by Ashley Blake
I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess you can’t control who you love.”
He gently stroked my cheek as his eyes held mine. “No, you can’t.”
We enjoyed a really nice dinner and Christian invited me to his family dinner the following Saturday at his parent’s house. I would be meeting his grandmother, and seeing his mom and dad, his brother Tyler, Evan, Kipton and Nicole, again. Even though I was a bit nervous, I was looking forward to seeing them again and meeting his grandmother.
I didn’t realize just how nervous I was about seeing everyone at his parent’s house until the next morning when I was sitting in my office. I was sitting at my desk the next day staring out the window, replaying the conversation I’d had with Christian about the dinner when I had a mini panic. For some reason it took me that long to realize that I was going to be spending social time with his really wealthy family. I’m not going to lie; I enjoyed the nice life Christian had, but being in his parent’s house with his family members who were all super rich? That was starting to scare me.
I wondered if they would still like me after they found out we were dating, if they would judge me for not being a part of their über wealthy world, and if they would think I was a gold-digger. Christian’s money and connections were a nice surprise, but I really did love him for who he was. I was the furthest thing from a woman who was digging for gold.
I had to push those thoughts out of my head because I wasn’t getting any work done and I had a deadline to meet. I took a deep breath and immersed myself in work. That is what I had to do every day that week in order to get through each day. As Saturday drew near, my anxiety level incrementally increased every day. By Friday I was a nervous wreck. Christian popped into my office to check on me late that afternoon because he knew how nervous I was.
He closed my door behind him and walked over to me and gave me a big hug.
“Sweetie, you have nothing to worry about, please stop stressing. I hate to see you like this. They are going to love you as much as I do.”
“I feel so silly but I don’t want to screw anything up.”
“How could you? You are perfect.”
I rolled my eyes and smiled at him.
“I am not perfect, Christian.”
He gently touched my cheek and winked at me.
“You are perfect for me.”
His sweet words made me momentarily forget about dinner the next night and I gave him a hug.
“Thank you for that.”
“You’re welcome, sweetie. Okay, listen, tomorrow really will be just fine. My family is harmless, you’ll see.”
I had to snap out of my mood because I didn’t want him to think I didn’t want to see his family. I gave him my best effort at a smile and took a deep breath.
“Okay. You’re right.”
Chapter Nineteen
The next day I took forever getting ready and must have changed my clothes at least 10 times before deciding on a simple but pretty blue dress. I didn't want to wear anything too form fitting and I wanted to make sure I looked really nice for his family. Christian was picking me up at 5:30 and dinner was being served at 7:00. It took less than an hour to get to Winnetka but Christian was also meeting my parents that night for the first time. It was 5:25 and I looked at myself in the mirror, my light blue dress a perfect choice, and went downstairs to ask my parents what they thought.
I twirled in the living room in front of them and then smiled.
“Well? What do you think?”
“Honey you look absolutely beautiful.” My mom was beaming.
“Yes, just gorgeous, honey. So you’re meeting the whole family tonight?”
“Well, I’m meeting his grandmother for the first time and everyone else I’ve already met. But it will be nice to see them again.”
“Oh, you’re so grown up now, Eva. Getting this big job, working in Paris, moving out on your own. We are so proud of you honey.”
My mom was getting teary-eyed and I couldn’t look at her or I would start crying too. Things were changing for me and while I was excited about all of the change, I was going to miss being around my parents all the time. I looked at my dad, pleading with him to get my mom to stop crying.
“Dad.”
“Your mother will be okay, sweetie. She’s just going to miss you, that’s all.”
“I’m not going to be that far away and I will see you guys all the time.”
Thankfully she pulled it together because Christian was going to be there any minute.
I looked at my parents and gave a little frown. My brother was going to miss out on meeting Christian. “I wish Colton was here to meet Christian.”
“I know honey, but he had this dinner with Cheryl’s family planned for a while. He’ll meet him next time.”
Just then Christian knocked on the door. I opened the door for him and, as always, he took my breath away. He stood there holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers and he was so damned good-looking.
“Hi.” I couldn’t stop smiling at him.
“Hi, beautiful. You look stunning.” He leaned down and kissed me on the cheek and his smile was infectious. I just wanted to melt right into his eyes. For a second I forgot that he was meeting my parents and I just stood there grinning at him, and then I heard my dad clear his throat.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! Come in and meet my parents!”
“Mom, dad, I’d like for you to meet Christian Locke. Christian, these are my parents Jack and Sylvia Steele.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Steele, it is such a pleasure to meet you both. Mrs. Steele, these are for you.”
