Calvin’s mother looks horrified, but she holds her tongue and offers an apologetic smile. “It looks beautiful, dear. And beautiful on you. You’ll make the loveliest bride.”
Since this is our first chance to get to know one another, Calvin’s mom walks with me while the men fall back. I steal glimpses of the sprawling acreage as we walk. It looks like the sort of place English aristocrats pass down for generations, not somewhere an ordinary person lives.
“Do you see my rose garden?” she asks, pointing when she notices me looking at the yard. “I love gardening and Calvin thought I should have my own rose garden because that’s my name. Rose. Did I forget to introduce myself? Oh, I’m sorry, I was just so happy to meet you.”
I love this woman. She’s so sweet, I want to cuddle her and protect her from the cruel, cruel world.
“Your garden looks beautiful. I’d love to see it up close later if there’s time.”
“Oh, yes, I would love that, too.”
___
Since we came for dinner, we head inside after Rose gives us a tour of the grounds. The place is a little overwhelming—Cutler tradition, I suppose—but it’s beautiful, and I love it.
I can’t imagine growing up in a place like this. It’s magnificent, but knowing Calvin was an only child with this whole place to himself, I wonder if it might have been a little lonely, too.
“I can’t believe this is where you grew up,” I tell Calvin as we enter the dining room. He pulls out my seat for me, and I thank him absently before going on with a mischievous smile. “Do I get to see your old room like you got to see mine?”
Before Calvin can answer, his father does. “Oh, Calvin never lived here. The house we brought him up in was half the size of this one. A stately home, enough to satisfy most people.”
I glance to Rose because I’ve learned quickly that she’s an excellent barometer to check to see if things are about to get unpleasant. Her gaze lowers, which means yes, yes it is.
Calvin laughs, regarding his father with an actual grin, but not a pleasant one. “You’re one to talk about not being satisfied with what you’ve got, aren’t you, Dad?”
“Boys, please,” Rose says, looking pleadingly at Calvin, since my guess is she has more luck seeking his mercy than his father’s. “We have a guest.”
His father points at him. “That’s your problem, right there. You’ve never been able to mind your own goddamned business.”
Calvin is dismissive. “That’s not true. You just underestimate what I consider my business. If it’s not my business, I don’t care about it. If it affects someone I love, then it is absolutely my business.”
“I don’t know what’s happening,” I whisper to Rose.
She leans over the table to murmur back, “When Peter lost his job years back—”
Peter interjects, pointing accusingly at Calvin. “When he put me out of business. My own flesh and blood.”
Rose continues, ignoring her husband’s outburst to put a nice face on the truth. “We had a bit of financial trouble and had to sell our old house. Calvin bought us this one.”
Ah.
That makes more sense.
This is actually Calvin’s house, and he’s making that proud old man live in it.
Yikes. That’s brutal.
That explains a lot, though. No wonder Calvin’s father has the look of a bitter, conquered man—he was beaten, by his own son.
I remember what Calvin said about how his father was a proud man intent on creating a legacy to leave behind for his son.
Does Calvin realize the actions he took have stripped every bit of dignity and achievement away from the old man?
What am I saying? Of course he does.
He has deliberately dismantled his father’s legacy brick by brick and left the man no choice but to live in his.
He really is a ruthless son of a bitch. I wouldn’t want to be on the other side of his wrath, but watching from behind the safety of his walls, it’s almost impressive.
Calvin stops fighting with his father for his mother’s sake, but it’s easy to see there is no love lost between the Cutler men. The salad course is tense, but by the time the meal is brought out, Rose has steered us all back into much friendlier waters.
Watching the dynamic between Calvin and his father, though, I start to think about his insistence that we have a daughter. I can understand why he would feel that way if this is his model of a father-son relationship. I’ve never seen a healthy one myself, but I know it’s not this.
If we have a son, it won’t be like this.
I’ll have to remember to tell him that later.
When dessert is served, Rose thanks the maid who brought it out, then shifts her pleasant attention on me. “You never told us how you two met. I was ecstatic to hear about the engagement, of course, but a bit surprised too since Calvin hadn’t really mentioned you before.”