The Billionaire's Temporary Bride (Scandal, Inc Book 3)

by Avery James

  Charlotte looked down at the list Jack had prepared, looking at it without seeing it. Her mind was far away from seating arrangements. "Why don't you go first?"

  Chapter 21

  Charlotte looked at herself in the mirror and turned around. She had tried on four or five wedding dresses already, but each of them would have been just another costume to help her play her role. Instead, she wanted something vintage, elegant and simple to represent the real her.

  The one Charlotte was wearing came the closest to what she saw in her imagination. She loved the delicate lace that rose above the sweetheart neckline and the way the A-line made her waist look. With each passing moment, she was more and more sure that this was the dress. It wasn't fitted to her yet, so the back was held together with clips, but she loved everything about it, except for the price. She knew her mother would love it too, which is why she hesitated to walk out of the dressing room and show her.

  "I've been dreaming of this day since Charlotte was a little girl," she overheard her mother telling the attendant. "I can't wait to see her in her wedding dress. I brought tissues for when I cry."

  "We have plenty of those on hand," the attendant said.

  "Mom, stop getting sentimental," Charlotte called from the dressing room. She didn't want her mother to fall in love with the forty five hundred dollar dress she was wearing, but she wanted her to see it before everyone else arrived and took over the process.

  "Is everything alright in there?" Ellen called from the other side of the door.

  "Come in," Charlotte said quietly.

  She watched the look on her mother's face as she saw the dress for the first time. Tears welled up in the corners of Ellen's eyes, and she held her hand over her mouth. Charlotte tried to distract herself so she didn't start crying too.

  "Please don't cry," she said.

  "Charlotte, you look so beautiful," her mother said. She paused for a moment and took a slow breath. "If your father were here right now, he'd be balling his eyes out, and at least no one would notice my little display of emotion. Remember your high school graduation? He went through an entire box of tissues. No one even noticed how choked up I was. And now I'm rambling."

  Ellen held out her arms and hugged Charlotte.

  "Mom," Charlotte said. "It's too much."

  Just seeing her mother cry choked Charlotte up inside. Charlotte exhaled slowly. She felt the tension of the dress squeezing against her ribcage as a lump formed in her throat.

  "Em's been married for a few years already. It's not like this is new ground."

  "It was different with her," Ellen said. "She was always boy crazy. I had time to prepare myself, and she and Steven had been together for years. I watched them mature together. You moved away, and I only get to see you a few times a year. I thought I had more time with my little Charlotte, and here you are, in your wedding dress, all beautiful and grown up."

  Charlotte took a breath. She just wanted to tell her mother that this was all a lie or that it wasn't a lie anymore, that she and Jack were truly in love, but she didn't know.

  "Mom, it's over four thousand dollars," she blurted out. She laughed nervously and tried to pull herself together.

  Ellen peered over Charlotte's shoulder and checked the tag.

  "Maybe I can teach a few extra classes next semester," she said. "We wouldn't want Mrs. Jack Coburn wearing some three thousand dollar rag to the wedding, now would we? And this one is marked down from seven thousand. See, it's a steal." She sounded less than convincing.

  "So is this the dress?"

  "That's your call. Just don't tell your sister about any of this crying. She'd accuse me of playing favorites."

  "Your secret's safe with me," Charlotte said. She was getting good at keeping secrets from people she loved.

  As she looked at her mother, she realized that nothing, no amount of money or time or freedom, would change the fact that she had deprived herself of this moment with her mother. She liked seeing herself in the dress, but this was supposed to be one of the happiest moments of Charlotte's life. Instead, she couldn't help but feel just a little hollow inside. Maybe she had been lying to herself about this whole thing too.

  Another knock came at the door.

  "Ms. Crowley, the rest of your party is here."

  ***

  Charlotte wasn't sure what to expect as she walked out of the dressing room to greet the rest of the party. Callie had met Angela and Caroline at the airport and picked up Emily along the way.

