by Frankie Love
“Correct,” Arthur says. “I don’t want The King’s Diamond to go down in history as being a strip-mall discount jeweler with shady importers selling inferior diamonds. The King’s Diamond represents history, heritage, something treasured. If it can’t be what it has been, I don’t want it at all!”
“I don’t understand,” Landon says. “I was just in the Vegas branch, and the shop looked as it always has. Decadent. Luxurious. When Ace bought Emmy’s ring there a month ago, it was as pristine as it’s ever been. How could everything change in a few days?”
“No, that’s not how it works,” Geoffrey says, shaking his head. “We’ve known the company is spiraling into a deficit, we have just now reached the point of no return. We’ll only now begin consolidating. I realize this is disappointing; we’ve lived our lives assuming one day we would inherit a fortune. But that fortune no longer exists.”
Landon exhales slowly, and he won’t look at me. “I just don’t understand how it could all happen so quickly.”
“It hasn’t been quick,” Fiona scoffs. “You’ve just been absent. For so long. From everything.”
“And apparently Dad brought you here under false pretenses,” Geoffrey says. “But the fact remains, the company is done. And, Landon, you aren’t really a vital member of the conversation as we liquidate. Dad should never have bought you here for this. The truth is, Dad should consider the other options, but he’s stubborn in his refusal.”
“Enough!” Arthur slams his fist on the table. “I’m not taking a company I hold dear and watching as it becomes a joke. I created this company, with values I treasure, and I’d rather lose it than stand by as it becomes a mockery.”
I watch the scene unfold, not knowing what I should do, where I fit into all of this. I shouldn’t be here. I don’t want to be here. This is private information for a family I don’t belong in.
Before I can retreat, however, Arthur looks over at me.
“Claire, I’m sorry the first time you’re here with the family, it’s under such a cloud of disappointment.” Arthur shakes his head. “I know we disagree, Geoffrey, but keeping the moral integrity of the company means more than money.”
Geoffrey sighs loudly; clearly they’ve been discussing this for some time.
“It’s true, Geoffrey; we can’t change what we stand for, just for the sake of money,” Helen says. She sighs and takes my hand. “Never in a million years would I have thought the first time I met Landon’s bride-to-be we would be admitting our family is in ruins. But it’s the truth. The inheritance we wanted to give you kids will no longer be there ... but hopefully our integrity will remain intact.”
I feel my face redden. This whole fake fiancée plan was such a bad idea. Landon’s parents are kind, generous people. They truly believe in love and honor and family ... yet I have allowed myself to deceive them.
My stomach rolls, knowing I’m being a complete fake to people who have welcomed me into their inner circle, their judgment-free zone.
I’m bursting with shame. I need to tell them the truth. Then I can pack my things and go. I don’t care anymore about his parents seeing me as a fraud, how Emmy or Tess and Ace’s perceptions of me will shift. I can be better than this.
I want to be better than this. Helen and Arthur deserve that.
“So the money—my allowance, my dividends from The King’s diamond—it’s all going to go?” Landon asks, arms crossed.
I frown at Landon’s words. Is he seriously asking about the money he isn’t even working for? At a time like this?
It’s clear his parents are just in a shambles over this announcement; they must be so sad to learn everything they wanted for their family is gone. Sure, they’re still crazy wealthy ... but everything they worked for is in the past.
“Landon, don’t,” I whisper, tugging on his arm. “Not now.”
“Of course that’s what you’re concerned about,” Geoffrey scoffs. “Grow up, Landon.”
“Fuck off, Geoffrey.” Landon shakes his head. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“You keep saying that, but the thing is, I think I do.” Geoffrey raises his eyebrows at us. “In fact, I think I know a hell of a lot about you both.”
“Stop, Geoffrey, please,” I beg him, suddenly frightened. I want to tell everyone that we aren’t really engaged, but I panic, realizing Geoffrey must know my ugliest secret of all.
And if he exposes it, I won’t have just let down Helen and Arthur ... I’ll have let down Landon.
