“For me? What does this have to do with me?”
“Well, eventually, this, what’s here.” Laurel gestured with both hands. “What’s at home. It all will go to you. Not soon, of course. That I know of. But one day.”
“God, Mom, don’t think about it like that.”
As if Annie cared about her inheritance. As if she even assumed there would be one.
She wondered if her mom would’ve gone to the trouble if Annie had a job, or any financial promise whatsoever beyond marrying some dude with a steady paycheck. Military pay wasn’t exactly known for its high tax bracket, and it couldn’t keep the lights on at Blenheim, but Eric’s pay was a veritable fortune compared to the zero dollars Annie made.
“Don’t do it for me,” Annie added.
“Why not?” Laurel asked. “You’re the reason I do anything, period. My sole motivation in life. It’s been that way since the moment you were born. Before, even.”
“But, Mom, like you said, it’s only money.”
“That’s true, but I’ve always wanted to give you the most of everything, all the top dollars, literally and figuratively. This is too much, though. The land. The lawyers. The other sellers. Even this town is getting to me.”
“Yeah,” Annie said, glancing in the direction of the George & Dragon. “I know what you mean. Mom, it won’t be like this forever. I know you worry, but I’ll get a job. I’ll make something of myself. I’m not as lost as I seem.”
“Annie,” Laurel said, and turned to face her. She grabbed her daughter by both shoulders. “You don’t have to do it. You don’t have to marry Eric to prove you’re a grown-up.”
“Geez.” She jerked herself out of Laurel’s reach. “Is that what you think of me?”
“I don’t think that about you,” Laurel said and pressed her lips together. “I worry that you think that about yourself.”
“Mom…”
“A marriage is not adulthood,” Laurel said. “And it’s not security. In fact, a crappy marriage is the most insecure place in the world.”
“I’m sorry that your marriage was bad,” Annie said. “I mean that because it would’ve been awesome to have a father in the picture.”
“I know.” Laurel’s eyes began to water. “I wish I could’ve given you a good dad and the support that comes with it. He was simply not that kind of man.”
“Did you even give him a chance, though? A real chance?”
“Of course I did,” Laurel said with a nod. “I wanted nothing more than for us to be a family.”
“But you left him before I was born.”
“Yes, but we’d been together for many years before that. A family doesn’t have to include kids. You rug rats are not the center of the universe,” she tried to joke.
“Not funny,” Annie said. “I’m trying to have a serious discussion with you.”
“Annabelle, simply put, things with your father were bad. Worse than bad. This wasn’t about a few fights over bills or a slammed door or two. I had no choice. And I’d do it again, in a flash.”
“Maybe things were terrible for him, too.”
Annie thought of the transcripts, the story of the duchess and Gladys’s own dad. The man was an assassin and she forgave him. The word “forgiveness” had, at its heart, so very much give.
“Absolutely,” Laurel said. “Things were awful for him but in a way that had nothing to do with us. I tried, Annie. God, I tried. But you can’t fix someone else.”
“I get it,” Annie said with a defiant sniff. “You made the only choice you could. But just because it was bad for you doesn’t mean that it will be for me.”
“I never said that it would.”
“I know what you’re thinking,” Annie said.
“I’m not sure that you do.”
“I’m not marrying Eric because I have nothing else going on. I will have a job. A career. A life outside of him.”
“But behind it all you need a safety net. Let me be that person. Not Eric. Let it be me. Listen, Annie, I’m not going to forbid you from marrying him.”
“Good. Because you can’t.”
“Just remember,” she said, “that whatever happens, however things pan out when he returns, you can back out. A job, no job. Money or not. Your path is not carved in stone and no agreement is permanent. Not an engagement. Not a land deal. Nothing. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
“Eric would never tell me that I was stuck. He says the opposite, that I don’t have to keep my promise. I can back out of the engagement, no hard feelings. He claims I’m too good for him, which is patently untrue.”
“I’m glad he’s not pressuring you,” Laurel said.
“He’d never pressure me!”
“But I wasn’t referring to Eric. I was talking about you.”
Annie squinted in confusion. Her temples began to throb.
“Me?” she said. “Me?”