I nodded.
“It will be a lot more fun that I thought, planning your wedding. How can I get in contact with your mother, so that she can help?”
I bit my lip. “I’m afraid it’s just you and me.”
“Oh.” Pity, that was what I saw when I looked into them. I didn’t need anyone’s pity. I was about to shrug her off when I realized what was behind it. Concern.
“It doesn’t matter, we’ll figure it out, right? Greyson never brought another woman home, even when I asked. You must be different.” She looked at me with knowing eyes. “Anyways, let’s get these boiled up so we can finish the potatoes. It’s been a long day, and I’m starving!”
Greyson
I leaned against my chair and looked over across the table to my family. I tried to avoid meals with all of them, especially my father who was sitting at the end of the table. When we were all together, it was like there was a cloud of tension over the family. My father was almost never home, and when he was, he was angry.
My mother, she was the one who ran things. At least inside of this house. She was just like all the other women in the family. Strong, determined, but totally loyal.
My father was never good at being loyal. He probably had more mistresses than he did children. But he had us too.
“So, Joanna, is it? Tell me, Joanna, about yourself.” My father narrowed his eyes at her, but she just sat there, looking completely unfazed.
“Well,” she thought about it for a minute. “I’m twenty-four, a graduate student over at UMBC-“
“Graduate student? What are you studying?”
“History,” she said, her chin raised high. Good girl.
“Ah, a hobby then?”
That cute little frown appeared. I knew better than to interrupt them, neither one of them would appreciate it, so just sat back and sipped my whiskey.
“No, I’m going to be a professor.”
“Not anymore, you aren’t. You’ll have to give that up. Fitzgerald women do not work.”
I saw the anger take over her face, and I wanted to stop her. Wanted to save her. But I needed to see exactly how she was going to react.
“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.