And why do I care about how Landon sees me?
I don’t know exactly ... but maybe deep down I know I do love him. Love the man he could be if he wasn’t so freaking stupid all the time.
But if Geoffrey keeps talking, then the truth I’ve buried for so long is going to come to the light.
“Don’t,” I say again, this time more quietly.
“Look,” Geoffrey says, seeming to change his tone after hearing my hushed word. “I don’t want any more trouble in this family. We all know there’s plenty as it is. Which is why I haven’t said anything earlier. Not even to Fiona. But enough, Landon—I know this relationship is a joke to you anyways.”
“What joke?” Fiona asks, on the outs and not seeming to like it.
But the way he so pointedly speaks to Landon tells me he doesn’t know about my secret ... my stupid, never took care of it when I should have, I’m such a freaking idiot, secret.
The dirt Geoffrey must have is the truth about our engagement.
Which is a relief. Until I see the worn expression on Landon’s face.
I want to convey to Landon ... somehow ... that we need to tell his family the truth. But he jerks his head in a no, and I pause, the words I want to say so close to spilling from my mouth.
“Geoffrey,” Fiona says, reaching for his arm. “I think right now we’ve had enough surprises today, don’t you think?”
Her words catch me off guard, but the moment she says them I know she’s right. Arthur and Helen are worn out and embarrassed. I don’t need to break their hearts anymore than they already are. At least not today.
Landon
Nothing about this family summit is going how I wanted it to. Everything I hoped it would be has been smashed to the ground. I can’t look at Claire–she knows how worthless I am without the potential title of successor. She’ll never want me now.
And she shouldn’t. I have nothing to fucking offer her.
“So how do we move forward?” I ask, once Geoffrey has quieted down.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Mum says, her hand at her heart. “You boys being here, announcing your engagements, is giving us something to be joyous over. At least we have that.”
“And our wedding will be soon,” Fiona says.
“Which makes us so happy, Fiona,” Dad says. “We as so happy for our boys, and for you and Claire.”
Fiona smiles at this praise, and I’m sure she relishes it because Geoffrey doesn’t exactly ooze words of affirmation. “You know, we could push the wedding up, sooner than this winter. This fall. This week!”
“Fiona,” Geoffrey scowls. “This week? You’re being absurd. And seriously, we have enough going on as it is.”
“You know what, Geoffrey?” Fiona says. “I’ve spent years doing everything the way you want. Coming here on weekends, going to the country club with your parents, taking holidays where you work the entire time–and do I complain? No. I don’t. Never.” Her eyes are, shockingly, filled with tears. “And I know this moment is about the business, and the meeting is about what happens next with The King’s Diamond ... but you know what?” she asks. “What happens next for us? I’ve been waiting a decade to marry you. You finally agree ... so let’s just get on with it—on with our lives. Think about something beside the bankruptcy.”
“That sounds fantastic,” I say, wanting to watch Geoffrey squirm.
“Is it?” He turns, asking me. “If it’s so bloody fantastic, we should have a double wedding. Next week, just l
ike Fiona wants.”
“Oh, boys, stop this, it isn’t good for anyone,” Mum says. “Especially not Fiona and Claire. You can’t make jokes about weddings around brides-to-be.”
“Oh, I don’t think anyone is joking,” Geoffrey dryly tells Mum.
“I sure as hell am not,” I laugh, improvising. “Claire and I were going to elope. Now we won’t have to.”
Dad claps his hands, completely oblivious to the sarcastic tone Geoffrey and I have adopted. “This is just perfect,” he exclaims. “I thought the world was collapsing, but look, my family is being brought together. Better than I could have ever hoped for. The tough times won’t define us.”
Mum and Dad leave to get celebratory drinks, and the four of us look at one another uncomfortably. The entire situation got a bit out of hand.
“Perfect,” Geoffrey snorts, looking at me with a smug smile. “Unless you had something you wanted to tell Mum and Dad that would disappoint them after they’ve just been completely wrecked.”
