“Well, that changed. I have to marry your son, but I won’t give up my career.” She spoke to him like a leader, like she was the one used to giving orders. It was interesting to watch, and no matter how much I knew it was going to backfire, I loved it when her face got red and the tip of her nose flared, just a little bit.
She must not have been close with her uncle, or she’d know the way the family works.
“I don’t think you understand. You join this family. You do it the way it needs to be done. You follow the order of things-”
My father immediately went into lecture mode, like he was talking to one of my sisters, but my mother chimed in.
“Let’s not worry about this right this second, James. We have a lot to do to get ready for the wedding, and Joanna has a lot to learn. Try not to be so hard on her.” There she was, smoothing the ruffles out, as always. She stood and poured my father another drink, smiling at him as she sat down.
“Where is Kathryn?” I asked. I noticed she wasn’t at the table. In fact, I was starting to notice that she wasn’t around much at all these days. I almost never saw her.
“Probably stayed after at school to help with tutoring,” my mother said waving me away. “What did you think of dinner? Is it too dry?” she asked the family. No more tense subjects. That was what she was really saying. She was trying to steer the conversation off in another direction.
It worked. It always worked, When any of us upset him, it was like she was magic. A band-aid that covered up the cracks in our relationship with him.
Tonight was no different.
“Fine, Mae. It’s a good roast, mashed potatoes are a little lumpy, though,” my father picked at them with his fork.
I swear I saw Jo blush. She must’ve made them.
“I think they taste great,” I said. “Did you hear anything about the Sterling Merger?” I asked. We had a series of business deals getting ready to go down, and one of them was a merger of different companies into one conglomeration. A group of sorts.
“I did, I sent you an email with the details.” Business that was what my father was better at. Talking about, thinking about, dreaming about business. Money.
“I see,” I said, “you wanna give me a run down?”
“Maybe a little bit later. I came home just for dinner, but I really need to get back to the office. I have more paperwork to do.” The way he said paperwork let me know that he meant nothing of the sort. He either had some heads to crack, or he wanted to get back to one of his mistresses.
My mother caught the meaning too.
“Will you be home tonight?” she asked.
“I might just stay at the condo,” he said. I could see the look of recognition in her eyes. There was going to be another fight.
“Thank you so much for the meal, mom,” I stood and looked at Joanna, beckoning her to stand too. I didn’t want her to have to see the truth of my family. Not yet. She didn’t deserve to witness the fallout that was about to happen.
“What?” she asked as she looked over at me, blinking. There she was, the role of the doting mother came back to her. “Oh, yes, of course. I’ll be in touch about wedding details, my dear. It was so nice meeting you.”
Just like that we were dismissed. I grabbed Joanna’s hand and pulled her out of the room, out of the house and down the driveway.
“What just happened?” she asked. She looked blind-sighted.
“You just met my family,” I said. “And you almost got to see behind the curtain.”
There it was, the muffled sound of screaming. “Let’s go.”
She just nodded and slid into the seat of the car. I liked it when she obeyed me. I thought about the way she did what I told her to earlier today, the way she bent over and just let me spank her ass. Then I thought about why I had to in the first place.
I realized that I liked it even better when she resisted.
Chapter Ten
Joanna
“So, that’s them. I’m pretty sure you heard it all,” he grinned at me as I took another spoonful of my sundae from Anne’s Dairy Creme. It was the best ice-cream in the entire Baltimore metro area.
“You are really lucky, you know,” I said, finally. I didn’t mean to sound rude or ungrateful, but it was true. “I’ve never really had a family.”
“Yeah, I guess you could call it luck.” He shrugged the smile on his face completely gone. “My mom, she loved me. Loved us. My dad, he wants a legacy. I mean, I get it. I know what it is like to have that need pumping through my veins. I have it.” The way his eyes lingered over me it was like he wanted to add something to that, but he didn’t, he just looked down into his cup. There it was again that little bit of his soul that I’d wanted to see.
“I don’t know what it’s like to have a legacy,” I admitted. “I just know what it's like to be the daughter of a screw-up. I guess I’m just lucky to be alive. My uncle, he was always kind to me. Always provided for me. Especially when my father couldn’t.” I shrugged. I never thought I would amount to much, I never expected to, but I was smart. I loved to read, and I was good at writing.