The Mischievous Mrs. Maxfield

by Ninya Tippett

  Also, I never once considered that Brandon's heart may have already belonged to someone else and that when Martin decreed this marriage between us, he had to give that up and hurt the woman he loved.

  What if I was the third party? The force that will tear their love apart? The reason for his pain and heartbreak? The reason for her misery?

  I know, dramatic, right? Meeting Brandon the first time, I couldn't imagine him being so passionately in love with a woman. Having spent time with him in the past week and a half, I had a harder time imagining him not being loving, sweet and generous to the woman who captured his heart.

  Even if that woman is Simone Clark—beautiful, sophisticated, rich and perfect in every way to become Mrs. Maxfield. The kind of wife Brandon would be proud of—nothing like the rugrat that I am.

  So I decided that despite the emotional beating my heart took the night before, I wasn't going to hold it against him. He would marry me and continue on with Simone until he could officially be with her once we divorced. He'd been good to me mostly and this was the least I could do for him.

  Yes. I was a pathetic martyr.

  Having given Felicity and Gilles the day off, I went to most of my appointments for the day all by myself, canceling those that weren't important. Amazingly, no one checked up on me. For a moment, it felt like I had my old life back.

  I went to the bank to discuss their sudden decision to extend the hold on my house. I told them they didn't have to since I was getting the money in a week but they insisted that I could take as long as I wanted to get the mortage cleared up without worrying about getting the house foreclosed. I suspected that my engagement to Brandon was responsible for it again. No one wanted to piss off his bride.

  After lunch at Marlow's, I walked the Schuberts' trio of Pomeranians around the park where I met up with the reporters for a chat. If anyone noticed my slightly despondent mood, no one mentioned it. Since the media hadn't been allowed inside the party and most of them had left by the time Brandon and I went our separate ways, none of them really knew what had happened. They had asked about how my meeting with Jake for the first time went. One reporter asked if I had met Simone Clark and although my insides had turned into ice at that question, I managed a merry smile and said that I didn't get a chance to be introduced to her even though she'd been at the party. Another reporter had jabbed that guy in the stomach almost in reprimand and although I was touched by the gesture, I knew it was useless. The world knew what a joke I was as Brandon's fiancee and there was nothing I could do about it.

  It wasn't until late afternoon that I took a cab to Martin's house to visit him.

  "Well, this is interesting," he said after he studied me for a long moment while nibbled on a scone.

  We were having afternoon tea al fresco at the gazebo in the sprawling backyard while Mattie laid on the grass a few feet away from us, clutching a notebook and staring at the clear blue summer sky. Writing lyrics, he'd said.

  "What's interesting?" I asked, looking up and taking a sip of my tea.

  He wore an expression he would usually only have when deliberating a very serious business decision. I wasn't sure why he would look like that considering we've only sat down for ten minutes since I arrived.

  The old man didn't go to work as often anymore and had made no qualms when I called him to see if I could swing by. He was dressed in khaki shorts, a light blue button-down shirt and sandals, his silver hair glinting with the afternoon sun. He wasn't a young man but Martin wasn't a hundred years old either. He had such light blond hair as an adult and he admitted it quickly turned silver when he hit forty. It never seemed to bother him but then Martin was always a puzzling man.

  A ghost of a smile suddenly hovered on his lips as he rubbed his chin. "I'm struck with a sense of deja vu. I found myself having a very similar conversation with my eldest son last night except it was half past midnight and over brandy. He said as much as you have since you got here which isn't very much at all."

  I frowned, straightening up. "I'm not sure what you're getting at, Martin."

  "Did something happen last night, Charlotte?" he asked, gazing directly at me. "Brandon looked like he swallowed a handful of nails and you look like you're having the worst toothache."

  Well. There's nonchalance out the window. Martin is apparently omniscient.

  "It's nothing serious," I reluctantly conceded, being as vague about it as possible. "Just a little tiff. It'll blow over in a few days."

