“Told you,” she said to Johnathon with glee “there’s no way these two would ever get together like that.”
I chuckled “I didn’t say that exactly,” I said, causing her to still, before I slowly bent down and kissed Flair on the cheek, causing her to blush slightly.
I saw Rachel flipping Charlotte off in the crowd while Timothy valiantly tried to hold her back, her lips mouthing a few choice words I wouldn’t want to repeat.
“I said that my standards were better than simply dating Flair” I explained as she continued to look at me confused and bewildered, Johnathon scratching the stubble on his chin.
Neither of them could work out what I was alluding to.
“Charlotte Deluca,” I said solemnly, my eyes dancing as I glanced at Johnathon who looked particularly angry that I was continuing to touch Flair, “I would like to introduce to you and our friends and family my wife Flair Oakes.”
Silence. Stunned silence. Flair gave a tentative smile. You could have heard a pin drop. Johnathon’s face went puce. I heard clapping and saw that Rachel, Timothy, Knox, and Ian were offering their congratulations, making me chuckle.
“You, two, married” Johnathon said in a strangled voice “You must be joking. This is some sort of practical joke. What would you see in her?” he asked in disdain.
Son of a bitch had just insulted Flair for the last time. I reached out and grabbed the lapels of his jacket in my fists “For starters she’s gorgeous, funny, kind, smart, and loving. She’s everything I could hope for in a wife and you will not insult my wife, to my face anymore, is that understood?” I asked him between gritted teeth.
Ian and Knox looked hopefully on as Johnathon trembled in my grasp, a look of disappointment coming over their faces as Johnathon slowly shook his head. I let go of the bastard and he hastily smoothed down his coat, while Charlotte remained where she was, frozen solid, her lips still parted as she looked consideringly between Flair and me, as though debating what to say now. She looked like she was about to be sick. This was something she hadn’t anticipated happening at the party and now she was confronted with the unwelcome news she didn’t know how to react as the crowd watched on expectantly. She was surely remembering that she was not supposed to cause a scandal while the media continued to take photographs from afar. Her lip twitched.
“I um. you must be, that is” Charlotte wheezed, the blood draining out of her face.
“Why don’t you simply just say congratulations,” I said with a smirk as the crowd began to murmur amongst themselves “And welcome to the family?” I suggested “Seeing as she’s now your sister-in-law?”
Charlotte’s eyes narrowed. Flair turned to me “Grayson, could we go get something to eat. I’m feeling a little hungry” she said quietly.
I kissed her on the forehead “Certainly.”
I went to tug her through the crowd which was beginning to disperse when Charlotte’s furious voice shouted out “Wait!”
Flair POV
Charlotte was acting exactly as the brat I thought she was. I valiantly kept my composure even as she insulted me to my face, determined to rise above her pettiness. Grayson was remarkable, steady, his grip on me never faltering and he never once left me there to flounder alone. As we turned our backs on Charlotte and that miserable excuse of an ex-husband of mine, we had taken not even two steps when Charlotte’s shrill voice rang through the crowd again “Wait” halting us in our tracks as I shot Grayson a mutinous look.
I was beginning to lose my patience with the girl. So was Grayson. She stormed over to us and paused in front of us, pointing at me with a shaking finger.
“What now Charlotte?” I asked tiredly, as she gaped and began to splutter indignantly.
“No way” she blustered, and then screamed “That ring, that ring on your finger, that was supposed to be mine” as I cringed at the piercing sound of her voice that swept through the crowd and filled my ears.
Grayson looked amused. I glanced down at the ring on my finger, admiring it slowly.
“This ring?” I asked intentionally as Charlotte tried to make a grab for my hand and I yanked it away before she could get her grubby hands on it, her eyes wide with anger “Grayson gave me this ring when we got married” I said prettily “It’s such a darling ring, don’t you think?”
It was petty of me but she was getting on my nerves now.
Charlotte stomped her foot. I wanted to laugh out loud at how childish she looked as she began to throw the world’s biggest temper tantrum. “That ring rightfully belongs to me. It’s a family heirloom” she screeched, her mother Karen coming out from the crowd and joining her, a look of utter dismay on her face as she looked between her daughter and Grayson “he had no right to take it and give it to you. No right at all” she wailed.
“I had every right,” Grayson said, grabbing my hand and covering the ring with his fingers “That ring belonged to my grandmother and my family. Flair is now my family,” he said gruffly and my heart melted at such a simple statement, made in the midst of an argument and yet, his voice dripped with sincerity.
“Bastard” Charlotte yelled “You knew how much I wanted that ring and you took it. I have been dreaming of having it for my own wedding. How could you” she pretended to sob, some of the crowd looking on with sympathy as she fake cried.
Grayson snorted “You don’t deserve this ring Charlotte. Besides, I was given the ring to give to Flair so maybe you should consider that.”
She gaped. I stared at her. So the grandfather had known she wanted the ring, I thought with a small smile curving on my lips and had chosen to give it to me instead. It was very telling of the old man’s character.
The grandfather pushed his way through. “John” Karen snapped, Charlotte’s mother and obvious enabler, turning to glare at him, while her daughter continued to sob and look pitiful “How could you break your granddaughter’s heart like this? You knew how much this ring meant to her. She even asked to have it! How could you just pass it on to Grayson like this?”
Grayson looked thoroughly put out. The crowd was murmuring amongst themselves.
“Quiet” Grandfather snarled “What I did with the ring was nobody’s business but my own. It was my wife’s ring and therefore mine to give away. Naturally, I gave it to Grayson for his wife. It should go to the grandson first. Flair will continue on the family line” he pointed out as Charlotte glowered.
“Except she won’t. She has Oakes as her last name” Charlotte seethed.
“So? It’s Grayson’s mother’s maiden name and while the name might not be that of Deluca, the child she gives birth to will always be a Deluca” the grandfather said simply and then shot Charlotte an admonishing glance “As for you, I did not trust you not to sell the ring the first chance you got, you greedy little pig” he declared causing Charlotte’s jaw to drop.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.