on, “I know you didn’t get to go to the university like you wanted, so why not go after we are married? Our families might frown on it, but what can they do?” Finally, Gordon stopped talking and looked anxiously at Christina. He hadn’t even approached his main suggestion yet.

  Christina didn’t speak for several minutes. Her mind was spinning. What if she did go to the university? It was what she wanted, of course, but could they face the consequences? Was Gordon really willing to stand up to his family for her? This could change everything. She had never wanted to be a society wife like her mother. Before she could form a response, Gordon went on.

  “Just think. What would be one way to really prove to our families that, while we have to live up to this contract, we will not be controlled? What if we eloped and cheated our families out of the big wedding they all want?” Gordon said the last in such a rush, he was not even sure Christina could understand what he said.

  Christina was really speechless now. She could imagine the anger and hurt her mother would feel. Well, Christina thought, to be truthful, her mother would be most upset at not getting the chance to control the whole event and be center stage as the mother-of-the-bride. She had always done what she was supposed to, Christina thought. If I don’t start standing up to my family now, I never will.

  Gordon mistook her silence for disapproval. “Just think about it Chris. We will still be upholding the contract and our families will still be safe financially, but with a few little rebellions, we can be ourselves.”

  Chris’s mind began to swirl with possibilities. Could she do this? Could she really go against what she knew her family would want? Why not? She was going along with the marriage and the other stipulations of the contract, why not take some initiative? They couldn’t argue that they had negated the contract. So what if it caused a scandal in their social circle? That thought stopped her.

  “You do know that if we do this, we and our families will be the talk of the town for years. This will be quite a scandal among our group. Are you prepared to cause that kind of scandal for your family?” Christina questioned him carefully. She thought about the scandal she was about to reveal to Gordon when Lilly arrived, and wondered whether it would be too much for their families to bear. How could they tell everyone about Lilly’s reluctance to marry Peter and then just run off and get married? It would be mean as well as unethical.

  “Well, normally I wouldn’t be, but they had no care for what I wanted when they set up this arrangement. My mother is going to get to continue living in the way she always has. The least they deserve is a scandal.” Gordon had obviously given this a lot of thought.

  “Besides,” he continued, “what is to stop them from choosing to manipulate us again with some other brilliant idea?”

  On that, she agreed. “My mother will have a heart attack,” she said. “Well, truthfully, she will just be really angry that I’ve stolen that day away from her,” she admitted.

 
; Suddenly, Christina thought of something about the wedding. There was no way they could pull this off by themselves. They would need help, someone who was trusted implicitly and yet who would conspire with them.

  “Gordon, I don’t think we can pull this off on our own,” Christina said. “There are just too many things to do and we would arouse suspicion.”

  Gordon grinned. “That is the other brilliant part of my plan. Aunt Jackie will help us. She never married, and she hates the idea of me being forced to marry because of some contract. She knows there is no way out of it, but I am certain she would help us. It would appeal to her sense of justice.”

  “I don’t know. Are you sure she would help, and wouldn’t give us up? She’s pretty loyal to your family,” Christina responded. And what about after I tell you about Lilly? she thought.

  “Sure. She is loyal, but we aren’t doing any permanent damage to the family, and Aunt Jackie will see it as them getting what they deserve for forcing us into this situation all because of the choices our parents made,” Gordon argued. “And hon, you needn’t worry about anything. I know that everything will be just fine. We’ll sort it all out.”

  Christina thought a moment. She wondered what her father would think. She smiled as she realized that he would probably love it. He knew just as well as she did that she had no way out of the marriage, but he would appreciate her standing up for herself and showing her spirit.

  That settled it. “Okay, I’m in,” she told Gordon. “How do we approach your aunt?”

  Gordon hugged her and gave her a quick kiss. “I’ve been thinking about it, and I think we should come clean about our relationship with her, tell her our plan, and then plead for her help. What do you think?”

  Chris thought about it. Jacqueline seemed like a very straight forward type of person, so it would likely be their best bet to get her on their side.

  “Alright. Do you want to tell her tonight after dinner? It might be best to tell her when we have nightcaps in the library,” Christina added.

  Gordon looked at his watch. “We have to get back or Aunt Jackie will wonder why we were gone so long.”

  Christina nodded, and then decided she needed to tell him about Lilly before they approached Jacqueline with their crazy idea. She held his hand firmly.

  “There is something else I need to tell you….”

  So she told him about Lillian Baltimore. “Lillian is one of my best friends. We have known each other for a very long time.”

  Gordon nodded. “Do you think she would disapprove of us eloping?”

  Christina shook her head. “No…Lilly is coming here, to the cabin, today, because she needs my help. You see, she’s been forced into an arranged marriage…but it’s different with her.”

  Gordon shrugged. “Is she barren or something?”

  “No…Lilly doesn’t want to get married. Ever. She wants to live out her life as an old spinster and have a billion lovers.”

  Gordon smiled. “Don’t we all?”

  Christina slapped his arm playfully. “I’m serious. She doesn’t ever want to get married. But that is not the main problem. The thing is…she’s not attracted to men, so even if she were to get married, she wouldn’t be interested in sleeping with a man to produce an heir. She has a string of female lovers. Well, two actually. Angelique and Ginger…except she wants to be with Angelique and doesn’t want to break Ginger’s heart.”

  Gordon’s cheeks grew rosy in embarrassment. “Really? She’s…”

  “Yes. Now you see the problem?”

  Gordon nodded. “I guess she could grow to love…what is his name?”

  “Peter Von Willem. But that is not all….”

  Gordon frowned, wrinkling his forehead. “What else could there be?”

