The Anatomy of Jane (25 page)

“Not for long.” I lifted the ring on my finger for him to see.

“Maxwell Emerson asked you to marry him?” he said in shock, and louder than I wished. It drew more than a few people’s attention.

“More like he wore me down. I’m searching for Elspeth, if you’ll excuse us.” I linked arms with Irene, who he didn’t even bother saying hello to.

“Wow them,” she whispered. I smiled as we walked alongside some paintings. When we reached the end of the portraits, we spotted Elspeth surrounded by a group of women. Her hair was pin curled and brought over to side, and the off-the-shoulder dark navy gown she wore was stunning. When her blue eyes met mine, she immediately came over to me.

“Jane, dear.” She kissed the sides of my cheeks. “I wasn’t aware you were coming.”

“When she heard about your event here, she was just dying to come.” Irene had lied! She had fucking tricked me again!

Eyes wide, I glared at Irene, who just winked and unlinked her arms from mine.
EVIL
, I mouthed to her.

“Elspeth, who is this beautiful young woman?” an older, slender woman with pulled pack gray hair asked.

“Ladies, please let me introduce you to my daughter-in-law to be…Jane Chapman.” She held me close to her, and I wasn’t sure, but I had a feeling I was now in the twilight zone.

Daughter-in-law? The older woman gasped. “Young lady, how did you capture the elusive Maxwell Emerson?”

“We’re both passionate about the same things.” That being Wesley. “That’s all I can say. He really hates talking about his personal life.”

“He’s not the only one,” Elspeth added. “Ladies, give us a moment.”

“Of course.”

No, don’t leave me!
They strolled farther down the exhibit, leaving me with her. She didn’t say a word but just kept heading out of the room. We walked and walked until we got to an empty wing of the museum. On the wall was an American colonial painting: a seventeen by fifteen foot canvas depicting George Washington, by Thomas Sully. In front of it were two black couches. She sat in one and I moved to sit in the other one opposite her.

“You must be a little confused,” she finally said to me, crossing her legs.

“What do you mean?”

“You came here expecting the evil mother who would disapprove of a nobody maid who was once a bartender at a strip club dating—no—being engaged to my son.”

Crossing my legs as well, I nodded, noting she had done a background check on me. “Are you saying I was wrong?”

“Yes,” she said simply. “Marry my son. I don’t care if you’re a gold digger or a just an innocent girl trying to get by. Either way, you help him and helping him is all I want.”

Twilight zone!
The words flashed in my mind over and over again.

“So if I planned to marry your son and take him for half of all he’s worth, you wouldn’t care?”

“I’d say to wait at least a few years, maybe have a child before you do so. I’d love a granddaughter.”

This is a trap. Something felt wrong.

“Why?”

The smile on her face dropped. “If he’s with you, then that man will eventually leave.”

“What?” My heart started to race.

“Wesley. Right now he might be all right, but I’m going to make a big deal out of your wedding. I’m going to welcome you into the family with open arms. We’ll have family dinners and vacations, and each time Max will have to leave him behind. There is only so much of that any human can take. It will get worse, too, when you have a child. He’ll watch as a whole family gets built around him, and he’ll be stuck in that damn penthouse hiding away. Max is loyal. He’ll stay by you until the day he dies and then we’ll be done with this nonsense.”

I thought about it…no, I didn’t just think about it, I saw it: Wesley being was pushed to the side. Max was staying with me because he felt like he dragged me into this. The resentment, the pain—everything flashed through my eyes and my chest burned.

“Why would you do that? Why would you hurt him like this? He loves—”

“Stop.” She held up her hand. “Max has always been confused. He’s always sought out the attention of father figures to make up for the sorry excuse of a father he has.”

“That’s not what—”

“That is exactly what this is. We didn’t show him the right way. Alistair and his constant infidelities and lack of regard affected him. My ambition did not help. We overlooked Maxwell and he became twisted.”

“Do you hear yourself right now? Loving people is not twisted.”

“It is, Jane.” She nodded to me while getting up. “He should be happy that he’s found someone as understanding as you. I’m sure you can turn a blind eye to any slip-ups he might have. However, Wesley is a four-year problem I’ve been trying to fix. So, Jane, get married and save me the headache.”

She walked past me and I was stuck and unable to move.

“Oh,” she added. “I apologize in advance that Alistair is currently fucking some whore and won’t be making it tonight. We’ll be having dinner this weekend, so please come down to Washington. I’ll send the jet.”

With that, she left, and if Irene had been sitting there, she’d have said the only slaying that had happened was of me and everything I thought I was doing.

I sat there quietly until I got a text. I thought it was Wes, but someone else was dealing out punishment on me today.

‘
Break it off with Maxwell…before I show him what you really are. –Scarlet’

Attached was a picture of Wesley and me at the playground kissing.

How?
was my first thought.

Fuck them all
was my second.

The door opened and she rushed in.

“Jane?” I watched as she didn’t look at me but instead headed to the kitchen to grab a pair of scissors and go for her neck. “Jane! What bloody hell are you doing?”

“Get it off!” she screamed at me while trying to cut the material.

“Jane, calm down—”

“Off! Get it off me! Get me out of this thing! I want it off!” she kept screaming and I moved to the zipper, which was stuck.

