by Adams, Zoe
“Thanks to my sister, I don’t ever have to have kids. She can take care of all the family stuff like parties, holidays, and Easter egg hunts. Then I can focus completely on fashion and work.”
Del had never asked Lady if she wanted children, but everyone wanted children. Lady spoke like they weren’t an option. Del would have some talks with her later when they were alone. Here, they were a united front. Del was learning what that meant every day with Lady.
Lady steepled her fingers above the desk, like it was beneath her. Or she didn’t want to get dirty.
“I’ve seen some big fashion blunders regarding the family name. It’s enough to make anyone weak in the knees and run to the toilet. Can I call it pregnancy style?”
Lady had been rehearsing that joke her whole life. She sat back and pursed her lips.
Elizabeth Ellen sniffed a few times. All of the attention in the room went to her.
“What’s wrong?” Mrs. Steele addressed her eldest daughter.
Everyone’s attention turned to Elizabeth Ellen. Lady looked at Del incredulously. They couldn’t let the conversation veer off like this. Lady had come to fight a battle and it couldn’t be so easily distracted. Del cleared his voice. Some of the room could’ve given him more attention so he cleared his voice again. He waited one more moment, then started speaking.
“Lady has a lot to live up to. But it shouldn’t be that hard, her genetics are quite helpful. She gets ideas in her head and then makes them real. Now that’s magic. I don’t have one idea between what a ruffle or a pleat or whatever that stuff is called. But because of Lady, I now believe in magic. It’s in everything she does. All her little projects around my house and the wardrobe she’s designed are great. These are things she did all by herself. No one explained it to her in college. She watched someone do it and that’s enough. Lady had a vision in her mind, then accomplished it in real life. That’s a gift. Lady wants to share her gift with the world. You sit here and worry about who she represents or who she’s seen with. Lady will represent herself. She is herself, no matter what her name is, she is still a person.”
Del looked around. “Now, Lady can sleep with whoever she wants, and live wherever she wants. If you don’t like things after a year, then you can say something! What’s the problem?”
He gauged each person, attribute, and attitude carefully. He’d already sat around tables with families talking about money. It all seemed very familiar. Del wanted to be involved with Lady in every sense of the term, whether it be money, body, or mind.
Lady finally spoke.
Her voice started as a low whisper. “I always knew there would be a Steele family curse. Or some sort of messed up, twisted up snag. Now here it is. Right in this very room. I’ve always planned on being a designer. So what’s the catch?”
Mr. Steele had plenty to say about it. “You’ll go straight into the family business, and only be involved with family. There is only you until you become twenty-five. After that you may marry whoever you want. Until then, you will receive a monthly allotment. There are mandatory parties and public showings about once a month. Other than that, enjoy the country. ”
Lady shook her head. “Banks are supposed to be happy places. Just this morning I had such high dreams of helping so many people. Now, I find out from a banker that I am only to care about myself. And my wonderful family, of course. I can only think of one person who truly cares about me. But I doubt if he could protect me from this sort of thing. Who has time on their hands to think up ways to make someone suffer? They have my whole life planned out for me.”
Del put his hands on her arms and felt like a bear. “You can still do this without their money.”
Lady shook her head.
“Come on. Can we go talk about this before you make any big decisions?” Del nodded her to the door.
Lady looked up. “What good will it do us? You don’t want to wait six years for me. I’m sure by then I’ll be a cranky and bitter woman.”
Del shook his head and got an idea. He took on a charismatic smile. “Do you hear this girl? She is amazing.”
He laughed and pointed to the closest man. “Did you get her joke?”
Mr. Steele sniffed but didn’t nod his head in any other direction. It was time to make this group of people eat out of his hand. He had no remorse for comparing them to cows. Many things liked to be led.
“I understand exactly what’s going on here. I understand it and I respect it. You must ensure your hold on the family name. Each of you must be or have been contributors. Now it’s Lady’s turn to try. Maybe she can come up with the next timeless big seller. She can dress the elite and soiree with the rich. She only has to produce good things for the first few years. Then there will be new family members to take up the cross.”
Del said it quickly. He caught his breath and waited for the intellectuals to flip mental calculations. “Lady already knows what her responsibilities include. She already has plans to compete in beauty and style events. She doesn’t need a lot of money. She only needs money for supplies.”
“Well, that’s good.” Mrs. Steele nodded. “You can support her until she turns twenty-five, then she can inherit her money from Grandfather Boris.”
“Oh please, woman,” Tom growled at his wife. “Anyone who knew your father never called him Boris. They called him Carvierre Steele. And to those he didn’t know, it was just Blues.”
“Except to me,” Lady said proudly. “He let me call him Grampa Cairves. It was a short name for Carvierre. And it sounded like Grandpa Bear.”
Lady smiled at the memory.
Del refused to let her sweetness be a downfall.
