The Game (14 page)

"Just pretend like you're on stage or in front of a camera, just as if this were another role," I offered, helpfully.

"Yeah, of course," she said. She breathed in deeply and set off toward the front doors without looking back. I caught up to her just as we entered the house. Stella had waited for us, and looked much too giddy to be leading us into the sitting room where my parents were taking their tea.

"You really need to wipe that smirk off your face, Stella. It's really unbecoming on you," I quipped.

She looked like she was ready to argue, but the door to the sitting room opened and my mother poked her head out.

"There you are! I was beginning to wonder if you'd show up at all," she said, stepping out of the room.

"Hello, Mother. You're looking well," I said, kissing her proffered cheek. "May I introduce you to my...uh...fiancée, Emilia Holliday." The word fiancée got stuck in my throat. It was the first time I'd ever introduced her as that to anyone. It was an overwhelming sensation. I tried not to focus on it. Instead I tried to concentrate on my mother's reaction. This whole ruse was set up for her benefit, after all.

My mother stood there and eyed Emilia up and down surreptitiously before breaking out in a cautious smile. "Nice to meet you, dear," she said, leaning in for a kiss.

Emilia ignored it and instead dropped into a low curtsey.

"Very pleased to meet you, my lady," she said as she stood up with a flourish. "You've got some nice digs here."

I snapped my head up and pinned Stella with a glare when I heard her unmistakable snort. She tried to cover it up as a cough, but her watery eyes gave her away. My mother's reaction was a mix of confusion, horror, and amusement. She looked at me silently, as if waiting for me to explain Emilia's behavior, but I was just as surprised and caught off guard as she was.

"Thank you. That's very kind of you," she said, smiling tightly. "Why don't you come into the sitting room and have a seat. We were just about to have tea."

***

We all followed her inside where my father stood up and greeted us jovially, as he always did.

"Rob, my boy! You finally made it, did you? Thought you'd find a way to weasel out of this one. Oh, and this must be your fiancée," he said, turning his attention to Emilia. "You're even more beautiful than I could have imagined."

"Thank you. And you're not as old or stodgy as I thought you'd be," she said taking my father's outstretched hand.

A collective gasp went round the room and we all waited for my father's reaction. It was quite a rude thing to say, and I felt keenly embarrassed for Emilia. Our fears, or mine at least, were put to rest when my father let out a bark of laughter.

"I like this one, Rob. She's speaks her mind!" he said, looking over at me.

"Thanks Dad," I mumbled.

We all took a seat around the table. All eyes in the room were on Emilia. Far from shying away, she seemed to blossom under the attention, like a peacock strutting her feathers to be admired. I supposed she was suited to this role--she was an actress after all.

"So tell me Emilia, how did you and Rob meet?" my mother asked.

I stifled the groan I'd been holding. S
o here we go, the interrogation starts
, I thought dryly. Stella shot me a mischievous wink over the top of her tea cup, and I wanted to be anywhere but here right now. I was sure Stella and my dad were having a good laugh at my expense.

"We met a whiles ago. What was it, hon? A year ago? Two years?" Emilia replied, looking at me with her head cocked to the side.

"It was about a year ago--er--
hon
," I replied. I was a little taken aback by this new side to Emilia. I'd never heard her sound so uncultured or uncouth before, and judging from the look on my family's face, they thought she was an object of ridicule.

My mother's lips turned down into a slight frown and her eyes narrowed. I could tell she had already written Emilia off as some trashy social climber. The thought made me more upset than I wanted to admit. For some reason, I really wanted Emilia and my mother to hit it off.

"Yes Mum, we met her while out to dinner with Rob's friend, Ryan Marsden," Stella added, a look of unholy amusement in her eyes.

"Is that right? And you and Ryan are good friends?" my mother asked Emilia.

"We used to go out sometimes, if that's what you mean, my lady. But it wasn't never anything serious," Emilia answered in an exaggerated New York accent.

"Please call me Esther," my mother said.