  He raised a brow at me, unconvinced. "The two of you are getting married in a few days."

  "Yes, well, no one said the journey to the alter would be smooth one," I said sulkily before I sighed. "Alright. What did he say?"

  "Ah, Charlotte," he said with a smile. "For your marriage to work, you're going to have to talk and work it out together. You don't want your in-laws to meddle."

  I raised my brow back at him. "Oh, really? I say the only in-law left around in this marriage is already meddling."

  Like demanding his son to marry a diner waitress when he was already in love with the perfect woman.

  He chuckled. "I'm only here to make sure you're both happy with the choice you're making."

  What choice? The reason we're doing this is because we have no choice!

  "Tell me something, Martin," I started, picking at the scone on my plate. "If it had been someone else—a different girl—would you be as supportive of Brandon marrying? Would you welcome her as much as you welcomed me? Treat her like she's your own daughter like you treat me?"

  His blue eyes narrowed for a second in thought and I worried that I'd given myself away with that question. But I couldn't take it back now and I didn't want to. I wanted to know what he required of me from this whole arrangement so I could do it and walk away without feeling like a complete user who cashed in a million dollars from the old man's idea and wrecked his son's love life.

  "I wouldn't be a hypocrite and say yes when I know I wouldn't," he answered slowly. "If she was a good person and genuinely cared for my son, I'll be more open-minded. When you're a rich, successful man though, affection can be easily bought and I don't want that for Brandon."

  I felt sick and I quickly looked down into my cup, unable to meet Martin's eyes.

  You certainly won't want me for him then, Martin. My affection was bought at a million-dollar price tag.

  I felt ashamed. Great. One more thing to add to my misery today.

  "Charlotte..."

  I forced myself to look up when Martin's voice trailed off, fighting to drown out the pounding of my heart that now filled my ears.

  He was looking at me with a pensive expression, his blue eyes kind. "It doesn't require a perfect woman to make my son happy. He just requires the woman perfect for him."

  My face crumpled but I fought the tears like crazy. "How do you know I'm perfect for him?"

  He smiled. "I don't. I'm just hoping you are."

  Tears slipped down my cheeks. Sheesh. When did I become a watering pot?

  "I'm not... as great as you th-think I am," I said between soft gasps, taking the handkerchief Martin handed me which only made me feel worse so I cried even harder. "I don't... I don't even know... where t-to start. Being the k-kind of w-wife you want me to be—for h-him."

  "You don't have to be any kind of wife, Charlotte," Martin said, leaning forward and rubbing my shoulder soothingly. "You just have to be yourself."

  "As if that's enough!" I exclaimed with a moronic laugh choked with tears. "I'm dirt-poor. I haven't stepped into college. I'm barely a decent pastry chef. My hair looks like I tried untangling it with a fork. The only thing I know about business I learned from Dilbert and that's not recommending me a lot. I talk too much. And I often say the wrong thing. How could I possibly be right for this? How?!"

  "Dad, what's going on here?"

  I whipped around, my tears surging back to my throat when I saw Brandon standing behind us, a dark scowl on his face.

  I quickly turned away and bit
back a groan as I wiped my face down with the handkerchief.

  I was mortified at having him walk in on me like this and more tears sprung in my eyes.

  "Goddammit," I muttered, glancing away when Brandon came to stand beside my chair. "What are you doing here anyway? Did you know I was here?"

  "Just because Gilles is off-duty doesn't mean I'll let you run around the city unprotected," he answered impatiently. "Now, tell me why you're crying?"

  I refused to say anything else.

  "Why are you crying, Charlotte?" he asked.

  A million-dollar question. Wait, that was for the marriage proposal I said yes to. This is just him being nice when he doesn't really care all that much.

  "Why is she crying, Dad?" Brandon asked, his tone sharp with irritation.

  Martin sighed. "You're going to have to find out yourself, son."

  "Charlotte," Brandon began with a near growl as he sat on the chair next to me and touched my elbow to try to move the hand covering my face away. "Charlotte, why are you crying?"

