The Family Game by Catherine Steadman (10)

I’m leaning in now too. “What do you mean? What went wrong?”

“Well, not to put too fine a point on it, Harry, but we-gotta-lotta-money.” She lets out a little girlie snort at her own words.

“And that’s caused problems? His exes had the wrong intentions?”

“Well, we’ll never know now, will we? They never lasted. I’m not gonna lie, we can all be a little much, but we’ve got a nose for bad intentions, it kind of comes with the territory. Sometimes Ed lets his emotions get in the way of self-preservation. I know how the world views us: cutthroat, dog-eat-dog, sociopaths, or whatever. But we’re only reacting to what we face every day. It is brutal out here. And you should know, coming into all this, everything we have, everything we are, other people want it. We developed tough skins because by God, we’ve needed them just to survive. But we love Ed, we want him to be happy. Here’s the thing. Since the last girlfriend—he’s kept his distance from the family. He got it in his head Daddy scared her off. That he’ll scare you off.” She shrugs lightly. “And maybe he did scare the last one, but maybe it was for the best. Some people aren’t built for this, some people aren’t strong enough to run with the pack.” Her eyes flick across my features before she adds, “I see you, though. You’re a strong one. I see it in your eyes. To get this far, to leave a life behind, to get that ring on your finger, you’re a strong one, a survivor. Like us.” She gives my hand a rallying squeeze across the table and I realize that even though she doesn’t know me, she kind of knows me. “Listen,” she continues, “don’t worry about meeting Daddy, he’s mellowed. The upshot is Dad wants Edward back in the fold, and you make him happy. Edward wants you and if any of us stand in the way I’m under no illusions that we’ll lose him completely. I think I understand your intentions toward him. He’s always been a good brother to me. So my question to you is: will you help us out?”

“Help you out?”

“Yeah, honey. Will you help the family out? We want him back; we want to keep him where we can see him. We think this engagement is just wonderful.”

A strange warmth permeates me as I begin to understand what is going on here. They have to have me; they have to like me; they have no choice. As I said, I don’t have a self-esteem problem but the idea of their immediate acceptance of a nobody from England as their new daughter-in-law was completely baffling, until now. Why would one of the wealthiest families in America endorse the engagement of their oldest son to a woman they’d never met? Here is the answer. It’s reassuring in its simplicity. They pushed him away and vetoed his choices too many times and they’ve run out of nos. They either accept me or they lose him.

Edward’s already chosen me over them, so they need me on their side if they want him back. I’m the missing piece that can bring them together again.

I’m no business tycoon but I do know that you can’t sell anything without first creating a need. However uneven our power differential might be I have something that the Holbecks want: their son.

My blue eyes find Matilda’s green ones. “I understand. And I’ll see what I can do,” I say with a smile.

“Fabulous.” She grins. Then a thought seems to occur to her, almost in passing, almost as if she’s only just thought of it. Almost.

“Oh, and listen, what are you both doing tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow? I’m not sure. Not much, I don’t think. Why?”

She pauses, confused in some way by my response. Then she smiles. “Oh, of course, right. Well, we’re having a little family dinner. It might be a nice occasion for you to meet everyone. There’ll be a big crowd, but everyone’s girlfriends/partners will be there too so there’ll be lots to take the pressure off you. Just a quiet family dinner. I just think everyone’s going to love you. I wouldn’t suggest it otherwise, trust me.”

“Tomorrow? Yeah, okay, I don’t see why not. I’ll tell Edward we’re coming over.”

Matilda squeezes my arm in solidarity. “That would be perfect. This is perfect. I can’t wait.”



* * *



—

Out on the street Matilda hails me a cab and slips the driver a wad of bills as I slide in.

“Oh, and honey,” she barks through my open window. “Forgot to say. I am so sorry for that situation with your publisher. I thought I was helping but Mother tells me, ‘All totally inappropriate.’ So, lesson learned. Don’t worry. It won’t happen again, Sis.” And with that she blows me a kiss and slaps the roof of the taxi, sending us off into the busy traffic.

Edward’s still in San Diego so I tap out a text to let him know I’ve agreed to the family dinner. He’ll be back tomorrow morning and there will be more than enough time for us to make it across town for the evening. Although the idea of meeting everyone tomorrow is incredibly daunting, I can’t think of a better way to acclimate myself to them than in a large group where the focus will be spread out.

Edward’s reply comes back almost instantly.

Tomorrow night?!

Yeah. Why?

And you told them we were free?!

Um, yes…we are free, aren’t we? Is

everything ok? Xx

You know what tomorrow is, right?

What do you mean?