“Why only half?” Frank asked.
“Half now, half after a year of marriage or the birth of a child.” I looked at Frank through the rear-view mirror.
“What happens if you’re not married a year or have a child? Do you have to forfeit the second half?” Brooke asked.
I shrugged.
“Oh, jeez. Oh God, Mo, why didn’t you say anything?” Frank asked, aghast.
“It’s not a big deal.” I nearly choked on the words, because as it turned out, it was a significant amount of money. But I reminded myself that it was extra. I didn’t need it to live a life I enjoyed. It was the cost of keeping Stark out of my backyard.
“I can go a year,” Brooke said nonchalantly.
“That’s too much,” her father said. “Mo has his life to live.”
I had no life that Brooke was going to get in the way of. “Let’s just deal with this now.” I pulled into a parking spot near Jeannette’s law office.
Her smirk suggested that she knew what was going on. “The marriage certificate is valid. You do know you need to live together and be married a year?”
“Yes. I get half now, though, right?”
“Yes.” She looked from me to Brooke to Frank. “Do you suppose Adele would be pleased?”
I looked down, hating being called out.
“Adele would love my Brooke,” Frank said. “She loved Laura, and Brooke is just like her. Adele used to tell me she wished Mo would find a good woman like Laura. Now he has.”
I had to hand it to Frank, selling this marriage. I wondered if, on the inside, he felt weird. Like he was pimping his daughter off to his best friend. I shook my head. Nah, if he felt like that, he wouldn’t do this. In his mind, Brooke was a friend of the family. I’d be like a guardian, not a husband.
Jeannette nodded, but we weren’t fooling anyone. We’d already done a prenup, as Frank suggested. It felt weird doing it, and yet, this was a fake marriage, and I couldn’t risk Brooke getting my assets when we ended this. Not that she would, but Shelley
taught me that women could change. Today we dealt with the trust, and then Frank signed a contract to use his land as collateral for the money I’d give him.
“I can trust your discretion on all this?” I asked Jeannette.
“Client-attorney privilege. Of course, technically…” She let the statement fall away.
“I’m legally married.” The trust said nothing about marrying for love.
She nodded. “Yes, you are.”
Once the paperwork was done, we drove back to Frank’s to finish packing up Brooke’s stuff so she could move into my place.
The day I married Shelley, she and I flew to New York for a honeymoon. For the first twenty-four hours, we didn’t leave the bed. Today, I married again, but I was putting Brooke in the bedroom farthest from mine. And if I could keep my brain from imagining her in my home, in one of my beds, warm and sexy, I might survive this crazy scheme.
The deal was done. I’d have my money and be able to deal with Frank’s debts, so he could keep his land, and Stark wouldn’t be able to come near my land. All I had to do now was keep my hands off Brooke. I felt like I could do that. She seemed to be taking this arrangement as seriously and professionally as it needed to be taken. She was grown up now. She’d outgrown her young girl crush on me. At least, I hoped so. If she tried to seduce me again, I’d be in serious trouble.
10
Brooke
Over the years, I had a variety of fantasies around my wedding to Mo. Sometimes, I imagined a big fairy tale affair with a princess dress, lots of white and twinkle lights, and Mo in a full tux. Other times, I envisioned something more earthy and downhome along the river in a prairie dress, flowers in my long hair, and Mo in slacks and a loosely buttoned shirt. It was safe to say that the wedding I went through today wasn’t in any of my fantasies.
Still, for what it was, it was okay. Mo was sweet and gentle, even though I could see he was unsettled by it. I tried not to take it personally. Instead, I worked to focus on how much he was doing for my dad. He was marrying a woman he didn’t love to get money to save my family’s farm. Did I wish he had feelings for me? Yes, of course. The type of man who’d do so much, give so much, to help his friend was a worthy man. One I was proud to be married to, even if that part of the plan was the one thing he’d do without.
I packed up my clothes and a few trinkets while my dad and Mo went over the financials that my father needed help with to save the farm. When I finished, I headed down to the kitchen and raided the fridge. In a normal wedding, Mo and I would be having dinner out while on our honeymoon, but I was sure that wouldn’t happen. Still, it didn’t mean we couldn’t have a nice dinner. I’d show my appreciation for all he was doing by making him a nice dinner. Would that lead to something more? I wouldn’t mind it. As much as I tried to brush off my attraction as residual feelings from my teenage crush, the truth was, the more I was with him, the more I wanted him still. I couldn’t help but think it was wasted infatuation. Mo had been clear before that I was off-limits to him. Today, he’d made similar comments, still worried about the age difference and the fact that he was my dad’s friend.
I had two choices. I could use this time to show Mo how much I cared for him and how we could be together and risk being humiliated and have my heart broken, or I could just toe the line and go along with the idea that this was a temporary, fake marriage.