  "I am not crying!" I snapped, moving my arm away from his touch.

  I finally returned my gaze to him and regretted it because even though he had shadows under his eyes and his jaw was rough with a day-old stubble, he looked strikingly handsome.

  "You are crying," he replied gently, gesturing to the damp handkerchief I was clutching in my hand.

  "Fine! I'm crying," I retorted waspishly.

  "Why?" he pressed.

  What? You want me to show you the hacked up pieces of my heart from last night? You want me to leave them out to dry too? What for? Nothing you can do about them.

  "I'm crying because... I'm crying because I have my period!"

  Great, Charlotte. That's just great. Now he'll think you're a bigger moron.

  Brandon's brows shot up and Martin just chuckled before giving me an apologetic look.

  I tossed the handkerchief down on the table and rose to my feet. "Thanks for the tea, Martin, but I've got to get going."

  "Alright. See you around, Charlotte."

  "Charlotte, wait—"

  "Brandon, son. Wait a sec—"

  I strode out of the gazebo so fast I practically rammed right into Mattie who stumbled back a step.

  "Charlotte, you okay?" the boy asked, his voice full of concern.

  The dark veil in my vision cleared and I nodded, placing my hands on his shoulders. "Yeah, of course, buddy. Sorry I ran into you. I was just distracted."

  His blue eyes were disquietingly direct, as if I could get nothing past him. The last thing I needed was for him to write about my trampled-on feelings into the lyrics of his next song. This boy was going to be the next male Taylor Swift and being emotionally vulnerable like I was at the moment, it was terrifying.

  In fact, when he sang about me and Brandon last night, that had been pretty terrifying too because did he really believe all of that about us? Did he see anything we didn't?

  "You're sad," he observed, biting his lower lip. "Did Brandon make you cry? I'm sorry he did but you mustn't be angry with my brother. I'm sure he didn't mean it."

  I let out a short bitter laugh. "I know, Mattie. I'm not really angry with him. I'm just... not having a great day. But don't worry about me. I've had bad days before and they don't really last so I'm good."

  He nodded, clutching his notebook to his chest. "I saw Brandon. He looked like he's having a bad day too."

  I wonder why when he must've had a grand time screwing his mistress last night.

  I groaned and rubbed the space between my brows.

  Stop it, Charlotte. You said you were going to stop being angry about that. You're the one who got in their way.

  "Charlotte!"

  I cringed but decided not to turn around. I leaned down and ruffled Mattie's hair instead. "I think you should probably go, Mattie, if you want to escape Brandon's bad mood. I want to get out of here too."

  The boy hesitated, glancing at his brother who was marching toward us. "He won't hurt you."

  My heart squeezed. Mattie was clearly trying to reassure me about his brother as if the slightest encouragement would cause me to bolt. I admired his fierce loyalty even if it weren't necessary. My loyalty to Brandon was bought at a million dollars.

  "I believe you," I told Mattie with a smile before clapping him on the shoulder. "You better go, champ. Write those lyrics you've been working on. I'd like to hear them on my next visit."

  He nodded and started to go but instead of heading toward the house, he strode up to his brother who was more than twice his size.

  I couldn't hear what he was saying to Brandon. He was barely murmuring that his older brother had to crouch down to listen to him.

  I had a feeling they were talking about me and I really felt pressed to take off and escape Brandon but I couldn't leave Mattie without making sure he made it to the house unscathed by his older brother's sour mood.

  Finally, Brandon murmured something back to Mattie and ruffled the boy's hair. He glanced at me before clapping his brother's shoulder and motioning him to the house.

  I should really run now but I stayed rooted in my spot, waiting as he slowly walked toward me.

  "Charlotte." His voice was decidedly gentler and lower now.

  I raised a brow. "What? You're not screaming at me anymore? 'Coz I haven't completely lost my hearing yet, if that was your goal."