“I would be happy to provide for Lady. I’ll do it with or without her promise of marriage or wealth. But I want what’s best for her. And she has this great idea of a new line of summer clothes. I really want her to have the things she needs to be successful. I mean, she could start her own brand and have half as much trouble. Look at you people. How can this be a problem? Can you imagine being asked to feed and clothe a thousand people? That in itself is a lot of stress. Then here you come along just to make sure she receives money but no help or love.” Del looked at Lady in frustration. He tried to place himself in her mind and feed on her feelings. “Lady is all original. She looks, acts, and dresses differently than anyone else. If she went to school she could lose her creativity. An artist can’t be caged or stifled. You’re lucky she wants to work instead of partying or vacationing or whatever rich people do. At least she wants to work.”
When Del said these things about her, he fell in love with her all over again. Del knew why she needed him. She had struck gold when she found someone like him to fight for her. That’s all she really needed. She already had everything else.
With all of his previous experience with the law regarding wills and trusts, he realized he should have become a lawyer. However, he hadn’t needed to. He had kept his land instead. If he would’ve lost the land completely, then pursuing a legal career would’ve been an option.
Del had kept the land and his family. He had agreed to terms that another person would’ve laughed at.
But Del knew the value of land. He had preserved the heritage he wanted. His friends and family members couldn’t understand it at the time. But it didn’t matter. Del knew exactly what he stood for.
In fact, he knew where he stood in everything. And right now he was standing beside the most engaging woman. She was his rock. Del knew what she wanted. He wanted the same things for her.
He studied her for a moment. Her face was placidly still. It didn’t lean toward the angry or happy side of things. She just calmly waited. He had seen her happy at so many different times. None of his happiest memories with her ever involved money.
The extravagant hotel where they presently resided didn’t hold a match to his brightest ten memories with her. Del gave her hand a soft and solid squeeze. She looked up at him and gave a small smile without teeth.
“Lad
y? It’s okay if you want to be a designer. Look at you.” He fluffed a frilly piece of something attached to her shirt. “There is so much style and creativity in this little piece of your shirt. You can do it all by yourself, without their money, help, or stellar opinion.”
“Yes.” Lady nodded. “It’s a lot to decide in one day.”
She leaned over and kissed Del. Their flagrant display of closeness briefly cooled her family’s stance significantly.
“Yes. You do have time to think about it,” her dad said loudly. “As long as you don’t make any permanent things like babies or marriages.”
The women huffed at the reference of babies being problematic or permanent. Men groaned with assumptions of marriage. However, those things would be left for a different day. Today, Del would stand beside Lady. No matter if it was with or against her family’s wishes. He had to do it.
Somehow he always ended up on the wrong side of money. Especially where large sums of wealth were involved. He would ensure Lady’s care with extreme finesse.
Del cleared his throat and began to speak. “Yes, of course. Lady should have time to think. If she has life changing choices to make then she ought to read the fine print herself. We demand a copy of the will and a copy of her trusts. Any piece of paper that has her name on it and has any sum of money on it. We want copies of it all.”
Del was proud of himself and shut his mouth firmly.
Lady spoke up. “I can easily sign my life away for the fashion industry. I have no problem with that. What if stock goes up because of me? Do I get any of that?”
The banker and lawyer smiled at each other. “No, of course you don’t. That sort of income goes into investments until you come of age.”
Lady stopped grimacing. “In my future, will I be earning percentages of funds or directly controlling them?”
Everyone in the room turned to look at the feminine girl with the big question.
It was inbred for Mr. Joseph Sanford-Leavit to speak first. “Let me reassure you that even though your grandfather was the first to retain me, he did so for a reason. As a family attorney, I understand the questions arising from extraordinary wishes.”
He waved his polished hand and his oratory voice covered everything. “Although I can help you look after your own interests, if you try to go against this will, then I would strongly suggest finding a lawyer that is not a family lawyer.”
Lady stood up. “No matter what kind of lawyer you are. This is what I’m unsure of and why. If I leave this bank, then I walk out of here with no money. Is that right?”
Lady sounded quite reasonable, even though her voice had risen. Her eyes were wide enough to hide constellations, and she pointed to her open palm.
She looked at Del with the incredible thought in place. She clinched her palms and a frantic look flickered in her eyes. She was envisioning something and looked right through him. She blinked and tilted her head for a moment.
“How much money am I eligible to receive with Del?”
“It would take weeks to figure your percentages.” Mr. Sven closed his mouth and looked for more assurances from the group.
“I see.” Lady stood up abruptly and held her hand out. “Del, come on.”
“What? You are walking away from millions?” His shock rolled him into a standing position.
“Yes, I’m leaving. I could stand here all day and they still wouldn’t know what I’m worth.” She clutched her handbag.
Her legs were strong and spread. She waited for Del with her hand out. Del didn’t need to be convinced to follow her. He needed to be sure it was real. He picked up her hand and they turned toward the door.
Mrs. Steele was the first to mount the counteroffensive. “Well, obviously you just want to know how much Lady is worth. Why would we just hand over the information?”
Del nodded. “It’s not the numbers I want to see, I want to know if there are any discrepancies between these figures. I’m sure there is nothing to hide and everything is on the up and up. We would like the papers right now. Today would be best. If there were any sort of delay in giving Lady what she wants then it would be obvious the family has discrepancies in the portfolios. We can do this the easy way today. Or we can do this the hard way in a few months with a few lawyers.”
