Marriage by Law Read Online Free PDF Page B

school, brilliant novel, as I laid on my bed till the familiar message tone came back.
     
    Betty's in five?
     
    I smiled, getting up. I walked over to my wardrobe and grabbed a hat and sunglasses and put them on so I wouldn’t run into someone I knew who would run back and complain to my mother.
     
    I should have done this six months ago.

     
    Chapter Four
     
     
     
    Six Months Ago
     
     
    I walked downstairs dressed in my pajamas and feeling warm and comfortable. All I needed was a tub of ice cream and I wouldn’t even get out of bed even if you gave me a million dollars.
     
    I walked toward the private parlor where my parents probably were talking. Even if my mother disapproved of my choice of nightwear, I was going to wear it. I was sick of her meddling with my life. She didn’t have one kind bone in her body. Plus, who can resist such comfortable clothes?
     
    I opened the door cautiously and entered the room, feeling both pairs of eyes on me.
     
    My father gave me a strained smile, beckoning me over to the couch while my mother stared at me, probably judging my outfit as she stood near the fireplace. But this was no new story.
     
    "Come in, Ivory, sit here."
     
    To say I was my daddy's little girl was an understatement. I was always with him, in my view he was my real parent, and he even made up for my mother, even though I barely got to see him.
     
    My mother had never acted like a parent and I doubt she had the capacity to either. It was always the house nanny’s job to look after me.
     
    She was never one who showed emotions or gave physical contact, something every child got as a kid but I don't even remember the last time my mother even made an attempt to hug me. Oh wait, she never did. Emotions made you weak, that was what she always told me when I was growing up. There was never a goodnight hug, or a kiss, and she disapproved when my father showed any affection.
     
    She told me often that the only reason I was even born was so there was an ‘heir’ to the family line, so our money didn’t go astray. Who would tell their ten-year-old daughter that?
     
    Sitting on the couch next to my dad, I felt him wrap an arm around me and I placed my legs on the seat, enjoying the warmth from the fire. There was something tense in the room as my parents had a stare down and I shifted uneasily in my seat.  I had never known the meaning of tension in the air better than now.
     
    My father sighed and turned to look at me, his eyes analyzing my face, and frowned. It was like he knew.
     
    "Is everything o-"
     
    "Your father and I have something to discuss," said my mother, cutting off whatever my dad was going to say. For someone who claims she has no emotions, she sure got jealous when father spent more time talking to me.
     
    I sighed and looked up at her, raising my eyebrows to question her. And here I thought my dad wore the pants in this relationship.
     
    "Years ago, a man had saved his business rival from a horrible death. He has made a promise," she started. It was easy to zone out when my mother spoke and watch the flickering fire or even the way the ducted heating blew a piece of fluff from a jumper across the room. It brought up questions like, why have the heating system and the fireplace at the same time? Wasn’t that a waste of energy?
     
    Her voice was that monotone. Made me wonder what my dad saw in her to marry her.
     
    "The promise was that the first granddaughter he had would be married to his best man's family. Back then it wasn’t about money, it was about word. When someone gives their word, they stick to it. They care about loyalty. The two businesses had enough power to overrun each other and send one sinking to the ground, which in these days can cause a great global financial crisis with the way both businesses have risen. To make sure that didn't happen, they made a promise."
     
    I always did wonder why she picked such bad wallpaper. I mean, orange does not go with the