My mom blushed like a school girl as Christian handed her the flowers.
“Thank you, Christian, these are beautiful. Please call me Sylvia.”
“Yes, and call me Jack. We’re very informal around here.” I think my dad was a little intimidated by how much money Christian’s family had, and I really wanted him to see how down to earth Christian was.
My dad put the flowers in a vase for my mom and she patted the seat next to her on the couch.
“Have a seat, Christian dear, you have a few minutes before you have to leave, right?”
“Yes, we do.” He sat next to my mom and didn’t seem uncomfortable at all.
I gently touched him on his shoulder.
“Can I get you something to drink?”
“No, honey, I’m fine, thanks.”
My parents chatted with Christian for a few minutes, not grilling him at all, and as I watched them interact I just thought to myself how natural it seemed with us all being together. We had to get going by 6:00 so we said our goodbyes and when we were in the car I turned to him and gave him a big hug.
“My parents loved you. Thank you for being so nice to them.”
“They are really lovely people and I can see where you get your beauty. Your mother is stunning. Thank you for introducing me to them.”
“I’m just happy you were finally able to meet them. I have a feeling this is going to be a great night!”
As we pulled up to Christian’s parents’ mansion, I literally felt like I had to pick my jaw up off of the ground. The house was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. It was enormous and I felt more intimidated than I expected. My parents’ house was tiny in comparison and I hated that I felt weird about it because Christian had never given me any reason to feel inadequate in any way, especially when it came to money. He held my hand tight as we walked to the front door and before we even made it to the buzzer, the door flung open.
Diane Locke, looking as beautiful as ever, greeted us with a huge smile on her face, her husband standing right beside her.
"Christian! Oh sweetheart, it is so good to see you!"
She planted kisses all over his face as a sheepish grin touched his lips. It was so cute watching them because I could see how much she loved him and he looked like a little boy as he just let her love on him.
"It is good to see you mother, but you just saw me a couple of we
eks ago."
His pulled him in for a hug also. “It’s good to see you, Christian.”
He smiled at his father. “You too, dad.”
His mom looked at me, her bright blue eyes smiling at me, warmth pouring out of her.
"Eva dear, so nice to see you again."
She pulled me in for a sweet hug.
"It is nice to see you again as well, Mrs. Locke."
"Diane…remember?”
“Oh yes, Diane.”
“Yes, Eva, so nice to see you again. Unfortunately my brother could not make it tonight but I’m sure you’ll see him another time.”
“Okay you two, come on inside. Almost everyone is here, we're just waiting for Kipton and his guest."
Christian looked at his watch.
"We're not late, are we?"
"No, no. The others decided to arrive a bit early. You can go greet them so they can say hello to Eva again while I check on Bernie in the kitchen."
She smiled at me as she walked off and Christian told me that Bernie was his mom's chef.
"He has been with her for 30 years and he's like family."
His face brightened as he uttered his next words.
"Do you feel better about this? I told you that you had nothing to worry about."
I smiled at him and had to admit that her warm reception put me at ease. I grabbed his hand and winked at him.
“Yes, she was really nice. I thought it would be weird since this is a social thing and I’m obviously your date.” I thought about that for a second and got nervous as I grabbed his arm. “Wait, do you think she knows I’m your date?”
He chuckled as he gently rubbed my back. “Yes, silly, my mother wasn’t born yesterday. I have talked about you to my parents so they know that I have feelings for you.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “Oh good. Okay, let’s go say hello to everyone else. I’d love to meet your grandmother.”
We walked into the living room and I saw Tyler chatting with their grandmother. They looked over at us when they heard us walk into the room and Christian walked straight over to them. He leaned down and kissed the older woman, held her hand, looked at me and smiled.
“Nana Bitsy, I want you to meet my girlfriend, Eva.”
Bitsy? That was perfect. It totally sounded like the name of a snobby, rich, older lady. Was his grandmother rich? Yes, but I definitely wasn’t getting the snobby vibe from her.
I was shocked he called me his girlfriend in front of his family and it was a defining moment for us. No one seemed surprised at all, so I assumed Christian had been talking about me a bit more than he had let on.
She gave me a warm smile and held her arms out for a hug. I bent down to hug her and she smelled like roses.
“It is wonderful to meet you dear, I have heard so much about you. I take it my grandson is treating you well?”
I smiled at her. “It is nice to meet you as well, Mrs. Locke. Oh yes! Christian is a perfect gentleman.”
