Who Loves Them? (Who--? Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

he is out ‘sowing his wild oats’ with everything in a skirt?” When her grandfather didn’t respond, she knew she was pushing his limits, so she tried a different tact. “So what if Gordon falls in love with someone else?  What will happen to your precious family?”
    Christian chuckled .  “Then he will have to give her up and do his duty.  But I doubt that will be a problem.  He’s young, only four years older than you.  He’s away at the university right now.  Boys at the university don’t fall in love, Christina.”
    She sighed, defeated .  “So when is this wedding to take place?”
    “The engagement will be announced after your twenty-first birthday, once the social season starts.  The wedding will be the following spring.”
    Christina sunk back into the chair .  “This is really happening.  I’m going to be married in two years.  What about school?  I wanted to go to the university and study….” She suddenly saw all of her dreams being snuffed out right before her eyes.
    Her grandfather cut her off .  “You will get married, have children, and keep house for your husband.  It may seem old-fashioned to you, but our families have been doing things this way for decades, and there is no need for it to change.  You may read and study all you like in your private time, keep an entire library if you wish, but your primary focus must be your husband.  I am telling you about the arrangement now because I know it is a shock, and I want you to have time to think about it and prepare.  This is your life, Christina,” he finished gently.  “I want you to be as happy as you can be.  But nothing will change what has been decided.”
    Chris shook her head .  “No.  No, I’m sorry, but this is not going to happen.  Did you ever stop to think about how I might feel?  Sure, I wasn’t born yesterday, but seriously…you can’t just sell me off.  I have plans!  You can’t just take them away from me.  You’re a good, kind person.”
    Her grandfather sighed .  “It’s not like that, Christina.  It was a business deal that helped save our family, and it helped reunite two families.  I knew that you would be unhappy about this.”
    Chris chewed on her bottom lip and felt tears well in her eyes .  “Make my family proud?  I thought graduating from the university with honors would make my family proud.  Don’t you care that I want my own life?  That I want to make my own decisions?  Do you even believe in love?”
    “Chris…” her grandfather tried to clasp her hand , but she pulled it away. 
    “No .  You don’t.”
    Her grandfather sighed and ran a tired hand through his thinning hair.  “There’s nothing I can do.  Unless you can turn back time and damn us all to poverty, you must accept your fate.”
    She nodded, her hands clenching and unclenching in her lap .  For a moment, she hated them all – her mother, her father, her grandfather.  She knew she would do her duty to her family.  It was who she was.  She vaguely heard the study door open, and her grandfather get up and speak to first her father, and then her mother, as they entered.  She vaguely noticed as she stood up, apologized for her shock to her grandfather, and hugged her ecstatic mother.  She vaguely saw the frown on her father’s face and registered some displeasure there.  She drifted out of the study and up the stairs, where she sunk onto her bed and cried.
    How could her grandfather be so cruel ?  True, she had never been overly fond of him, but that was because they had never really gotten to know each other.  Now she knew why.  He knew it would be more difficult to give her the news that she was already married if they were close.  She sat up and beat her fists upon the walls.  What did he expect of her?  That she behaves like a prim and proper woman like the women in his time?  They lived completely different lives.  The women of her day weren’t like the women of his.  Surely