“Oh, fuck off,” I mutter under my breath, and I hear Claire give a sharp hiss. “What?” I whisper to her as Mum and Dad leave the room for a bottle of brandy and cookies.
“A double wedding next week? Landon. That’s insane. We can’t. I won’t.” Her eyes are blazing hot, as if she wants to scream or run. Or both. “I need to go.”
“Listen, can we just ...” I look over at Geoffrey and Fiona who are arguing. I hear snippets of You really want this? Is this a joke? This is so typical. But I can’t tell who is seething at whom. A wedding in a week was Fiona’s idea, but I have a feeling she tossed it out in response to being heard for once in her life. “Claire, can we just try for a day or two to play along ... my parents were so scared to tell us ... and now we’ve made them happy.”
“Right, Fiona and Geoffrey seem so happy, Landon,” she says. We look over at the engaged couple, who have crossed arms and pointed fingers and sour faces. “I don’t want to keep lying; it will only hurt people more.”
“Well, fuck, Claire, what do you want to do? Tell them everything? Look,” I say pointing to my parents who are walking back into the den holding brandy and a plate of gingersnaps. “They’re happy. You want to take that from them? Tonight of all nights?”
“Treats,” Mum says, handing out napkins. “Now kids, listen, no one is forcing this. It would be crazy and unexpected and completely–”
“Amazing,” Dad finishes. “Look, this year has been hard. Imagining the transition away from the company breaks my heart ... but you kids finding love at the same time, after I spent a lifetime selling diamonds that are a part of people’s forever—well, frankly, it feels like destiny.”
“Destiny?” Claire runs her hands over her face. I see her contemplating the lie, the extent of it. What it would mean.
Basically nothing at this point. Because there is no longer a paycheck at the end. It dawns on me that when she said she needed to go ... she meant home, to Vegas. Not to bed, not for a walk.
She has no reason to stay.
With me.
Here.
But God, I don’t want her to go. I want her to play fake-engaged a little longer.
Because of my parents, sure, but mostly because I’m not ready to say good-bye to her. I need to figure out a way to get money to repay her for being with me. And I also need to figure how to get a job and enough cash to prove I can be the man she needs.
I thought The King’s Diamond was going to solve all my problems.
But now I see, the only thing this trip has given me is Claire.
And that’s more than enough. She’s all I fucking want.
Claire watches me as I process this, and I’m glad she’s letting me hold her hand again, because she steadies me in a way no one else ever has.
“What do you say, Fiona?” she asks, as if realizing I need her to go along with this more than she needs to go home.
“I say we’re having a double wedding,” Fiona says.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Claire
There are a few things I know for sure.
1) I can’t get married in some ceremony where the goal isn’t love but instead a bizarre game where the winner gets parental approval.
2) Landon is desperate. I see it in his eyes, the way he clasps my hand so freaking tight, the way he held onto every word about the bankruptcy. This has wrecked him.
3) And that wrecks me. Seeing him like this. So ... vulnerable.
4) I know I should leave. Right now. Just pack my things and peace out … but I don’t want to. I don’t want to leave Landon right now. I want to take care of him.
Is that because my motherly instincts are kicking in? Or it because Landon means something to me.
Means more than a title of fake fiancée.
Means more than I know.
Fiona wants to start planning the wedding as we sip our brandy, but I put her off.
“Fiona, why don’t you take the lead with everything,” I say. “I don’t really care, and not just in a passive way. I mean, I just don’t have an eye for it, and I’m guessing you may. And I know decisions will need to be made fast.”
“I can’t believe this,” Fiona says. “We have so much to plan, in just a few days. And Geoffrey, you have to get me a ring now. A big one, like Claire has.”
“Right.” Geoffrey’s jaw is tense, as if he truly thought Landon and I were going to back out of the double wedding, which would give him an out, too. But these brothers are so competitive they’ve just buried themselves.
But they’ve buried me too.