"So tell us about your engagement. We saw the pictures in the papers, of course. And look Mum, she's wearing Grandmother's ring," Stella said pointing at Emilia's finger.

My mother nodded her head and made some kind of choking sound. I hadn't told her I was going to be using my Grandmother Celeste's ring when I proposed. It had a lot of sentimental value to my mother, but since my grandmother left it to me, I figured I could do what I wanted with it. Judging from the pained expression on my mother's face, though, she had other ideas.

"It was so sweet. We were having dinner at Flemings. They have the best surf and turf there. Anyway, all of a sudden Rob gets this look in his eye, like he's constipated or something," Emilia began.

Stella and my father let out a loud laugh and I wanted to bang my head against the wall. Emilia continued talking, ignoring their little outburst. "I was like 'Hon, you feelin ok? You're looking kinda green', but he waved me off and reached into his coat pocket and pulled out this blue velvet box. I knew it was an engagement ring. Then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him and I said yes," she finished.

"That's quite...moving," my father said, his eyes watering in delight.

"Yes, very," Stella added. "The ring looks beautiful on you by the way."

"Yeah, it's grown on me but to tell you the truth, I wasn't much feeling it when Rob originally opened the box. I always told myself that whenever I get married, I'm going to have a huge rock on my finger, like at least 10 carats. But you can see this isn't close. It's not even a diamond. But Rob says it's very valuable," Emilia explained.

Everyone in the room went silent and we all watched the conflicting emotions flittering across my mother's face. She was equally angry and incredulous. I knew we'd probably pushed her over the edge, and thought it was best to take myself and Emilia out of the room before any more damage could be done. I was feeling a little peeved at Emilia myself, and couldn't stand for her to make one more crass remark.

"I think Emilia and I are still a bit jet lagged. We should head up to our room," I said. I stood up and held out my hand to Emilia, not giving her the opportunity to refuse. She smiled politely and nodded her head.

"Rob's right. I'm still nursing a hangover from a party I went to last night, so a little nap and quiet time is just the thing," she said. With another flourishing curtsey, she left the room. I stood there staring after her before a not so subtle cough brought me out of my stupor.

I started to follow Emilia out of the room, but was held up by my mother's hand on my arm. "You'll be staying in separate rooms this weekend, seeing as how you're not married yet," she said, a hint of steel in her voice. I lifted my eyebrow at her in challenge and surprise, but she wouldn't back down. "Your old bedroom has been prepared, and the yellow room should be suitable for Emilia," she said.

I nodded my head before continuing on my way out. My mother was conservative, but she wasn't a prude. Hell, she'd walked in on me in bed with a woman before, so her demand of separate bedrooms was out of the ordinary. I could have argued the point with her, but in truth I was grateful for her request. It'd save Emilia and me the awkwardness of having to share a room together.

I knew if I had to be in the same room with her for the whole weekend, I'd never be able to resist her. It was hard enough trying to forget the last time we were together, even though I tried.

Emilia was waiting for me at the foot of the stairs as I exited the sitting room. "I wondered where you'd gone off to," she said once she saw me round the corner.

"I was speaking to my mother," I said.

"Did she say anything nice about me?" Emilia asked.

I started walking up the stairs moving past her before turning back around. She remained standing at the foot of the stairs, staring at me in confusion.

"No, not exactly. What the hell is wrong with you by the way?" I asked. I was still upset with her for acting like a total buffoon in front of my parents.

I saw the surprise and hurt flit across her face before it was replaced by anger. She narrowed her eyes at me and frowned. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Don't pretend like you don't know," I said. I began walking again and could hear her following behind me.

"Just stop being such a dick and spit it out already. What's your problem?" she asked, her voice rising in irritation.

We had reached the top of the stairs and I turned left to the west wing of the house where the bedrooms were located. Emilia caught up with me and grabbed my arm, spinning me around to face her. She looked at me expectantly with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Are you just going to act like a spoiled baby or are you going to tell me what bug has got up your butt today."

"Charming."

"Fuck you!" she said before storming off ahead of me. She paused midway down the long hallway and looked back at me. "Where the fuck is our room?" she bit out in frustration.

