If I thought having to deal with Chase’s over protectiveness was a pain, it was nothing compared to the tyranny of my new father and uncles, now instead of one overbearing male I had to contend with four.
It had been decided that I wouldn’t go back to school for a while, that had caused the first argument, the brothers thought I should go to a top notch university to learn the ins and outs of business, my father thought he should just hire someone to teach me the ropes, and Chase said I will do whatever I chose to do as long as we didn’t have to be separated.
How something like that could go on and on for hours was beyond me but I soon learned that the brothers liked to argue with each other.
They fell over each other trying to boss me around, Chase thought it was funny, he could go off to the office knowing that no one was getting anywhere near me with my new guardians on the job. He said he had the best of both worlds, our bedroom was far enough away that we could still get as loud as we wanted to so our sex life was in no way hindered and he had someone or ones to run rough shod over me while he was at work. Huh.
“Chase, you have to make them stop.” He laughed on the other end of the line.
“Why, what are they doing now?”
“They got ahold of one of your crazy books that says its good for the baby if I eat all natural foods while in the womb, now they’re juicing and baking from the pulp or some such thing, the only problem is they wouldn’t let me help and I don’t think any of them have ever seen the inside of a kitchen in their lives.”
He laughed his fool head off but I was being very serious, I don’t think I’ve been allowed to lift anything heavier than a fork since they got here.
I’d asked if they didn’t have to go to work and they’d looked down their noses while admonishing me that men of their worth didn’t work, as much as they oversaw their dynasties.
When they started talking about my having to meet with their moneymen and board members and whatnot I got a headache. I could barely grasp the concept of Chase’s wealth and largesse after coming from such humble beginnings, accepting that I was now the heir to not only my father’s but my uncles’ fortunes was just too out there.
I’d asked if they didn’t have anyone else, no other family member that was expecting to inherit but they had planned to leave their wealth to a committee that would feed certain charities and other interests they had after they were gone, they were only too happy to give it all to me. It was too much.
Chase said I’ll get use to the idea in time but I wasn’t too sure.
As for my other family, there was something in the works there but no one was telling me anything. In the evenings Maxwell and Drew would come over and the men would lock themselves away while Rhina and I sat talking or knitting baby booties,I would beg for leniency but Chase’s face always got hard when I tried and my father and uncles just patted my head and told me it was nothing for me to worry my head about. They scared me.
Celine had been escorted from the Thornton residence by some men that the Escalante brothers had called all hush hush, she’d screamed and cursed a blue streak but those guys made the secret service look like puppets, no expression on their faces not even a twitch.
I didn’t even try listening in at the door because Chase had promised to tan my hide if he ever caught me doing that.
When I reminded him about the baby he told me there were ways around that, I stayed away.
When I didn’t show much interest in their vendetta against Joann and Carl he said it was okay because he had enough hatred for both of us, I wish he would listen to me, I know he thought he was doing this for me, but he doesn’t realize he had already given me more than I’d expected out of this life.
He’d given me himself, his love, his care, our child and now this, a whole new family who saw me so differently from the other, they really loved me. So was it fair for me to be hiding away from them when all they were doing was showing me that love?
“I’m going to help them make a mess, I’ll force them to let me help.”
“Go get ’em tiger.”
I walked into the kitchen a few minutes later not quite sure what I’d find.