“So that’s why you’re suddenly so keen on us getting married!” Nick groaned as his mother’s true motives finally dawned on him.

“Of course! If Rachel plays her cards right, she will be a great heiress and you will benefit too!”

“I’m so glad I can always count on you to have some sort of ulterior motive that involves money.”

“I’m just looking out for you! Now that your inheritance from Ah Ma is so uncertain, you can’t blame me for wanting the best for you.”

“No, I don’t suppose I can,” Nick said quietly. As frustrated as he was, he realized that he was never going to change his mother. Like so many of her generation, her entire existence revolved around the acquisition and preservation of fortune. It seemed like all her friends were in the same contest to see who could leave the most houses, the biggest conglomerates, and the fattest stock portfolios to their children after they died.

Eleanor leaned in closer. “Now, here are some things you need to know about the Baos.”

“I don’t need to hear any idle gossip.”

“Aiyah, it’s not idle gossip! These are important details I’ve lea

rned just from being around them, and from what Mr. Wong found out—”

“Stop right there! I don’t want to know,” Nick said emphatically.

“Aiyah, I need to tell you for your own good!”

“Give it a rest, Mum! Rachel just met her dad twenty minutes ago and now you want to spill all the secrets of his family? Your digging around and secrets are what almost ruined my relationship in the first place. It’s not fair to Rachel, and it’s not the way I want to begin my marriage.”

Eleanor sighed. This son of hers was impossible. He was too stubborn and too self-righteous and couldn’t even see that she was trying to help him. Well, she would have to wait for another opportunity. Squeezing more lemon into her water and not making direct eye contact with her son, she asked, “So, is there a chance you’ll let your poor lonely mother come to her only child’s wedding tomorrow?”

Nick was silent for a moment. “Let me talk to Rachel. I’m not sure whether she’s ready to roll out the red carpet after you just destroyed her wedding site, but I’ll ask.”

Eleanor got up from the table in excitement. “I’m going to talk to the concierge right now. We’ll fix it. We’ll fly in all the wisteria in the world if we have to. I’ll make sure her wedding is back to perfection.”

“I’m sure Rachel will appreciate that.”

“And let me go call Dad. He should get on a plane right now. It’s still not too late for him to make it here by tomorrow afternoon.”

“You know, I said I’d talk to Rachel. I didn’t promise anything,” Nick cautioned.

“Aiyah, of course she will let me come! I can tell she is the forgiving type just by looking at her face. That’s the one good thing about her—she doesn’t have high cheekbones. Women with high cheekbones are very gow tzay.*2 Now, will you please do one thing for me?”

“What?”

“Pleeeease go to the barber shop and get your hair cut before tomorrow! It’s far too long and I can’t stand to see you on your wedding day looking like some chao ah beng.”*3

* * *

*1 Hainanese chicken rice, which could arguably be considered the national dish of Singapore. (And yes, Eleanor is ready for foodie bloggers to start attacking her restaurant choice. She chose Wee Nam Kee specifically because the United Square location is only five minutes from the Bao condo, and parking there is $2.00 after 6:00 p.m. If she took him to Chatterbox, which she personally prefers, parking at Mandarin Hotel would have been a nightmare and she would have had to valet her Jaguar for $15. Which she would RATHER DIE than do.)

*2 No English words can properly do justice to this charming Hokkien term, which is used to describe people who are equal parts bitchy, unreasonable, stuck up, and impossible to deal with.

*3 Hokkien for “stinky low-class gangster.”

12

ARCADIA

MONTECITO, CALIFORNIA

The late-afternoon sun hovered over the crest of the Santa Ynez Mountains, suffusing everything in a golden haze. The bamboo trellis had been fully restored to its former glory, creating a luxuriant canopy of hanging wisteria and jasmine over the central aisle, its delicately sweet scent wafting across the guests as they took their seats on the portico. With a neoclassical music pavilion carved from Tuscan stone as a backdrop and towering two-hundred-year-old oaks framing the gardens, the scene looked like something straight out of a Maxfield Parrish painting.

At the appointed moment, Nick emerged from the pavilion with his best man, Colin, and took his place beside an arch majestically radiating with white dendrobium orchids. He surveyed the hundred or so guests, noticing that his father—just arrived from Sydney and wearing an extremely rumpled gray suit—was seated next to Astrid, while his mother was a row behind gossiping with Araminta, who had minutes ago caused a stir when she entered the portico in a show-stopping emerald green Giambattista Valli gown with a deconstructed-ruffle neckline that plunged all the way down to her navel.

Tags: Kevin Kwan Billionaire Romance
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