Page 81 of On the Rocks

“And you were.”

My mouth fell open. “I’m not a horse, Mother.”

“No, but youarethe daughter of the Mayor of Stratford, and youarea Barnett. Do you understand the implications of what you’re saying? If you called off this wedding, the entire town would have something to say about it. You’d make our family a laughingstock. You’d bring usshame.”

“And if Idon’tcall off this wedding, I will be miserable for the rest of my life.”

Mom threw her hands up, rolling her eyes. “Oh, for heaven’s sake. So what, he wants to have some girls on the side. You think he’s the only husband to ever have that thought? Your father has had many a secretary in his day, and you know what? It never mattered to me. Because it wasmewho had the house, and the kids, and the life I always wanted. Those girls, thosehussies?” She shook her head. “They were just sex, sweetheart. It means nothing.”

My mouth fell open wider. “Dad cheated on you?”

She waved me off. “Don’t be so dramatic. It’s not a big deal. And neither is any of that stuff Anthony said. He cares about you, Ruby Grace. He wants to provide for you, give you a home and a place to raise your children. He’ll make sure you never want for anything.”

“He doesn’t love me, Mama,” I whispered.

“What does love have to do with marriage?”

My heart broke again, this time by the realization that the love I thought my parents had was a sham. My father had cheated. My mother had stayed anyway. They weren’t in love, they were in a business agreement.

But I would not do the same.

“Everything,” I said. “It haseverythingto do with marriage. I refuse to marry a man who doesn’t love me, who sees me as a prize or another tick on his list of things to get done in order to make it to a run for president someday. I’m a human being. I’m a woman. I deserve a man who will love and honor and cherish me, just as I do him.”

“Anthony will do all those things.”

“While he cheats on me? While he tells his father that I have no ambitions and I’mpretty, so that’s a bonus?” I scoffed. “Mother, do you hear yourself?”

“You are not calling off this wedding,” she said, ignoring me and shaking her head. She stood again, crossing to the sponge and picking up where she left off cleaning.

“I am.”

“You are not.”

“Mama, I—”

“You can’t!” she screamed, turning in place. The sponge fell to the floor and her hands flew to her face, sobs racking through her in the next instant.

It was just like I’d thought

I broke her heart.

“Oh, Mama,” I said, rounding the island and sweeping her into my arms. I held her tight, holding back my own tears. “I’m so sorry.”

“No, no,” she said, sniffing and swiping at the tears on her face as she pulled back from my embrace. “You don’t understand. Youcan’tcall off the wedding.” Her eyes found mine. “We made a deal, Ruby Grace. With Anthony and his father.”

My blood ran cold. “A deal?”

Anthony’s words swam in my head.

They need us to play our part, just like we need Ruby Grace to play hers.

Mom winced, her face screwing up before a few more tears were let loose. She swiped them away. “Honey, your father was in trouble.”

“Trouble?” I asked. “What kind of trouble?”

“Well,” she said on a sigh. “You know him and his card games. At the casino, he’s fine. Once he runs out of the money he came to play with, that’s it. And I keep a tight leash on what he’s allowed to piss away.” She let out a breath, brows quivering again. “But, I didn’t know. I didn’t know he’d been playing at the underground casino, the one the Scooters run out of their basement. I knew he went sometimes, just to show face, network, but I never thought…”

“Mom,” I interrupted. “What kind of trouble?”