‘By Edward?’
She nods, and I can’t help the flush of happiness that comes from the thought of Edward saying those words.
‘We knew he had a new girlfriend. You,’ she continues. ‘And that you met in London. That you’re an author, which by the way is beyond fascinating to me – but we’ll put a pin in that and circle back; I have a million questions. But regarding Edward, we gave him space because we’ve made mistakes in the past. Forced issues that perhaps we shouldn’t have. Anyway, this time things seem very different. You seem very different to his previous girlfriends.’
I feel my heckles rise. I dread to think what it could be that makes me so very different. But she’s moved on before a sentient question can even form in my mind.
‘He’s never talked about anyone the way he talks about you. He has this certainty, that you’re the one.’
‘The one?’ I ask.
‘Uh-huh,’ she nods, then leans forward, her elbows on the linen of the tablecloth. ‘And he’s so much happier now. He came by the house a couple of weeks back to talk to us about everything, to get the ring. We hadn’t seen him – God – not since last Christmas. It was a tough one between him and Dad. They’re cut from the same cloth, you see. Before you, Edward was work, work, work. For years now. But since you, he’s mellowed. We thought he’d stopped trying, to find someone, that he’d end up an old bachelor. Then you.’ Her voice lowers conspiratorially once more. ‘I’m going to be honest with you, Harry, because I like you. I’m not sure how much you know, but things have not been great between Dad and Edward for a long while now. Dad pushes him, sometimes too far. It’s a lot of pressure and in the past, with Ed’s romantic choices, things haven’t worked out at all.’
I’m leaning in now too. ‘What do you mean? What went wrong?’
‘Well, not to put too fine a point on it, Harry, but we-gotta-lotta-money.’ She lets out a little girlie snort at her own words.
‘And that’s caused problems? His exes had the wrong intentions?’
‘Well, we’ll never know now, will we. They never lasted. I’m not gonna lie, we can all be a little much, but we’ve got a nose for bad intentions; it kind of comes with the territory. Sometimes Ed lets his emotions get in the way of self-preservation. I know how the world views us: cut-throat, dog-eat-dog, sociopaths or whatever. But we’re only reacting to what we face every day. It is brutal out here. And you should know, coming into all this: everything we have, everything we are – other people want it. We developed tough skins because, by God, we’ve needed them just to survive. But we love Ed, we want him to be happy. Here’s the thing. Since the last girlfriend, he’s kept his distance from the family. He got it in his head Daddy scared her off. That he’ll scare you off.’ She shrugs lightly. ‘And maybe he did scare the last one, but maybe it was for the best. Some people aren’t built for this; some people aren’t strong enough to run with the pack.’ Her eyes flick across my features before she adds. ‘I see you, though. You’re a strong one. I see it in your eyes. To get this far, to leave a life behind, to get that ring on your finger, you’re a strong one; a survivor. Like us. She gives my hand a rallying squeeze across the table and I realize even though she doesn’t know me, she kind of knows me. ‘Listen,’ she continues, ‘don’t worry about meeting Daddy; he’s mellowed. The upshot is, Dad wants Edward back, in the fold, and you make him happy. Edward wants you, and if any of us stand in the way, I’m under no illusions that we’ll lose him completely. I think I understand your intentions towards him. He’s always been a good brother to me. So, my question to you is: will you help us out?’
‘Help you out?’
‘Yeah, honey. Will you help the family out? We want him back; we want to keep him where we can see him. We think this engagement is just wonderful.’
A strange warmth permeates me as I begin to understand what is going on here. They have to have me; they have to like me; they have no choice. As I said, I don’t have a self-esteem problem, but the idea of their immediate acceptance of a nobody from England as their new daughter-in-law was completely baffling, until now. Why would one of the wealthiest families in America endorse the engagement of their eldest son to a woman they’d never met? Here is the answer. It’s reassuring in its simplicity. They pushed him away and vetoed his choices too many times and they’ve run out of nos. They either accept me or they lose him.