  Charlotte hadn't seen Jack's family since the dinner table fight a few weeks back, and she wondered if there would be any residual awkwardness now that his mother and sister had arrived. One look told her everything she need to know.

  "Charlotte, you look wonderful!" Angela said. She turned to Caroline. "Just think of what she'll look like once Veronique is done with her."

  "Who?" Charlotte asked. She looked over to Callie for an answer. At least no one seemed mad at her.

  "Veronique, dear," Angela replied. "We thought we'd surprise you, but unfortunately, she's running a bit late, something about getting caught up in customs. She should be here any minute. I told her that's what she gets for flying commercial. The driver phoned to say they left the airport twenty minutes ago."

  Charlotte wondered if she had missed something.

  "She's the dressmaker," Caroline said.

  "It cost a small fortune to pry her away from Paris on such short notice. I had my daughter send through a few photos of you to get a head start. If we get her started today, she should be able to finish the dress in time for a fitting the week of the wedding. The whole nation will be looking at you, after all."

  As if she sensed Charlotte's unease, Ellen chimed in. "That's really not necessary. And let's not build this up too much."

  "She's right," Charlotte said. "You shouldn't have gone through all this trouble for me. It's too generous."

  "Nonsense," Angela said. "No need to thank me. It's already done. Charlotte, you're going to be a Coburn now, we want you to have something special for your big day."

  She means well, Charlotte told herself. She reached back and squeezed her mother's hand. The dress meant so much to her mother, but it was so much more than she could realistically afford to spend. Maybe it was for the best that Jack's mom wanted to foot the bill.

  "Maybe we can think about the bridesmaids' dresses while we wait," she suggested.

  "Already set," Emily said. "Caroline and I talked about it on the way over, and we think it would be wonderful to play up the whole winter aspect. We'll wear full length dresses with a bit of a sleeve. We were thinking silk with some kind of shawl. We'll take those off for the ceremony of course."

  Charlotte looked at Emily. She and Caroline looked like they could have been sisters. They were both beautiful, brunette, and completely without any notion that the world didn't revolve around them. Emily would have fit right in with Jack's siblings.

  "And Callie signed off on this?" Charlotte asked.

  "I want to wear whatever you want us to wear," Callie said. Callie would have worn a sack cloth if that's what Charlotte had wanted.

  Charlotte reminded herself that this wasn't really her wedding. It didn't matter what her bridesmaids wore. Hell, if their dresses were ugly, it would probably make it that much easier to remember that this was all just for show.

  "Charlotte," Ellen said, "just tell them what you want. This is your wedding, not any of ours. What you want, you'll get."

  I just want this over with, Charlotte thought.

  Before she could say anything, Veronique arrived, respondent in a flowing violent dress. She was thin and lively. She was also deeply tanned with silver streaks through her black hair, all of which emphasized light blue eyes so bright they almost glowed. She looked to be about sixty years old, and something in the way she carried herself reminded Charlotte of a European version of her own mother. She was not at all what Charlotte had expected.

  "Where is the bride?" she
asked. "We don't have a minute to spare." Without waiting for a response she marched up to Charlotte. "Ah yes, there you are. This is close to one of my dresses from last season. You have good taste."

  Veronique walked around her slowly, molding Charlotte's body with her hands to get a better feel for her posture and dimensions.

  "Yes, this is a starting point. Straighten your posture and take a deep breath. Gut in. Shoulders back. Perfect. Thank you."

  Charlotte had thought she was already standing up straight, but she pulled her shoulders back and held out her chin a little further. As for the gut comment, she didn't know what to think.

  Veronique made eye contact with Charlotte for a moment before looking her over again. She spun on her heels and turned to Angela.

  "The dress will be ready in two and a half weeks."

  She turned around, pulled a measuring tape out of a pocket hidden in her dress and nodded to the dressing room.

  "I need to take a few measurements before I begin. Charlotte, come with me."

  Before Charlotte knew what was happening, she was back in the dressing room, and Veronique was taking quick measurements.

  "Tell me what you think about the groom," she said.