  Christina sighed. “She said the reason she doesn’t want to marry Peter is because he beats her, not because she’s only attracted to women. How is his family, and more importantly how is he, going to react to this? I’ve met Peter a handful of times, as I am sure you have, and I am pretty sure he doesn’t beat women. He seems pretty generous….always giving to charities.”

  Gordon nodded. “She’s gotten herself into a bit of a pickle. I have no idea what to do. Obviously we’ve got to get the two of them together and sort it all out.”

  Christina shook her head. “No way! If he learns what she said about him then I’m pretty sure he will beat her! What if I said that about you?”

  Gordon’s face creased in worry. “You didn’t, did you?”

  “No!”

  He smiled in relief. “Maybe we ought to talk to Jacqueline about it when we get back?”

  Gordon nodded and tussled her hair affectionately. “Yeah, ok. When’s Lilly coming?”

  “For all I know, she’s here already.”

  Christina dry-swallowed, feeling apprehension well in her stomach. “Well she likes horses…I guess that is something she and Jacqueline can agree on.”

  Chapter 11

  Christina packed up the blanket and basket while Gordon phoned the taxi. When they reached the lodge, they told the taxi driver he could have the picnic supplies and the blanket, or he could throw them away. Gordon paid the driver and they walked separately into the lodge.

  Jacqueline was in the kitchen when they came in. She noticed that they were still keeping their distance from one another, and they didn’t seem to be talking. She wondered if the whole day had been that way.

  Christina got a bottle of water from the refrigerator, and Gordon sat at the table. “He can tell you all about it. I will be in my room until dinner. I’m not feeling well.” Christina said as she took a drink of the water and headed back out the kitchen door. She was just glad that Lilly was not there already.

  Well, that is not a good sign, Jackie thought. She wondered if her nephew had been his obnoxious self again.

  “Well, what did you do to her?” Jackie demanded when the door had closed behind Christina.

  “What do you mean, what did I do to her? I didn’t do anything to her. I was perfectly pleasant all day. It isn’t my fault she didn’t want to talk to me,” Gordon said defensively. “She’s stressed about other things.”

  Jackie gave him a look.

  “Okay, maybe I was a bit harsh in the beginning, but I was on my best behavior today. She chose to ignore me. She shopped all day. In and out of stores, and didn’t end up buying anything,” Gordon grumped. “Who does that?”

  “I told you before, and I will say it again. You two need to learn to get along. There is nothing you can do to get out of the situation, so you need to deal with it, and move on,” Jacqueline lectured.

  “I know. I know. I’m going to my room until dinner, too. Despite what you think, I was quite charming today and now I am going to actually get some work done before dinner,” Gordon responded.

  Wow, these two are so tense around each other you can almost see it in the air. But tension could be a good thing, Jacqueline thought. Several times she thought she had seen Gordon looking intently at Christina when he thought she was not looking. Chris seemed to be oblivious to Gordon, except she would occasionally peek at him from under her lashes.

  Well, well, maybe there is something there after all. If they could just get over this initial awkwardness and resentment, they might get along very well.

  Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Jacqueline frowned, wondering who could be visiting the cabin. Not a lot of people knew they were out here. She glanced at the cutlery drawer, knowing she had a weapon if she needed it.

  She opened the door slowly, and let out a sigh of relief, albeit suspicion. “Lillian Baltimore?”

  Lilly smiled and tried her best to curtsy in the doorway. Her blonde hair was curled neatly, and her plain short-sleeved plum-colored dress was a little flat from the wind. “Hello, ma’am. I assume by your surprise that Christina didn’t tell you I was coming?”

  Jacqueline narrowed her eyes and said nothing. Lilly smiled and walked across the foyer area. “Where a
re Christina and Gordon?”

  “Chris and Gordon are upstairs. I’ll call them down.” She walked to the foot of the stairs and called their names. As soon as Chris spotted Lilly, her heart thudded and she realized just how much she had missed her friend. She ran down the stairs two at a time and hugged her friend around the waist. “I’m so glad you’re here. I just wish it was on better circumstances.”

  Lilly nodded. “Well, so do I. Hello Gordon.”

  Gordon smiled and leaned forward, kissing both of her cheeks politely. “It is good to see you. We were just going into the dining room. If you’d care to join us?”

  Jacqueline went upstairs to relieve herself, and when she came back, she saw that Gordon was seated at the table with a glass of red wine, and Chris was standing at the window, also with a glass of wine. Lilly was sitting at the end of the table, fiddling with the end of the tablecloth.

  Might as well join them, she thought. She went into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine. The cook told her it would be fifteen minutes until dinner.

  “All right everyone, dinner will be in fifteen minutes,” she said as she swept back into the dining room. Gordon had been staring at Chris as she looked out the window, but he quickly averted his eyes when Jackie came back into the room.

  Jacqueline sat down at the table and said, “So, how was your day out together?” She looked first at Gordon, ignoring Lilly’s presence.

  Instead of responding, Gordon looked at Chris. She turned to look at him, and they both smiled.

  “Well, well, it must have gone well, if those smiles are any indication.” Jacqueline said somewhat smugly.

  Gordon pushed his chair back and Chris walked over, put her glass down, and sat on his lap. Jackie looked at them in surprise with both eyebrows raised in question, but she didn’t say anything else.

  “Well, Aunt Jackie, we have actually been together for several days now. We discovered that we really liked each other, and we are not really adverse to getting married at all. We just didn’t want everyone else to know.” Gordon stroked Christina’s back a little as he was talking. She was getting distracted by him, so she kissed him on the cheek, got up and sat beside him in her own chair.