"Do you want to know what my problem is? My problem is you! What the hell was that in there?" I asked, pointing back in the direction of the sitting room.

"That was me doing what you wanted. You wanted a loud and vulgar fiancée, didn't you? You wanted someone so unsuitable, your mother would never bother you about marrying again. That's what I did. Don't get all pissed off at me because you're having second thoughts now!" she said.

I ran my hand through my hair roughly and slumped my shoulders. All the fight and anger had left me. She was absolutely right. I had asked her to do those things, months ago. I had wanted her to act exactly as she had. Why did it feel all wrong now?

Now that we were here, I actually wanted my mother's approval. I wanted her and Emilia to get along. There was no good reason for it. It would only break my mother's heart when we finally broke up. I didn't know when my feelings started to change about this engagement, but they clearly had.

"You're right. I'm sorry. I'd just...forgotten," I said lamely.

Emilia looked at me curiously before she shrugged. "Listen Rob, I really am tired now so if you'll just tell me where our room is..."

"We'll be staying in separate rooms. Yours is over here," I said, leading her to the door just to the right of my own bedroom.

"Great. That's even better. No offense, but I don't think I could share a room with you right now anyway," she said, the relief evident on her face and in her voice.

"Well, I'll let you get some rest then," I said.

She nodded her head before walking into her room and clicking it shut behind her. I stood there for a while, contemplating what the hell just happened. Every moment spent with her wreaked havoc on my emotions. The end of this weekend couldn't come fast enough.

Chapter 16: Emilia

As soon as I shut the door, I leaned back against it and closed my eyes, slowly sliding to the floor. I'd only been in this house for less than an hour, and already I was at my wit's end. But there was no backing out now. I had promised Rob that I'd come to his parent's anniversary party, and that's what I'd do. He wanted a vulgar fiancée; I'd give that to him too.

When we first pulled up to the house, I was blown away. This was the type of estate you saw in movies like
Pride and Prejudice
. I couldn't actually believe that people still lived in houses like this. The grounds were enormous, and the house--it was something else all together. It looked like the size of ten football fields, at least. Everything had a light dusting of white snow, which gave a fairy tale quality to the surroundings.

I couldn't believe that Rob had grown up in a place like this. It felt like a museum; I was afraid to touch anything for fear of breaking some priceless heirloom. Looking up at the place I felt inadequate. Rob had always been a gentleman and never acted like a snob, but seeing the physical embodiment of his wealth and prestige made me realize just how different we were.

When the car pulled up the long drive and stopped in front of the house, a young woman stood waiting for us, a smile lighting her face. She looked vaguely familiar, and I was trying to remember her name as I got out of the car. Rob and she looked like they were very comfortable around each other, and I noticed the resemblance immediately when I saw them standing together.

I knew I'd seen her before and frantically tried to search my brain to remember where. Thankfully Rob made the introductions so I was spared the embarrassment of not knowing her name. Even better, she actually mentioned where it was we met--Ryan's house party in the Hamptons.

Stella was friendly and welcoming, which I was partly surprised by. I thought she'd be a mini version of her mother, and from what Rob told me, his mother was a Grade A snob. I wondered if Rob had told Stella about our arrangement.

Even though we had signed a confidentiality agreement, it wouldn't surprise me if he had told her. They seemed very close and I caught Stella looking at me curiously several times when she thought I wasn't looking. She was also way too excitable, bouncing from foot to foot, just waiting to introduce me to her parent's for the first time. If she wanted a show, then I'd give her one.

I'd played my part and been the embarrassing fiancée that Rob wanted. It hurt me more than I cared to admit to see the look of judgment and condemnation in his mother's eyes, the same color and shape as Rob's. I didn't know why I wanted her to like me so much, but I'd destroyed any chance of that ever happening. When I glanced over at Rob, his expression mirrored his mother's, and I felt a stab of hurt. Now, here I was slumped in this gorgeous room, wondering how I was going to get through this weekend with my sanity intact.