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“She was picked up last night in Dallas and is currently in the city lockup. One of my friends from bridge club called earlier to tell me her name popped up in the system. Apparently, she was caught trying to steal from a jewelry store, and her accomplices threw her under the bus to take the fall. The charges look serious.”
My mouth hangs open. “Mom wasrobbing a jewelry store?”
“Yes, so it seems.” Grandfather rubs his face and sighs. “It’s times like this I’m still angry with your grandmother for making me give up cigars.”
I don’t know what to say to that. Grandfather isn’t upset because his daughter is in jail—at least not for her sake. Mom’s been doing this stuff for years and years, although this is the first time she’s actually ended up in jail that I know about. Usually Grandfather can call in a favor before it gets that far, and most people know the Stockton name well enough to keep Mom from getting officially booked anywhere. Mom’s been in and out of more rehab places than I can count, and at this point, I don’t know why anyone even bothers. Grandfather wrote Mom off a long, long time ago.
“What are we going to do?” I don’t know why I sayweas if I have any say in the matter. Of everyone in the Stockton family, I’m the lowest of the low, and I have pretty much zero say over anything.
“I’m going to pay her bail, hire a good team of lawyers, and send her to the most remote rehabilitation clinic with the biggest walls and strongest locks I can find. Hopefully, they can keep her there until this blows over.”
“Right, that’s a good idea,” I say weakly. Mom at another rehab place. She rarely lasts long before relapsing. Her best soberstreak was six months, and that only happened because a doctor told her that if she took more pills or shot more heroin, she’d end up dead. Eventually, she fell back in with her old junkie friends and disappeared for six weeks. I figured she’d never come back, but sure enough, she appeared one day, asking for money and another chance like always.
“Your mother will be fine. An embarrassment, a stain on our family, but fine.” Grandfather exhales a long breath and shakes his head. “We’re both past the point of thinking your mother will ever get better. She will continue to plague our name until the day that she dies, and there is nothing we can do but try to manage her the best we can. However, you’re still here, Katherine. And you can still be useful.”
My fingers dig into my thighs as I stare at my grandfather. He looks back at me, head tilted, appraising. I’ve never heard him talk about me as anything other than a burden before, so it’s strange to hear the wordusefulattributed to me. I don’t let myself get excited though—the years have taught me to always be on guard no matter how happy or how excited I might get. When I’m at my highest, I can fall the furthest.
“What do you need, Grandfather?”
“You’re twenty-five now, Katherine. I’ve been very lenient with you for all these years on account of your mother’s difficulty, however—” He hesitates, frowning deeply. “That leniency must come to an end.”
I want to laugh.Leniencyis not the word I’d use to describe the constant, unflinching criticism I’ve endured from this old man. The only decent thing he ever did for me was give me a job at one of the horse breeders the family owns and that was only after I got a vet tech certification online without telling anyone. It tookme two years of sneaking around and doing night classes in my room, and Grandfather was only barely amused when I showed him the official graduation diploma.
At least I love my job at Shady Farms. It’s the only place I can be happy, even if I’m only working there part-time—I show up nearly every day. It’s a fifty-minute drive and worth every second because nobody treats me like a mutated sewer freak there. I’m a colleague and a friend and an actual human being, at least to the staff.
In the Stockton house, I’m the gunk between shower tiles personified.
He slowly stands and walks closer to the fire. I watch him, my guts roiling. Nervous energy rolls up my spine. He turns to me slowly, frowning thoughtfully.
“Your cousins are all married or engaged. Sara Lynn has two babies and a third on the way. The Stockton line will continue well into the future because they have done their duty to proliferate with the best stock we could find, and now it is your turn, Katherine. I am going to find you a husband. You will marry him, have children, and continue on our family legacy, even if your genes are not exactly—high quality.” He stays those last two words with a slow drawl.
Marriage. Babies. Continuing the family legacy. My head feels light and my heart’s racing. I’ve barely even dated and only ever had one serious boyfriend in my life, and now Grandfather wants me to get married? I have no clue how he thinks that’ll happen—unless he’s already got a list.
I stifle a groan. Yeah, of course there’s a freakinglist.
“I don’t know who you plan on marrying me off to, Grandfather, but—”
“There are vetted and suitable candidates.” Yep, totally a list. “I will introduce them to you, and you will choose from among them. I know this is sudden and it’s something of a shock, but with your mother’s most recent antics, I’m realizing that nothing will change with her, but it can change with you. I understand you haven’t always been the most important person in our family—” I barely manage to stop myself from rolling my eyes. That’s the biggest understatement I’ve ever heard in my life. “—but this is your opportunity to step up and be a part of this family.”
I clear my throat. “And when do you want this marriage to happen?”
“Soon. Weeks, not months.”
I laugh. I can’t help it. Grandfather only stares at me and doesn’t crack a smile. This is so crazy and there’s been absolutely no notice, and why the heck does Grandfather suddenly care about marrying me offat allwhen I’m an afterthought at best? When I started working at Shady Farms, after my third shift there, he looked at me in my tall work boots and stained jeans, made a face, and said,at least you found your place, and walked off like he smelled something bad.
Now he wants me to get married for the good of the family?
The idea terrified me. No, worse, it actively repulses me. Not because I’m not interested in men—I am very interested in men—but because the men Grandfather’s going to pick are all the blueblood aristocrat types with lovely breeding, good names, and plenty of zeroes at the end of their bank account statements.He’s not putting it this way, but the old man’s practically selling me off because he’s tired of dealing with me and my mother himself.
And the worst part of it all is, I’m almosteagerto do it.
That’s my blessing and my curse. I was born into the wealthy and elite Stockton family, descended from ancient cattle barons, men and women that ruled the Texas plains. Now we’re stupidly rich and most of our business revolves around breeding and selling premium racehorse stock, but mostly we live off our investments. I grew up being told the Stockton name means more than my life itself, and in my case that’s very literal. Nobody knows who my father was, and my mother’s been an addict her whole life. I’ve grown up in this house, hated by everyone that matters and ignored by everyone else.
I should want to tell Grandfather to go to hell, but instead the idea of making him happy—of making him proud—of beingusefulfor once in my life is extremely enticing.
I only wish I didn’t have to get married to do it.
“We will begin this weekend,” Grandfather says as he paces back to his chair and sits with a sigh. “You will meet your first potential husband. Be quiet, demure, obedient, and choose quickly and wisely. Do not embarrass me like your mother does, Katherine. You can be useful now, but if you ever become a true nuisance—” He doesn’t finish that sentence. I don’t need him to.