I can’t get out of this today.
And that’s not the worst of it.
I don’t want out. Not right now. I want to take Landon back to our bedroom and I want to make love to him and make his sexy smile return–because, oh my God, the past hour has been intense.
And then I want to pretend again that my life is this life. The one Landon and I are living. Not the one where I’m a single mom living with my mother, making ends meet for Sophia, and always feeling torn.
This one, where I can play make-believe in a castle with a man so far out of my league it hurts.
I don’t want to tell the truth right now, because the truth means the arrangement between Landon and me would be over.
I’m not ready yet to say good-bye to us.
“Landon,” I say declaratively. “I need to go upstairs and call my mother and Sophia. A lot is going on, and I need to explain.”
Geoffrey’s eyebrows furrow at this, as if surprised that I’d be calling my mom now. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Obviously I’m not telling my mother about any of this wedding stuff. But I need an excuse to get Landon up the stairs and in bed. With me.
“Okay.” He stands. “I’ll come with you. We’ll come back down in a few hours for dinner.”
I watch Landon walk over to his father and wrap him in a big hug. “Dad, I know things are hard for you right now, but we’ll get through it.”
“Thank you, son,” he says, clapping Landon’s back.
In that moment I miss my own father, a man who was always good to me, who died far too young. A man who taught me to drive and bought me my first cup of coffee. A man who might have had advice at a time like this.
The other thing I miss, in the space of that hug, is the idea of Sophia having a father, too. But God knows that ship sailed a long time ago.
Landon and I walk out of the room, and I take his hand this time, wanting to lead the way back to bed, back to the place where he and I only see one another.
Not the money. Not the daughter. Not the flipping double wedding.
All I want right now is to make Landon happy, better. I want him to know he’s going to be okay.
“So ... there’s no paycheck, no successor,” Landon says slowly once he’s shut the bedroom door. And locked it.
“It’s okay. That was so stupid anyways. I mean, it’s not like I really thought it would work.” I shrug, standing a few feet fro
m him. The day has exhausted me.
Emmy, Ace, and Tess arriving.
The meeting gone totally sideways.
A double-effing-wedding.
“Didn’t you though? Weren’t you willing to take risks you’d never dreamed of because of it? Leaving the country, leaving Sophia, sleeping with me?”
“Sleeping with you had nothing to do with the money. We did that before.”
“Hell, yeah, we did,” Landon says, walking toward me. “That first time I saw you naked, I thought I was going to get off before you ever laid a hand on me.”
“The waltz gets you pretty horny then?” I tease, remembering the dance that led us back to his suite.
“You dancing? Yes. You doing anything? Yes. God, Claire, I want you so bad.”
“What do you want from me?” I ask, unbuckling his belt, undoing his pants, reaching my hand inside his briefs to feel his hardening cock. It grows with each stroke, with each touch, as if I have magical powers.
“I want to make you happy. Forever,” he says. “Not just fake-engagement happy. Really, truly happy. I want to make you smile and make you blush and make you remember that life isn’t so terrible, so chaotic as you seem so intent to believe.”
“You don’t have any idea about the real world, Landon. You grew up in a freaking castle. Your parents are bankrupt, but not from credit card debt ... we’re talking a billion-dollar company. The kind of bankrupt that lets you keep the house.”
“And the yacht.” Landon smirks at the absurdity of the situation.
“Of course you have a yacht.”
“It doesn’t mean I don’t have a pulse on the real world. I just mean you keep mentioning how hard life is, how torn you feel all the time, and I think a lot of people can relate to that. I know I can.”
“How do you feel torn?” I ask him, as he lifts my blouse over my head.
“I’m torn in million fucking ways. Are you kidding me?” He wraps his arms around me, and I sink into him, exhaling as my cheek rests against his chest.
“But how?” I ask. “Like, how are you torn? And I’m not talking about deciding if your burger at In-N-Out should be Animal Style or not. I mean legit things. Grown-up things.”
