Page 11 of Just (Fake) Married (Calloways vs. McGraws #1)

SIX

HARMONY

There was a roaring in my ears and my fingers were numb. I looked at my mother and the ring on her finger.

“When did this happen?” I asked her. The McGraws were over there shouting at Prescott, and my sisters and I were in shock, staring at my mom, who sat there like a sphinx. “You and Leroy McGraw?”

I mean, just the idea made my stomach spin. That man was a toad who hated us. A mean bully who had tried to force us off our land dozens of times.

And my sweet, eccentric, big-hearted mom might have at one time loved him? It didn’t make any sense.

“A long time ago,” Mom shook her head. “We were kids. Stupid kids.”

“You loved him?” I asked. “Really?”

She nodded, but couldn’t meet my eyes, and that told me lots about how embarrassed she was.

“He was different then. Softer. Kinder. If I had been more important to him than his family and their opinion of me, I think he might not have become so…ruthless.”

Amity scoffed so hard I was sure she’d coughed up a hairball.

Bliss put her arm around her sister and hugged her tight. We were all pretty sure it was Leroy and his opinion of the Calloway women that had split up Amity and Mac.

A sharp whistle cut the air and everyone fell silent.

Ethan stood in the middle of the room wearing jeans and a thick sweater, his dark hair swept back from his forehead. He wasn’t as tall as Carter, and he wasn’t as broad and big as Tag or Mac. But in this moment, he seemed sharp. Lethal.

A sword among blunt instruments. None of that should be appealing to me, but the world was upside down right now, and something about Ethan McGraw always affected me.

“Let’s focus on the task at hand,” Ethan said.

“Yeah, like why the hell is he doing this?” Carter asked, and turned to glare at my mom in such a way that I felt compelled to stand up in front of her. “Did you put him up to this?”

“My mother hasn’t talked to that jackass in years,” I snapped. “Don’t blame her for your dad’s fuckery.”

“That’s not true,” Mac said. “You came here to see my dad, months ago, when he started losing weight. Why?”

My mom’s back stiffened. “That’s between me and Leroy. And it doesn’t have anything to do with what Mr. Prescott has read today.”

“Okay,” Ethan said, his arms out like he was placating charging dinosaurs. “Everyone calm down.” He looked over at my mom with what looked like his best bedside manner. “Is this…was this true? You and my dad?”

“Yes,” my mother said, and left it at that.

“And he…ended it?” Ethan asked.

“He broke my heart,” Mom said.

I put my hand on Mom’s shoulder and my sisters curled their arms around her. We glared at Ethan because we needed to glare at someone, and Leroy was already dead.

Carter, still clearly rattled, looked to Ethan and Mac. “You think he did this so I would…you think he’s trying to force my hand to remarry?”

“I think if he did, he would have said you by name,” Ethan said.

“Actually,” Mr. Prescott said, pulling another letter from his briefcase. “This might help.”

Ethan reached for it, but Mr. Prescott handed it to me. All of us in the room blinked.

“I don’t want it,” I said, lifting my hands, like the letter was robbing me at gun point.

“Harmony, you have to read it,” Ethan said.

“I don’t have to do anything,” I shot back.

“Just fucking open it, or I will,” Bliss said, grabbing the letter and handing it to me.

Reluctantly, I tore it open.

“ Harmony, we don’t know each other well, but the one thing I do know about you is that you care about this town as much as I do.

If not more. The two of us, more than anyone else in this room, understand that this town’s prosperity was created on the myth of our feud.

Real or not, people believe that we have murdered and robbed each other across centuries.

The only thing that will keep this legend alive – and therefore keep the Feud Day Festival alive, which helps keep the town alive - is winning back that blue ribbon.

You are our best chance. Maybe our only chance of success . Sincerely, Leroy McGraw. ”

I looked up at the room only to find everyone watching me.

“Is that all it says?” Bliss asked

I nodded and folded up the letter.

“Well, I confess I never saw me being on the same team with Leroy McGraw, but…he’s right.

That state award used to be really good for business.

Not just on the festival day, either. We’ve lost that.

I never wanted to say the town was…dying.

But given that Amity, Bliss and I run three of the local businesses, I can tell you our numbers are down. ”

Amity shrugged. “She’s right. The Swinging D brings in a lot of cowboys, and that’s great during calving season. But we need the tourists too.”

“And I hate to say it, but he’s also right about what a wedding might do to lift morale,” Monica said. “The McGraws and Calloways finally burying the hatchet after all these years with a love story? It’s going to give the town…”

“Hope,” I finished. “We need that blue ribbon, which means we need everyone contributing to the festival. What if we hosted a big reception at the end of the day? Everyone’s invited to the wedding?”

“The will stipulates you must be married before the festival,” Mr. Prescott said. “But, there are no guidelines regarding when the wedding happens. Only that the marriage appears absolutely genuine in the eyes of the town.”

“A forced fake marriage. I never would have pegged Dad as a romantic,” Carter said, shaking his head.

“He was,” Mom said from the couch, sitting so still it was like she was made of glass. “More than you know.”