  "His name's Jack. I don't know how well you know the family, but he's a congressman."

  "Congressman Jack," Veronique mused. "I remember him when he was baby Jack."

  "We met at a friend's wedding," Charlotte said. She realized she was talking just to fill the silence. "This has all happened so fast, and everything is so new to me."

  "And how far along are you?" she asked. She tapped Charlotte's stomach.

  Charlotte froze. She felt her heart stop. "What?"

  "The baby," Veronique said. "I ask because of the dress. Do your families know?"

  Charlotte's cheeks blushed with embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I'm not pregnant. What would make you think that?"

  "A prominent man, a quick wedding. It happens all the time," Veronique said. She slipped the tape around Charlotte's midsection, and then measured again.

  "Oh, no," Charlotte said. "We're just trying to…" She stopped as she wondered how to explain. This was someone Jack's mother had hired, and anything Charlotte said in front of her would be sure to go straight to Angela's ears.. "We just don't want to make a big deal out of it. Some people wanted to turn it into a big production."

  "I'll keep this between us," Veronique said. "Madame Coburn has always been a bit strong-willed. If you ask me, with a few small alterations, the dress you had on would have been perfect. My job is only to accentuate your beauty, not to run, how do you say, slipshod, ah, run roughshod over it, but your mother-in-law paid for a one-of-a-kind dress, and that is exactly what she and you will get. That is my job. Sometimes it's hard to remember that." Veronique scribbled something down in her notebook and smiled. "I promise you will love it."

  Just as quickly as she had arrived, Veronique left, and Charlotte was back in her regular clothes, heading across town in a limo. Angela and Caroline had insisted on bringing everyone to Caroline's favorite lunch spot, and Charlotte had agreed. This day was turning out to be a lot more about Jack's family than about Charlotte.

  Angela Coburn was getting exactly what she had paid for, and so would Jack. After all, that was Charlotte's job. It didn't matter what she wanted from her relationship with Jack. Her job was to be his doting wife until he no longer needed her. Any frustrations over how their arrangement was turning out were her own fault for not having talking to him about her real feelings yet. "If you won't let me chip in for the dress, and I can't help pay for the wedding itself, at least allow me to bring everyone out to lunch," Ellen said as they made their way out of the limo and into a private room at a restaurant downtown.

  Three bottles of champagne were waiting on ice, and Caroline ran over and popped one of them open.

  "To the newest member of the Coburn family," Caroline said as the cork bounced off the ceiling and a plume of champagne sprayed from the bottle. She poured everyone a glass and clanked her champagne flute against Emily's.

  "To new family!" Emily said. She leaned over to Charlotte whisper into Charlotte's ear. "You know, I've never had caviar."

  "Please don't," Charlotte said.

  It was one thing to spend time with Jack's family. It was something else entirely to use them as an excuse for extravagance. She couldn't let herself get swept up in it. Charlotte felt like she was drawing a line for herself. Even though her circumstances had changed, she didn't have to become someone else.

  Charlotte looked across the table at her mother, who was watching the whole scene with a stoic smile. Charlotte figured Ellen was probably calculating the tab for the whole day in her head — custom dresses, expensive champagne, the inevitably overpriced meals. The Coburns were using the day as an pretext for indulging themselves, and Emily was going right along with them. Charlotte caught her mother's glance for a moment, then gave a smile and a small shoulder shrug.

  This wasn't their world. It never would be. What made Jack so special was the fact that he never made her feel like some outsider getting a taste of the good life. He almost seemed as embarrassed by wealth as Charlotte was. She wished she could explain that to her mother. She wished she could explain that to anyone, really.

  The rest of the meal went the same way. As Caroline and Emily ordered an extensive sampling of the menu's richer plates, Charlotte went with the least expensive thing she could find.

  "Don't worry about it," Emily said. "Just let Jack's family pick up the tab. It's nothing to them. I guess it's nothing to you now too, sis. Maybe I'll get a dessert."