“Wes,” she sobbed.

Taking the scissors from her, I cut up the back and the sides. I tore and tore until she was free. She gasped for air before hunching over the table to cry.

“Jane.”

Wiping her face, she moved to the wine cooler. She didn’t care what bottle it was, she just pulled it out and stabbed the cork with the opener. When she got the cork out, she drank straight from the bottle.

She drank and drank and drank to the point that I was amazed she didn’t need air.

“Ahh,” she gasped out, hitting her chest.

“Jane, use words.”

“I’m no Khaleesi,” she said, drinking again.

“Okay. Let’s try using words that make sense.”

She glared at me with puffy red eyes. “I’m making sense! I’m no Khaleesi! I thought I was. I thought I could be this huffy, puffy, rich bitch and stand beside Max. But I can’t. They’re all cruel and I hate them!”

“Jane.” I walked over to her, putting my hands on the sides of her face. “My beautiful butterfly.”

“Don’t try and make me feel better,” she grumbled, putting her head on my chest. “They all want to hurt us. We didn’t do anything to them. We just want to live our lives the way we want to, and they try and hurt us. Why?”

It was times like this where I really saw the innocence in her. Hugging my arm around her, I kissed her forehead.

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t let them push you away,” she muttered against my chest. “You and Max have something real…something special and beautiful. Don’t let them hurt you.”

“Why are you crying for us? We’re still here,” I replied, feeling her warm tears on my chest.

“Because…”

“Because?”

“Because I’m just a good person!”

I smiled at that. “So it’s not because you love me.”

When I said that, she jumped out of my arms like a scared cat and the bottle of wine slipped from her hand. I caught it before it hit the ground.

“That was a mistake!” she said quickly, holding her arms out. “I was typing really fast and I was just not thinking. The only people I’ve ever texted were Mary and Allen, and they’re like family, so I guess I was on autopilot. I’m not one of those crazy girls who sleep with guys and thinks we’re going to be together always or get married or something. Well, I am engaged to Max, but that’s different, and I might not go through with it. His mother is evil. Not in your face evil, but the type that creeps up on you and gives you nightmares—”

“Jane, please breathe before you lose consciousness.” Watching her ramble was hilarious, but she looked like she was verging on hysterical tears. “I understand. Don’t worry, okay. Just tell me what happened tonight. What did Elspeth do?”

“She hugged me,” she whispered.

“Hugs are good—”

“She hugged me because she wants to use me as a wedge between you and Max. She knows about you, too. She’s known for a while and she wants me to have a big wedding and a big family. She wants me to make a life for Max and shut you out. So I’m not doing it.” She reached up to pull the ring from her finger, but it was stuck. “The moment I get this ring off, I’m going to throw it at her.”

“How much have you had to drink tonight?”

“Not enough,” she pouted.

I picked her up and she wrapped her arms around my neck. I held on as her heels fell off. Holding her helped me to relax. Taking her up to the bedroom, I laid her on the bed.

“Stay.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I whispered, lying beside her.

I didn’t want to think and neither did she. She curled up to me, and I listened to her ramble on. It was soothing and it was just what I needed right then.

“I just wanted her to meet Elspeth on common ground. You know your mother would never make a scene. I don’t know what happened when they were alone, Max, but whatever your mom said to her really got under her skin,” Irene explained. I still had the mobile next to my ear when I walked into the penthouse.

“I got it, and Irene...”

“I know. I know. I’ll stop butting in. I promise,” she replied and I didn’t bother replying. I just hung up.

“Wes?” Pulling off my tie, I stepped farther inside. The first thing I noticed was Wes’ shirt on the couch. The next thing was the wine bottle on the counter and her torn dress and discarded heels on the floor. Glancing up at the bedroom, a dozen things they could be doing went through my mind in a split second.

I forced the thoughts out and walked up, listening but hearing nothing. I wasn’t sure why my hand hesitated on the door, but it did and that bothered me. Pushing it open, there they were, curled up asleep. Jane was resting on Wes’ chest, snoring softly, and Wes was holding on to her tightly. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I took a deep breath before sitting on the edge of the bed to take off my shoes.

“You’re back,” I heard Wes whisper. The bed shifted as he got up to sit beside me.

“Yeah,” I replied, undoing my cuff links. “Did I miss a party?”

“What?”

“The wine…both of your clothes are downstairs.”

He didn’t say anything and I just got up and walked to my closet.

“What do you think happened?” He followed me, stopping at the closet door and leaning against it.

“I don’t know, Wes, that’s why I’m asking.”

“We didn’t fuck without you, if that’s what you were wondering,” he said, but when I looked at his face, he didn’t seem amused. He seemed annoyed. “She came back in tears, trying to cut herself out of the dress she was wearing. I got her free and she went for the wine. If you don’t believe me, you can check your damn cameras.”

Why was he so pissed? What the fuck?

“How about we skip the passive aggressive bullshit and you tell me what the hell is going on? Why was she crying? Did my mother—”

“Jane and I are going to the UK for the week,” he interjected.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m taking Jane to meet my mother for the week.”

Either he was fucking with me or he was really trying to tick me off. “You both are just going to run away with each other?”

He sighed. “I’m not running. I’m giving her a moment to think after the night she had. She deserves it.”