His disappointed voice trailed off, and standing in the quiet hallway outside her father’s office, Margaret felt her heart ache. She hadn’t known that she was supposed to have an older brother. It made her incredibly sad to learn about him now.
“I know my responsibility to them. To buy their dresses and pay for their weddings. But the least they could do is bring home a decent man. Someone to help me shoulder the burden of five girls. Someone to take over the family business so they can start having some grandchildren and be good mothers.”
“Margaret is very bright, sir. She’s—”
“I didn’t want Margaret,” her father boomed as humiliating tears coursed down Margaret’s cheeks. “I wanted someone like you!”
There was a long silence as Margaret worked hard to regain her composure, and she wondered what Shane could possibly say next.
“Well, sir,” he finally began, his voice tentative, “I’m sorry it didn’t work out tonight. I hope that Margaret’s refusal won’t jeopardize my position at Story Imports.”
“Didn’t work out?” Douglas Story said, his voice cold and brittle. “Did I misjudge you, son?”
“Sir?”
“You surprised the girl. Made her nervous. She’ll come around eventually. I have faith in you.”
“Oh, no, sir. I don’t think that Margaret’s interested in me.”
“I’m not concerned about Margaret’s interests. I’m interested in a son-in-law to take over the family business. I’m interested in grandsons to carry on the Story bloodline. If it isn’t you, Shane? It’ll be someone else. You’re expendable, son, unless—”
“Wait a second now. Just . . .” Shane cleared his throat. “Mr. Story—”
“—unless you can get Margaret to change her mind.”
“Sir, Margaret isn’t in love with me . . . and I’m not in love with her. We have nothing in common. She’s a lovely girl, sir, but—”
“I don’t care if she’s lovely or not. I don’t care if she’s fat or thin, fair or foul, beautiful, plain, or downright ugly. I don’t know if she’s smart or stupid, interesting or dull. I don’t know, and I don’t care. Do you know what I do care about? Her pedigree. She’s a Story. If you want to stay at Story Imports, Shane, well, son, you’ll need to become a Story too. By marriage and by having a child with Margaret. It’s imperative for my plans. It’s nonnegotiable.”
Margaret realized she was holding her breath when her lungs started to burn. She quickly bolted for the front door, racing through it and letting it slam behind her.
The sharp driveway gravel bit into her bare feet as she ran to Priscilla’s car, her breathing shaky as tears streamed down her face. Her hands were trembling so violently, she could barely get the key in the ignition, but once she did, she flew away from Forrester, driving like her hair was on fire, like the devil himself was only a step behind.
She was nothing more than a broodmare, a breeding bitch, an almost-anonymous nobody who shared DNA with her father and nothing else. For most of Margaret’s life, she’d tried to convince herself that her father’s aloof behavior stemmed from disappointment that could be assuaged if she tried harder, worked harder, somehow proved to him that she was worthy of his regard and respect and, maybe one day, his love. But he didn’t even see her as a person.
She stepped on the gas and cried all the way to Newtown.
She cried as she poured herself a glass of wine. And then another. And another.
She cried as she stripped out of her clothes and lay down naked in her bed.
She cried as she thought of the quiet little girl she’d been and the buttoned-up woman she’d become.
She cried because she’d spent half a lifetime being someone she wasn’t in order to please someone impossible to please.
She cried because the goddamn ticktock that preyed on her heart was louder than ever, and what if Shane was the best prospect she was ever going to have?
She cried until she finally closed her drunk, weary eyes and curled up in a ball, falling asleep as she pictured a version of herself who was loved and respected, cherished and valued. A woman who didn’t exist. A woman that Margaret promised herself she would unearth in the bright sun and rich soil of The Five Sisters.
Chapter 6