Furtive looks were passed around the room, but Del kept his attention where it was. His whole being keyed into Lady.
“This is ridiculous.” Mrs. Steele put out her arms and shrugged.
Del could feel the mother-daughter energy like an invisible pull. There was a lot of tension between them. He wanted to move or get out of the way.
Mrs. Steele had a way of making men reassess matters. She approached Del slowly. “Why would this young thing care about how much money she is worth?”
Del shook his head and stood firm. “Well, ma’am, in your family, it’s nice to know where people stand. It looks like everyone’s lined up in order of who’s worth more than who. Does that make some people expendable? Everyone likes to talk about the greater good until they are the one getting pushed onto a grenade. I like to think kids don’t get cut off from fortunes because they’re in love.”
Del wasn’t about to wait for a response. He didn’t want those kinds of answers anyway. He waved one arm back and said, “Hey, it’s not the eighteen hundreds, you know. People aren’t forced into marriages for money anymore!”
“Oh, aren’t they?” Mrs. Steele looked at him with new interest.
Del shook his head. His considerations for Lady were high, but dealing with her family brought him to near lunacy.
Del experienced an out-of-body clarity. He looked down on the situation where a woman clung to him for hope, and everyone else lunged at her for money.
Del wasn’t going to wait around. In fact, all he wanted was to talk to Lady in private. He turned to face her.
“I think we’ve learned all we can learn from these people for now,” Del hinted heavily.
“Yes, I agree.” Lady pulled him toward the door. “Let’s leave.”
Mrs. Steele remained rooted in front of the door. “But when will we see you again?”
Lady lost her cool and shrugged disdainfully. “When you can say hello or say my name first before you start talking about money.”
Del gave a stiff lipped smile and was pulled from the room. He was proud of Lady. She had gotten them out of the stuffy conference room way faster than he could have.
They got out to the street in a moment.
“Wait. Wait.” He held his hand up to Lady. “Just stand still for a minute. I have to get my bearings.”
He started to look at adjacent and connected buildings.
Lady stepped into his chest. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Sometimes I just have to remember where I’m at.” He wrapped his arm around her. “And remember who I’m with.”
Lady snuggled in closer. “I wasn’t expecting all that to happen.”
“You didn’t know about all of that? You didn’t even have an inkling?” Del breathed deeply of her fruity shampoo. In the city it didn’t have its fresh sweetness, and that frustrated him as well. He clenched his hands and stood there.
“Well, they were different with my sister. She and Josh had been together since junior high. She didn’t just run away one night and meet some random dude.” Lady was grinning but the joke never met her eyes.
Del didn’t feel random. It was no accident he’d already been through so many legalities. Lady hadn’t expected him to come to the city with him. But he hadn’t seen any other option for him. Just like right now. He had no other option but to secure her somewhere safe.
He thought of the hotel. For the twentieth time he grimaced at the eight thousand dollar a night price tag. There had to be somewhere else for them. He already knew he belonged on the farm. Now it was time to find out where Lady belonged. He wished it was in his arms, but only time would tell. The city could place them anywhere. Questioning something, even geography
, put him right out of his element.
Lady and Del stood on the crowded sidewalks. Someone waved for a cab but it might as well have been sign language at a concert. They stood together on the sidewalk. They faced each other but looked down the street in opposite directions. Del didn’t know what to do. He was at a loss and this feeling of wonderment filled him darkly.
“Ms. Lady. I mean. Umm. Pardon me, Ms. Steele.” The lawyer, Mr. Joseph Sanford-Leavit, ran down the steps of the bank. He waved at them with what was becoming his signature wave full of papers and a brown briefcase.
“Hi, Ms. Steele. It’s good you’re still here.” He stopped walking and just stared at Lady for a full moment. “Your grandfather always told me you were his favorite.”
He shook his head and readdressed her with more professionalism. “I understand working with family trusts can be daunting. Please, come to my office so we can talk about things.”
“Maybe some other time.” Del put his arm around Lady’s shoulder and began to lead her away.
Mr. Sanford-Leavit fell into step beside them. “That’s completely understandable. However, I was Lady’s grandfather’s lawyer and I think it would be best to speak with me. No one knows that will like I do. I need a minute of your time. There are things you need to know about besides the will.” Mr. Sanford-Leavit stopped walking and stood fidgeting on the sidewalk.
Del looked down to see how Lady took the news. She looked like she was ready for anything.
Mr. Sanford-Leavit continued, “We must speak. Here’s my car.”
He held his hand out to a champagne colored sedan.
Lady waited for her door to be open. She climbed into the car. Del watched as she slid across the seat. Del sat beside her.
Lady smiled excitedly and gave him a sound kiss on the lips. “Thank you, Del.”
Del was considering if he should live up to the cowboy angle, or be the Middle American good boy. Both characteristics were inside of him. Only one of them was strong. And neither one of them belonged in the city. He decided it didn’t matter. But staying with Lady did. Keeping her safe and innocent topped the priority list.