“So,” Ethan said, turning to his brothers. “All we have to do is marry one of them.”

“You don’t have to say it like that,” I snapped. “I mean, if anyone is getting the short end of the stick here, it’s us.”

“What are you talking about?” Ethan asked. “We all have the same stick.”

“But one of us,” I circled my fingers around me and my sisters, “has to marry one of you.”

“Mr. Prescott, you said the marriage had to appear genuine. Does that mean it has to be consummated?” Ethan asked, but he looked at me when he said it, somehow making the word consummated sound pornographic.

Listen, mister, you’re the one who’s been staring at my tits this whole time. Not the other way around.

At least, I hope that’s what my expression said.

“I don’t…” Prescott looked down into his briefcase, leafing through the envelopes. “I don’t have an envelope for that.”

“So, no,” I said. “Which means all we need is a believably epic, romantic, fake marriage with no sex. Easy peasy.”

“And if we do this?” Carter said, stepping forward. “The land stays in our family.”

“Indeed.” Mr. Prescott swallowed audibly. “There are a few more caveats to this will, but the first conditions have to be met before we can move on.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Carter asked.

“I’m not…ah…I’m not at liberty to say as of yet.”

Ethan took a deep breath and clapped his hands. “Okay. Who wants to get married?”

No one answered. No one even looked at him, that’s how badly everyone in this room did not want to get married.

“Mac,” Ethan turned to his brother. “Clearly, this is Dad apologizing for what he did to you two,” he said, pointing a finger between Mac and Amity. “And trying to make it right.”

“I can’t marry her,” Mac said with absolute finality, and I watched Amity flinch.

“He’s right,” she added, her chin held up. “We can’t get married.”

I stepped sideways, putting my body in between her and the room full of McGraws who might hurt her.

“Why not?” Ethan asked.

“Ask her,” Mac said, and to everyone’s surprise, he left the room.

I heard Amity suck in a shaking breath. The kind of breath you took when you’d taken a hit and needed to make sure you weren’t bleeding.

Someone had to marry a McGraw to save this town. And that someone was obviously me. It was obviously me, otherwise Leroy wouldn’t have written that letter addressed to me.

“I’ll do it,” I said.

Ethan’s head spun so fast in my direction, I stepped backwards.

“You’re kidding,” he said.

“No, I’m not,” I said, feeling more determined. “Someone has to do it, and you heard from your own father. No one is more invested in the success of this town than me. Now, I assume someone needs to call Seth.”

“Seth?” Ethan shouted. “Why Seth?”

“Because in case you missed it, we’re running out of eligible McGraws. No one is going to force Carter to marry after what he went through with Lilly’s death.”

“Oh God, thank you,” Carter muttered, looking instantly relieved.

“And as much as Amity would deny she had a problem with it, I’m just not marrying her ex-boyfriend. Because, gross.”

“So you want to marry Seth?” Ethan asked me, like an accusation.

I pointed out the logistics. “You said Eli is overseas, so Seth is probably closer, and aren’t you going back to Seattle, Doctor? Oh, sorry, do I call you Doctor Surgeon? Now, I hear you’ve got some pretty nice bathrooms in this big house. Mind if I take a tour of my new temporary digs?”

“Fine,” Ethan said, his jaw clenched tight. “I’ll do it.”

For a second, I didn’t think I’d heard him right.

Him? Ethan? Marry me?

But we were the worst possible combination. We were mortal enemies. After that pantry debacle, we’d never had a conversation that didn’t turn into insults or an argument – ever. Yesterday, case in point.

“No!” I said. “Anyone but you.”

“If I have to do it, to save this place, my kids’ legacy, you know I’ll do it,” Carter said to his brother.

“I feel so wanted,” I muttered.

Ethan cut me off with a glare that told me to stuff it.

“Your kids won’t understand. And…Harmony is right. It’s not fair after everything you’ve been through. This time I have a chance to really be there for you,” Ethan said, resting both his hands on his brother’s shoulders.

It would have been touching if it hadn’t been so insulting.

“What about Seattle?” I reminded him. “We can’t make this marriage look real if you don’t live here.”

“I’m on a…sabbatical,” he said.

“Since when?” Carter and I asked him at the same time.

“Since I said so,” Ethan said. Then he had the audacity to curl his hand around my upper arm and move me toward the study door. “Can we talk someplace else?”

“I am not a suitcase,” I hissed, and jerked my arm free. “You don’t need to drag me anywhere.”

“Fine,” he said with a tight smile. “Will you accompany me to the other room to talk? Just the two of us, for a moment?” Ethan looked over my shoulder. “Are there any bullshit rules about us having a conversation before we agree to this?”

“No,” Mr. Prescott said.

“Harmony? Please?”

“You don’t have to go with him, Harmony,” Bliss told me. “I’ll tackle him first.”

“It’s okay. Ethan doesn’t scare me.”

“If one of us should be scared, it’s me,” Ethan pointed out.

“That’s right,” I said, and followed him out of the room.