Lies and Weddings(65)

“So why can’t Uncle Peter do the same and lend us the money?”

“Are you joking? We don’t have that kind of money available! Everything we have is pledged to the Leung Family Foundation! We are very cash poor, and don’t forget, we are in the autumn of our lives. You know your poor auntie’s fifty-seven, I’m going to qualify for a free Oyster card soon.[*1] I’ve stopped buying French wineries, your uncle’s stopped buying Rothkos, we’re finished with acquiring! Your uncle is determined to die penniless—he plans for all his billions to go to the foundation.[*2] Martha, on the other hand, is still young and has billions to spare. Do you know how much MD Capital generates? Every time she farts she makes a billion! I’m telling you, Martha is the answer to your problems. There’s no easier way to save your family from being thrown into the gutter.”

“Come on, my family isn’t going to end up in any gutter. Augie and Maxxie have his family’s money and Bea’s own career is taking off. She’ll be fine. One of Father’s friends will make him a board member of something, and my mother can always become an interior decorator.”

“Bea’s entire ‘career,’ as you so charitably call it, is predicated on being Lady Beatrice Gresham of Greshamsbury Hall. Without that grand house, she is a nothing. Do you honestly think Vogue would have any interest in her if she was a penniless aristocrat living in Shepherd’s Bush? And your father can only make a few hundred thousand pounds a year being a board member of something, and that isn’t even enough to feed his horses. How is he ever going to survive if he can no longer lead the Boxall Hunt? As for your mother, I can’t believe you would want to condemn her to a life as an interior decorator, of all things. I can’t imagine a worse job in the world—to be at the beck and call of tasteless vulgarians forcing her to re-create rooms with suicidally neutral palettes or bitching about why their de Gournay wallpaper still hasn’t arrived. I’ve known your mother far longer than you have, and believe me, she is a woman who requires significant funding to maintain her very existence. Couture is her oxygen—without her seasonal ration she won’t be able to breathe! Do you want to be responsible for killing your own mother? Are you that cruel of a son, to stand there and watch your helpless parents wither away when all you have to do is marry a billionaire?”

“You make it sound like it’s so easy. Martha was in love with a picture, she doesn’t know the real me.”

“So let her know the real you! Show her your travel pictures, take her windsurfing or rock-climbing or whatever it is you do.”[*3]

“Martha’s surrounded all day long by these brilliant guys who, as you yourself put it, invent entire industries. I’m not marriage material compared to any of them.”

“You are severely underestimating yourself. All you have to do is glance in her general direction and she will wet her knickers.”

Rufus snorted. “I can’t believe you’re saying this!”

“Believe it, it’s the truth. It’s time you made use of your god-given talents.”

“What does that even mean?”

“Rufus Francis Leung Gresham, do you really need me to spell it out for you? You are a beautiful man. Use it to your advantage!”

“You’re joking, right?”

“I’m dead serious! Aside from the young Aaron Kwok, I cannot think of a man more beautiful than you.”

Rufus could feel his cheeks flushing bright red.

“Now, the most charming thing about you is that you don’t seem to be aware of the effect you have on people, and you don’t use your looks like a weapon. But your looks, however much you choose to deny it, are the key to your securing your fortune and the welfare of your entire family for generations to come. How many Gresham earls over the centuries made marriages for financial gain? Quite a few, I bet.”

“It’s hard for me to take this all in,” Rufus said with a heavy sigh.

“Well, it’s high time you do. Put your big-boy trousers on and do your duty. Future generations are counting on you. Tonight is the wedding banquet. By the time the dessert wines are served, I expect Martha to have fallen head-over-heels in love with you.”

“That’s a rather tall order…”

“No it’s not. All you have to do is shut your mouth and look at her with those freakishly big green eyes of yours. I’ll take care of the rest.”




Skip Notes

*1 The 60+ Oyster card provides free transport on the tube and buses for all Londoners over the age of sixty. Rosina actually got hers last year.



*2 It’s worth noting that Rosina never calls her family foundation a “charitable foundation.” It’s a private foundation that benefits from tax-exempt status, which in turn benefits her family.



*3 Just like all his other Asian relatives, Rosina didn’t have a fucking clue what Rufus really did.





IV



JARDIN MAJORELLE

MARRAKECH ? WEDDING BANQUET





christian + amanda


    repas de noces



Sea Scallops with Golden Kaluga Caviar |

Leek fondue, whipped onion and truffle

Louis Roederer Cristal “Gold Medallion” Orfevres Limited Edition Brut Millesime