  His jaw clenched. "I had to promise my brother I wouldn't or he wouldn't have left us alone. Are you this talented at winning all the boys over? First my Dad, then my brother, then Jake."

  The resentment in his voice wasn't lost on me especially with the added emphasis on his best friend's name. My anger sparked anew.

  "You begrudge me the kind treatment that men like your father or your brother or your best friend give me?" I demanded. "Where do you come off staining something completely innocent and making me out as some kind of attention slut or worse, when you're probably fresh out Simone Clark's satin-covered bed?"

  That shouldn't have come out. I really didn't intend for it to do so but it was like a giant elephant let out of its cage, about to trample us to death now.

  His hazel eyes glinted for a second as he stiffened, his nostrils flaring.

  "So this is about her."

  I scoffed and threw my hands in the air. "No, not at all, actually. It's about me and my completely idiotic tendency to hope that you were gentleman enough not to insult me like you did last night. I get it that people will make me a pariah for thinking myself capable of becoming Mrs. Brandon Maxfield but I just didn't think it would come from you. At least not after... not after you've been nice to me in the past week and a half."

  His expression became darker and he opened his mouth to say something but I held my hand up, too carried away now to stop. It felt like a flash-flood of emotions and it needed out before I seriously damaged anything.

  "It's not really your fault," I rambled on. "I just have this annoying habit to warm up to people after they've been good to me. I shouldn't have done that with you considering the cold, callous nature of our arrangement. Besides, you probably really hate me for getting you into this mess even though I had no idea what your Dad had done at first. You could've been happy with Simone, living your perfect lives, yet here you are stuck trying to reform me so I could be acceptable enough as your wife. I totally understand now why you were so furious about it the first time you told me Martin's crazy idea. It wasn't just his ultimatum. It was giving what you could've had with the woman you love to a random girl your father picked out. Totally get it."

  "While I'm impressed at the amount of imagination you've put into spinning this movie-worthy, doomed love affair I have with Simone, I'll ask you to stay out of it," he bit out, his tone hard and cold. "Regardless of our intimate relationship, she's a good friend of mine and it was only polite that I invited her to last night's party. I just didn't think she'd show up considering how badly she took the news of our engagement. I thought I would do my best to
repair our friendship at the very least last night by not completely abandoning her to the gossiping crowd who were mocking her for having been dumped for a diner girl."

  Ouch. Really. You couldn't have cut any deeper than that.

  I forced a smile on my face, my lips quivering with the effort. "Well, I hope she's feeling better. I can totally sympathize, you know, having been mocked myself last night for having my fiance flaunt his lover right in my face during our engagement party. "

  That's when his face lost color. A strange look flickered in his eyes before he groaned and closed them briefly. He finally understood.

  He took a step forward, reaching for me. "Charlotte. I didn't mean it like that..."

  I snorted, moving away from him. "Of course, you didn't. You were too busy patching up with your lover to notice anyone else's pain. That's alright, Brand. Despite my waterworks earlier, I'm actually pretty tough about it. I've had years of practice of being taken for granted, having the band-aid ripped away over and over again from the same goddamned bleeding wound each time."

  Brandon's expression now looked thunderous. "I am not your goddamned father!"

  "Of course, not!" I retorted in disgust. "See, I had no better expectations of my father. I knew what he was and accepted it. You, on the other hand, are a complete contradiction sometimes that I forget exactly what it is that you want from me. But don't worry, I learn hard lessons fairly quickly and trust me, you wouldn't have to deal with my hurt feelings like this ever again because I'll turn them off for you! I'll be your perfect robot of a wife and see to my duties until I'm relieved of them in a year."

  And with that, I turned on my heel and stomped my way to the front gate of the house.

  I haven't gone far when a hand gripped my arm and yanked me around, slamming me against Brandon's solid wall of a chest.

  Startled, I blinked and opened my mouth to protest but the afternoon sunshine was suddenly eclipsed from my view when Brandon's head came down, his lips catching mine in an almost bruising kiss.