  When the check did arrive, Jack's mother tried to pay, but Charlotte's mother wouldn't have any of it. She even denied an offer from Callie to cover the bill. It was a matter of personal pride. Ellen Crowley wasn't going to be their charity case.

  Charlotte knew exactly how she felt, but she wondered if her mother would care so much if she knew the truth about the marriage. Probably. It wasn't just about being seen as an equal, it was about more than that. It was about self-reliance. If she was going to bring her daughters out to an expensive lunch, she was going to pay for it herself.

  Charlotte had driven herself into debt doing that for Callie's wedding, and she wasn't about to let her own mother do the same thing. Charlotte had only agreed to the whole marriage idea because she thought it would help everyone involved. Instead, it seemed to be hurting the people she loved the most: her parents.

  Ellen, for her part, showed no visible signs of distress. She waved Angela off and searched through her wallet for a credit card. Charlotte wondered if her mother was worried about the lunch being too expensive to cover on just one account, but she placed the card down, wrote in the tip and handed it back to the waiter.

  "Where to now?" she asked Charlotte.

  "I think that's enough excitement for one day," Charlotte said.

  "We're going to go shopping," Caroline said. "My mother and I know this lovely little place."

  "Let's do it next time," Charlotte said. "I might just walk home and rest for a bit."

  Callie leaned in so the Coburns didn't hear her. "I'll make sure they don't burn the city down."

  Charlotte nodded. "Mom, do you want to see our place?" she asked.

  "That would be lovely," her mother said.

  Jack's family was as liberal with their hugs and goodbyes and promises of more shopping and dining before they headed out of town the next day as they had been at the restaurant. Callie blew her bangs out of her face as she left with them, knowing exactly what she was getting into by taking them off of Charlotte's hands.

  "Mom, please let Jack and I pay you back for lunch," Charlotte blurted out when she was finally alone with her mother. "A dress is one thing, but paying that much for lunch… I wanted to ring their necks for doing that."

  "Charlotte, these people are family now, and we'll have to learn to live alongside them as much as possible. Consider this my way of telling them that
we won't be intimidated by money and that I support you in whatever decisions you make."

  "It's an intimidating amount of money."

  "Your father and I put you and your sister through college, and that didn't even come with a meal. Just promise me that you won't get too swept up in all of it."

  "Of course I won't," Charlotte said.

  "That fiancé of yours doesn't know how lucky he is," Ellen said. "A lot of women would look at a man like him and see a cash register."

  "I'll let him know you think so," Charlotte said. "You know he's not like that, right? He's almost embarrassed by money, almost as much as I am."

  "You're lucky too," her mother added. "He pushes you outside your comfort zone. You need that. You've always needed that. It's how you grow."

  "I'd say fifteen hundred dollar lunches will always be outside my comfort zone."

  "Mine too," Ellen said, gritting her teeth as she smiled. Charlotte knew exactly how she felt.

  "Well, walks are free," Charlotte said.

  "All the best things are," her mother said, wrapping her arm around Charlotte's shoulders. "Of course, that doesn't mean they don't take a little effort too."

  ***

  Jack paused in the doorway and took a deep breath of the cool night air. He wanted to take a minute to relax himself. Charlotte would be inside. She'd be waiting in the kitchen or watching TV in the living room. She'd be happy to see him, and he didn't want to bring any negative energy into the house.

  He had just gotten back from driving his mother and sister to their jet. He looked up at the night sky. They were probably half way to Massachusetts by now. In half an hour, they'd be home, and he'd be left to clean up whatever mess they had caused with Charlotte during the day. They hadn't understood why he insisted on driving them instead of letting a driver do it. They never considered the fact that he just wanted to help them himself as a thank you for helping Charlotte arrange wedding details. They figured that Jack must have had an agenda, because they always did.

  As he stepped inside, the cool, dry air washed over his body. He always found comfort in coming home, where the rest of the world faded away for a while. He didn't see any sign of Charlotte, so he walked over to the couch, leaned back and let out a loud sigh.