“Please call me Bitsy, dear, it keeps me feeling young!”
We all laughed and Christian chimed in.
“Nana Bitsy, you are forever young!”
“Yes, she is. Christian, aren’t you going to let me say hello to this beautiful woman?” The low, sexy drawl caught me off guard and Christian looked over at me.
“Eva, you remember my brother Tyler. Tyler, I can see the way you are looking at my girlfriend, and she is off limits.”
He was joking but I could feel his body language shift as he took a step closer to me, sort of claiming what belonged to him. Tyler gave me the quick once over and his gorgeous blue eyes settled in mine, a small twinkle in his eye. I knew that look. I had received that same look of admiration from men since puberty. Tyler was a much bigger flirt than I realized. I had not seen that side of him in Paris at all.
Tyler reached out and gently held my hand, raising it to his lips for a tender kiss.
“Eva, Lovely to see you again. You look stunning.”
I felt the blood rush to my cheeks and I smiled at him. He was just as charming as his brother and I quickly glanced at Christian who gave Tyler a playful shove.
“Easy there!”
We all had a good laugh and Tyler glanced at Christian and then smiled at me.
“You’re lucky you met her first, Christian.”
Christian put his arm around me and kissed the side of my forehead.
“Don’t I know it. Where is your girlfriend? You need her here so you can stop fawning all over mine.”
“That’s over. Just didn’t work out.”
Christina didn’t hold back even a little. “Well, I can’t say I’m sorry. Good riddance.”
“Now boys, behave yourselves. Have either of you offered our guest something to drink?” Diane playfully scolded her sons.
They both looked apologetic and Christian jumped in first.
“I’m so sorry, Eva. Would you like something? Alfred should have met us at the door.”
I was confused.
“Who is Alfred?”
“He is our butler. Nana Bitsy, have you seen Alfred?”
“Oh I should have mentioned that he would be away for a few minutes. He went to the wine cellar to get a couple of reds for dinner, he’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Oh, okay. What would you like, Eva? I’ll get it for you,” Christian said as he gently stroked my arm.
“A glass of water would be great.”
Christian went to the kitchen and as I sat with Bitsy and Tyler, Bitsy looked at me and smiled.
“So tell me, dear, how do you like working for the company? I have heard great things about your performance.”
That kind of surprised me. Really? She had heard about me? I guess I didn’t expect the matriarch of the family to be too involved with the company, but that was ignorant on my part. I could tell that the women in Christian’s family were tough cookies, and I liked it.
“I love working for the company. It was a dream of mine to work for Locke Designs since I was a little girl.”
“I don’t mean to pry dear, but where did you grow up?”
“The North side of Chicago. I still live at home with my parents and younger brother, but I’ll be getting my own apartment next week.”
Bitsy’s face glowed as she listened to me.
“Moving out on your own is a very exciting time in a young woman’s life. Eva, how would you feel about speaking at a career fair we have coming up?”
Was she serious? I was so shocked I didn't know what to say. She must have been able to sense my apprehension because she gave me a warm, encouraging smile.
"Eva, we are very impressed with your work ethic and we think your example is what young people need to emulate these days. I'm not sure if you are aware, but our company provides college scholarships for deserving students and we would love to have you assist us in vetting candidates. I know this is a lot of information to digest so if you need to take the rest of the weekend to think about it, that is fine."
What just happened here?
Tyler gently touched my arm and the look in his eyes was sincere as Bitsy stepped away for a minute. “You have made quite an impression on my grandmother. It might be hard to believe but she gets updates on every single employee in our company in every city. Offers like the one she just gave you don’t come easily, Eva. Just a little food for thought.”
The last thing I expected when I met his grandmother was to have an incredible opportunity handed to me on a silver platter. If I agreed to speak at the career fair I could probably help students who were like me trying to figure out the right path to take to get to their dream job. I would have loved to have had someone in my position give me solid, tangible career advice when I was in college.
Just then Christian came back with my water and I turned confused eyes to him. He looked instantly worried.
"What's wrong?"
Bitsy chimed in.
"I was telling Eva about our conversation regarding t
he speaking opportunity and the scholarship program."
Christian took a deep breath and turned apologetic eyes to me.
"I was going to talk to you about that later tonight but I see my lovely grandmother couldn't hold her tongue."
Bitsy smiled at him and it was so cute.
"I couldn't help it, Christian, I have been so excited to have someone as talented as Eva on board I want to make sure we maximize her potential."
